The World - News from Dec. 2, 1986

The Soviet Union has completed the first tests of its space shuttle on a launching pad and plans to begin manned flights in early 1988, the same time U.S. shuttle flights are scheduled to resume, Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine reported. The aerospace industry publication said that American reconnaissance satellite photos showed the Soviet shuttle mounted piggyback on its booster rocket for a series of tests and that it was later removed from the pad. The U.S. program was suspended in January after the shuttle disaster that killed all seven crew members.