High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The International Astrophysical Observatory "GRANAT" (usually known as Granat; Russian: Гранат), was a Soviet (later Russian) space observatory developed in collaboration with France, Denmark and Bulgaria. It was launched on 1 December 1989 aboard a Proton rocket and placed in a highly eccentric four-day orbit, of which three were devoted to observations. It operated for almost nine years.