The Morelos satellites were a series of two Mexican

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 communications satellite

Communications satellite

A communications satellite is an artificial satellite stationed in space for the purpose of telecommunications...

s.
They operated between 1985 and 1998 and provided telephony, data, and television services over the territory of the Mexican Republic and adjacent areas.

They were replaced by the Solidaridad Satellite System (Solidaridad I, launched 17 November 1993, and Solidaridad 2, launched 17 October 1994) and, following privatisation, by the Satmex Satellite System

Satmex

Satmex is a commercial company from Mexico that operates space satellites that provide services to the Americas.-History:...

.

Morelos I

Morelos I was Mexico's first communications satellite. It was built and put into orbit under a contract from the Secretariat of Communications and Transport (SCT), the federal ministry responsible for the nation's communications systems.
Morelos I, a Hughes Aircraft Corporation HS-376, was launched by the U.S. space shuttle

Space Shuttle

The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...

 Discovery (mission STS-51-G

STS-51-G

STS-51-G was the eighteenth flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the fifth flight of Space Shuttle Discovery. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 17 June 1985...

) on 17 June 1985 and entered geostationary orbit

Geostationary orbit

A geostationary orbit is a geosynchronous orbit directly above the Earth's equator , with a period equal to the Earth's rotational period and an orbital eccentricity of approximately zero. An object in a geostationary orbit appears motionless, at a fixed position in the sky, to ground observers...

 at 113° W on 17 December 1985.

Morelos II

Morelos II was launched in November 1985 and remained in service until July 1998. Built by the Hughes Aircraft Corporation for the SCT, it was launched by the space shuttle Atlantis on 27 November 1985; the mission, STS-61-B

STS-61-B

STS-61-B was NASA's 23rd Space Shuttle mission, and its second using Space Shuttle Atlantis. The shuttle was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 26 November 1985. During STS-61-B, the shuttle crew deployed three communications satellites, and tested techniques of constructing...

, included Guerrero

Guerrero

Guerrero officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Guerrero is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo....

-born astronaut Rodolfo Neri Vela

Rodolfo Neri Vela

Rodolfo Neri Vela is a Mexican scientist and astronaut who flow aboard a NASA Space Shuttle mission in 1985. He is the first and only Mexican, and then the second Latin-American, to have traveled to space.-Personal :...

 as a payload specialist in its crew. Morelos II held a geostationary orbit at 116.8° W.