After Korean Air Lines Flight 007 , a Boeing 747 carrying 269 people , was shot down in 1983 after straying into the USSR 's prohibited airspace , in the vicinity of Sakhalin and Moneron Islands , President Ronald Reagan issued a directive making GPS freely available for civilian use , once it was sufficiently developed , as a common good . The first Block II satellite was launched on February 14 , 1989 , and the 24th satellite was launched in 1994 . The GPS program cost at this point , not including the cost of the user equipment but including the costs of the satellite launches , has been estimated at US$ 5 billion ( then-year dollars )
Korean Air Lines Flight 007
Korean Air Lines Flight 007
Global Positioning System