29 January 1998 16:33 GMT. Landing Date: 1998-02-19 09:10:00. Flight Time: 20.69 days. Alternate Name: Soyuz TM-27 (Eyharts). Flight Up: Soyuz TM-27. Flight Back: Soyuz TM-26. Call Sign: Kristall. Crew: Eyharts. Backup Crew: Haignere. Program: Mir. Soyuz TM-27 carried the Mir EO-25 crew and French astronaut Leopold Eyharts. NASA and the Russian Space Agency had hoped Soyuz TM-27 could dock with Mir while Endeavour was still there, resulting in an on-board crew of 13, a record which would have stood for years or decades. But the French vetoed this, saying the commotion and time wasted would ruin Eyharts Pegase experimental programme. Soyuz TM-27 docked at the Kvant module port at 17:54 GMT on January 31, 1998, less than five hours before Endeavour landed in Florida.
Solovyov handed over command of Mir to EO-25 commander Musabayev, and the Mir EO-24 crew of Solovyov and Vinogradov together with Eyharts undocked from the forward port of Mir at 05:52 GMT on February 19 aboard the Soyuz TM-26 for their return home. They fired their deorbit engines at 08:16 GMT and landed in Kazakstan at 50 deg 11 N, 67 deg 31 E at 09:10 GMT.
Mir Pegase Chronology - 1998 Jan 29 - Soyuz TM-27 Crew: Musabayev, Budarin, Eyharts. Spacecraft: Soyuz TM. Payload: Soyuz TM 11F732 s/n 76. Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz 11A511U. Duration: 207.53 days. Perigee: 363 km (225 mi). Apogee: 373 km (231 mi). Inclination: 51.70 deg. Period: 91.90 min.
Soyuz TM-27 carried the Mir EO-25 crew and French astronaut Leopold Eyharts. NASA and the Russian Space Agency had hoped Soyuz TM-27 could dock with Mir while Endeavour was still there, resulting in an on-board crew of 13, a record which would have stood for years or decades. But the French vetoed this, saying the commotion and time wasted would ruin Eyharts Pegase experimental programme. Soyuz TM-27 docked at the Kvant module port at 17:54 GMT on January 31, 1998, less than five hours before Endeavour landed in Florida.
Solovyov handed over command of Mir to EO-25 commander Musabayev, and the Mir EO-24 crew and Eyharts undocked from the forward port of Mir at 05:52 GMT on February 19 aboard the Soyuz TM-26 for their return home. On February 20, the EO-25 crew and Andy Thomas of the NASA-7 mission boarded Soyuz TM-27 and undocked from the Kvant port at 08:48 GMT. They redocked with the forward port on Mir at 09:32 GMT. This freed up the Kvant port for a test redocking of the Progress M-37 cargo ship, parked in a following orbit with Mir during the crew transfer.
- 1998 Jan 31 - Landing of STS-89
STS-89 landed at 22:35 GMT with the crew of Wilcutt, Edwards, Reilly, Anderson, Wolf, Dunbar and Sharipov aboard.
- 1998 Feb 19 - Landing of Soyuz TM-26
Solovyov and Vinogradov together with French astronaut Eyharts (launched aboard Soyuz TM-27) undocked from the forward port on Mir at 05:52 GMT on February 19, 1998, fired their deorbit engines at 08:16 GMT and landed in Kazakstan at 50 deg 11 N, 67 deg 31 E at 09:10 GMT.
Bibliography and Further Reading - NASA GSFC Orbital Parameters, .
- Oberg, James, Red Star in Orbit, Random House, New York, 1981. ISBN: 0394514297. Oberg's book was, at its time, the most accurate, and still the most lively account of the Soviet manned program. More at amazon.com...
- McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Report (Internet Newsletter), Harvard University, Weekly, 1989 to Present. Essential internet newsletter recording worldwide weekly space events. Accessed at: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.
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