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Credit - ESA
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29 January 1998 16:33 GMT. Landing Date: 1998-08-25 05:23:00. Flight Time: 207.53 days. Alternate Name: Soyuz TM-27 (Budarin, Musabayev). Flight Up: Soyuz TM-27. Flight Back: Soyuz TM-27. Call Sign: Kristall. Crew: Budarin, Musabayev. Backup Crew: Afanasyev, Treshchev. 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 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.
Soyuz TM-27 undocked from Mir at 02:05 GMT on August 25, with Musabayev, Budarin and Baturin aboard. They landed on August 25 at 05:23 UTC near Arkalyk in Kazakstan.
Mir EO-25 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.
- 1998 Mar 14 - Progress M-38 Spacecraft: Progress M. Payload: Progress M s/n 240. Mass: 7,007 kg (15,447 lb). Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz 11A511U. Duration: 61.05 days. Perigee: 372 km (231 mi). Apogee: 379 km (235 mi). Inclination: 51.70 deg. Period: 92.10 min.
Progress M-38 was specially modified to carry the second VDU (Vynosnaya Dvigatel'naya Ustanovka, External Engine Unit) propulsion unit. The VDU was mounted externally on a special structure between the cargo module and the service module, replacing the OKD fuel section present on normal Progress vehicles. The crew spacewalks to extract the VDU from Progress and place it on the end of the Sofora boom extending from the Kvant module. The VDU was used to provide attitude control capability for the station. By 03:20 GMT on March 15 1998 Progress M-38 had successfully completed its first two orbital manoeuvres. It replaced Progress M-37 at the docking port on the Kvant module, with a successful docking on March 16 1998 at 22:45 GMT. Undocked May 15 at 1844 UTC, freeing up the docking port on the Kvant module for Progress M-39. Deorbited over Pacific May 15, 1998.
- 1998 May 14 - Progress M-39 Spacecraft: Progress M. Payload: Progress M s/n 238. Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz 11A511U. Duration: 167.08 days. Perigee: 360 km (220 mi). Apogee: 373 km (231 mi). Inclination: 51.70 deg. Period: 91.90 min.
Docked with Mir at the Kvant port at 23:51 GMT on May 16 1998, bringing supplies and scientific experiments to the station. Undocked 09:28 GMT on August 12 1998 in order to clear the port for Soyuz TM-28. Deorbited over Pacific Ocean on October 29, 1998.
- 1998 Jun 2 - STS-91 Crew: Precourt, Gorie, Lawrence, Chang-Diaz, Kavandi, Ryumin. Spacecraft: Discovery. Payload: Discovery F24 / Spacehab. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Shuttle. Duration: 9.83 days. Perigee: 350 km (210 mi). Apogee: 373 km (231 mi). Inclination: 51.70 deg. Period: 91.80 min.
The final shuttle-Mir mission, STS-91 recovered NASA astronaut Andy Thomas from the Mir station and took Russian space chief and ex-cosmonaut Valeri Ryumin to Mir for an inspection tour of the ageing station. This was the first test of the super lightweight Aluminium-Lithium alloy external tank, designed to increase shuttle payload to the Mir / International Space Station orbit by 4,000 kg. At 22:15 GMT Discovery entered an initial 74 x 324 km x 51.6 deg orbit, with the OMS-2 burn three quarters of an hour later circulising the chase orbit. Discovery docked with the SO module on Mir at 17:00 GMT on June 4. NASA equipment was retrieved from the station, and Discovery undocked at 16:01 GMT on June 8, and landed on Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center at 18:00 GMT on June 12.
- 1998 Jun 12 - Landing of STS-91
STS-91 landed at 18:00 GMT with the crew of Precourt, Gorie, Lawrence, Chang-Diaz, Kavandi, Ryumin and Thomas Andrew aboard.
- 1998 Aug 13 - Soyuz TM-28 Crew: Padalka, Avdeyev, Baturin. Spacecraft: Soyuz TM. Payload: Soyuz TM 11F732 s/n 77. Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Soyuz 11A511U. Duration: 198.69 days. Perigee: 363 km (225 mi). Apogee: 373 km (231 mi). Inclination: 51.70 deg. Period: 91.90 min.
Soyuz TM-28 docked at 10:56 GMT on August 15 with the rear (Kvant) port of the Mir space station, which had been vacated at 09:28 GMT on August 12 by Progress M-39. The EO-25 crew, Musabayev and Budarin, landed with Baturin on Aug 25, leaving the EO-26 crew of Padalka and Avdeyev on the station. As only one final Soyuz mission to Mir was planned, with two of the seats on that Soyuz pre-sold to Slovak and French experimenters, the return crew of Soyuz TM-28 was subject to constant replanning and revision. On February 8, 1999, at 11:23 GMT Padalka and Avdeyev undocked from Mir's -X port in Soyuz TM-28, and redocked at the +X Kvant port at 11:39 GMT, freeing up the front port for the Soyuz TM-29 docking. Finally on February 27, 1999 EO-26 commander Padalka and Slovak cosmonaut Bella undocked Soyuz TM-28 from the Kvant rear docking port at 22:52 GMT, landing in Kazakhstan on February 28 at 02:14 GMT. Avdeyev remained on Mir with the EO-27 crew delivered on Soyuz TM-29, heading for a manned space flight time record.
Bibliography and Further Reading - 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.
- 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...
- NASA GSFC Orbital Parameters, .
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