Soyuz TM-27

Launch & orbit data: Designation  25146 / 98004A Launch date - time  29 Jan 1998 - 16:33:42 UT Launch site  Baikonur, LC1 Launch vehicle  Soyuz 11A511U OKB name - S/Nº  Soyuz 7K-STM (11F732) s/nº 76 Mass (kg)   Flight Crew  Musabayev, Talgat (CDR) Budarin, Nikolai (FE) Eyharts, Léopold (CR) Call Sign  Kristall Backup crew  Afanasyev, Treshchev S., Haignére Earth orbit on :    - Perigee / Apogee  363 x 373 km    - Inclination  51.7°    - Period  91.9 min

Docking & landing data: Docking date - time  31 Jan 1998 - 17:54:20 UT Target spacecraft/port  Mir/Kvant +X port Undocking date - time  20 Feb 1998 - 08:18 UT Redocking date - time  20 Feb 1998 - 09:32 UT Target spacecraft/port  Mir/fore -X port Undocking date - time  25 Aug 1998 - 02:04:55 UT Deorbit burn date - time  25 Aug 1998 - 04:31:18 UT Landing date - time  25 Aug 1998 - 05:24:44 UT Landing location  near Arkalyk Flight Duration (d:hr:min)  207d 12h 51m Nbr orbits   Landing crew  Musabayev, Budarin N., Baturin Y.  (crew TM-27 & TM-28)

Launch Crew (EO-25):

French-Russian Pegasus Mission Logo - Credit: ESA.

Mission details:

• Shortly before Endeavour's undocking, Soyuz TM-27 was launched carrying the new Mir EO-25 crew and French astronaut Leopold Eyharts. After Soyuz TM-27 reached orbit and Endeavour undocked, there were 13 humans in space on three separate spacecraft, equalling the previous record.
• 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 (+X) at 17:54 UT on Jan 31, 1998, less than five hours before Endeavour landed in Florida.
• 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 UT. They redocked with the forward port on Mir at 09:32 UT. This freed up the Kvant port for a test redocking of the Progress M-37 cargo ship, currently 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.

Astrophilately covers:

Launch cancel Baikonur, send registrated to Belgium and back to Russia.

Launch cancel Baikonur, send registrated and signed by the crew on board

Space Mail: Cover with 2 blue Mir boardcancel, docking date boardcancel: 310198 and 1e undocking date boardcancel: 0190298, signed by the crew on board.

Landing cancel Arkalyk, send registrated.