Mir Stefanik

Mir Stefanik was Slovakia's short-duration research mission to the Mir space station and Ivan Bella's only spaceflight. Bella launched from Baikonur on Soyuz TM-29 on February 20, 1999 with Viktor Afanasyev and Jean-Pierre Haignere, docked with Mir on February 22, and worked aboard the station on the Slovak Stefanik science program. Because the Soyuz TM-29 spacecraft remained attached to Mir for the long-duration Mir EO-27 crew, Bella returned separately on Soyuz TM-28 with Gennadi Padalka, undocking on February 27 and landing in Kazakhstan on February 28. The mission made Bella the first Slovak citizen in space and is modeled separately from the full Soyuz TM-29 spacecraft duration so AeroVia can show Bella's actual 7-day, 21-hour, 56-minute flight.