Soyuz TM-27

Soyuz TM-27 launched from Baikonur Site 1/5 on January 29, 1998 with commander Talgat Musabayev, flight engineer Nikolai Budarin, and French research cosmonaut Léopold Eyharts. The spacecraft docked with Mir on January 31, beginning the Mir-25 expedition and the French-Russian Pégase mission. ESA's Pégase page and Spacefacts both identify Eyharts as the research cosmonaut launched on this flight. Eyharts spent about three weeks on Mir conducting French experiments and returned to Earth on Soyuz TM-26 with the previous resident crew. Musabayev and Budarin remained aboard Mir, worked with NASA astronaut Andrew Thomas after STS-89, and performed a series of EVAs in April 1998 to repair the Spektr solar panel and install the VDU station-orientation system on the Sofora boom. Soyuz TM-27 undocked and landed on August 25, 1998 with Musabayev, Budarin, and Yuri Baturin, who had arrived later on Soyuz TM-28.