Flight of the Mir orbital complex
 Mir daily chronicle for August 1999. Novosti Kosmonavtiki started its Mir chronicle back in 1992, and it is currently the most detailed account on Mir missions in the world. This issue covers the last month of the 27th main expedition (EO-27) at the orbital complex and the landing of Viktor Afanasyev, Sergey Avdeyev, and Jean-Pierre Haignere on August 28. |
Eclipse, as seen from space
Russian and French cosmonauts successfully observed and filmed Moon shadow cast on Earth during the full solar eclipse of August 11. |
Eclipse, as seen from Earth
Mariya Pobedinskaya, correspondent to Novosti Kosmonavtiki and wife of cosmonaut Sergey Avdeyev, observed the eclipse in Bulgaria. |
Defending Mir
The governmental decision to deorbit Mir faces harsh protest from different groups of Russian scientists and intellectuals. On August 16, Professor Sergey Kapitsa talked to the crew and held 'round-table' on the future of Mir. |
Farewell news conference
On August 21, the crew of Derbents gave their last news conference for Russian and French reporters. Mir commander stated with confidence that Mir can be home for several more missions if political decision is made. |
 What is conservation?
For almost 10 years, Mir crews handed over the station to each other. This time, Mir systems were prepared for half-year unpiloted flight. Author covers deactivation of certain systems, as well as measures for maintaining Mir control ability during unpiloted leg of flight. |
 Mission results for the 27th main expedition
Statistics of EO-27: launch, landing, dockings, undockings, crewmembers, EVAs. Mission results for the STS-93 mission Statistics of STS-93: launch, landing, payload, crewmembers. Shuttles are grounded for repairs The cause of short onboard Columbia during launch on July 23 is now known. As result, all the four shuttles are grounded and repairs of their cable bundles continue. All the launch dates are uncertain except for Atlantis mission to ISS rescheduled to January 22, 2000. |
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