A Chronology of mission events in orbit and on the ground. Mir existed for fifteen years growing from the original 20 tonne core module to a massive 130+ tonnes.
| Date |
Time (UTC) |
Event |
| 1998 Jan 23 |
02:48 |
Space Shuttle Endeavour launched from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on mission STS-89 into orbit of 296 x 306 kilometres at 51.6 degrees inclination with crew consisting of Terrence Wilcutt (commander), Joe Edwards (pilot) and mission specialists James Reilly, Michael Anderson, Bonny Dunbar, Salizhan Sharipov (Russia) and Andrew Thomas |
| 1998 Jan 24 |
20:14 |
Endeavour docks with the Orbiter Docking System unit on the front port of KristallKristall - orbit is 378 x 387 kilometres |
| 1998 Jan 29 |
16:33 |
Soyuz TM-27 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Soyuz rocket into 188 x 222 kilometre orbit at 51.6 degrees inclination with cosmonauts Talgat Musabevey, Nikolai Budarin and Leopold Eyharts (France) aboard |
| 1998 Jan 29 |
16:56 |
Endeavour undocks from Mir carring Wilcutt, Edwards, Reilly, Anderson, Dunbar, Sharipov and Wolf - it performs a flyaround of Mir before departing |
| 1998 Jan 30 |
12:53 |
Progress M-37 undocks from Mir |
| 1998 Jan 31 |
02:36 |
Wheel stop - Endeavour STS-89 mission is over |
| 1998 Jan 31 |
17:54 |
Soyuz TM-27 docks with the rear port of Kvant - orbit is 379 x 385 kilometres |
| 1998 Jan 31 |
21:28 |
Endeavour fires its OMS engines to initiate re-entry |
| 1998 Jan 31 |
22:35 |
Endeavour lands on the Kennedy Space Center runway |
| 1998 Feb 19 |
05:52 |
Soyuz TM-26 undocks from Mir with Solovyov, Vinogradov and Eyharts (France) aboard |
| 1998 Feb 19 |
08:16 |
Soyuz TM-26 makes its retro-fire |
| 1998 Feb 19 |
09:10 |
Soyuz TM-26 lands |
| 1998 Feb 20 |
08:48 |
Soyuz TM-27 undocks from Mir with Musabeyev, Budarin and Thomas aboard |
| 1998 Feb 20 |
09:32 |
After Mir has executed a 180 degree rotation, Soyuz TM-27 re-docks with Mir's forward-facing port - orbit is 377 x 385 kilometres |
| 1998 Feb 23 |
12:32 |
Progress M-37 docks automatically with the rear port of Kvant for a second time - orbit is 378 x 389 kilometres |
| 1998 Mar 14 |
22:44 |
Progress M-38 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Soyuz rocket into 190 x 230 kilometre orbit at 51.6 degrees inclination |
| 1998 Mar 15 |
19:16 |
Progress M-37 undocks from Mir |
| 1998 Mar 15 |
22:14 |
Progress M-37 fires its retro-rocket to initiate re-entry, and after about 50 minutes it enters the upper atmosphere and burns up as a result of frictional heating |
| 1998 Mar 17 |
00:31 |
Progress M-38 docks automatically with the rear port of Kvant - orbit is 376 x 383 kilometres |
| 1998 May 2 |
|
Space Shuttle Discovery starts its rollout to the Pad for mission STS-91 |
| 1998 May 14 |
22:12 |
Progress M-39 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Soyuz rocket into 188 x 220 kilometre orbit at 51.6 degrees inclination |
| 1998 May 15 |
18:43 |
Progress M-38 undocks from Mir |
| 1998 May 15 |
21:39 |
Progress M-38 fires its retro-rocket to initiate re-entry, and after about 50 minutes it enters the upper atmosphere and burns up as a result of frictional heating |
| 1998 May 16 |
23:30 |
Progress M-39 docks automatically with the rear port of Kvant - orbit is 371 x 379 kilometres |
| 1998 Jun 2 |
22:06 |
Space Shuttle Discovery launched from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on mission STS-89 into orbit of 239 x 327 kilometres at 51.6 degrees inclination with crew consisting of Charles Precourt (commander), Dominic Gorie (pilot) and mission specialists Wend Lawrence, Franklin Chang-Diaz, Janet Kavandi and Valery Ryumin (Russia) - it is the final planned visit of a US Space Suttle to Mir |
| 1998 Jun 4 |
16:58 |
Discovery docks with the Orbiter Docking System unit on the front port of KristallKristall - orbit is 370 x 378 kilometres |
| 1998 Jun 8 |
16:01 |
Discovery undocks from Mir carring Precourt, Gorie, Chang-Diaz, Lawrence, Kavandi, Ryumin andThomas - it performs a flyaround of Mir before departing |
| 1998 Jun 12 |
16:51 |
Discovery fires its OMS engines to initiate re-entry |
| 1998 Jun 12 |
18:00 |
Discovery lands on the Kennedy Space Center runway |
| 1998 Jun 12 |
18:01 |
Wheel stop - Discovery STS-91 mission is over |
| 1998 Aug 12 |
09:28 |
Progress M-39 undocks from Mir in order to clear the Kvant docking port for the upcoming Soyuz TM-28 mission |
| 1998 Aug 13 |
09:43 |
Soyuz TM-28 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Soyuz rocket into 177 x 238 kilometre orbit at 51.6 degrees inclination with cosmonauts Gennady Padalka, Sergei Avdeyev and Yuri Baturin aboard |
| 1998 Aug 15 |
10:56 |
Soyuz TM-28 docks with the rear port of Kvant - orbit is 364 x 374 kilometres |
| 1998 Aug 25 |
02:04 |
Soyuz TM-27 undocks from Mir with Musabayev, Balandin and Baturin aboard |
| 1998 Aug 25 |
04:31 |
Soyuz TM-27 makes its retro-fire |
| 1998 Aug 25 |
05:24 |
Soyuz TM-27 lands |
| 1998 Aug 27 |
05:47 |
Soyuz TM-28 undocks from Mir with Padalka and Avdeyev aboard |
| 1998 Aug 27 |
06:07 |
After Mir has executed a 180 degree rotation, Soyuz TM-28 re-docks with Mir's forward-facing port - orbit is 363 x 373 kilometres |
| 1998 Sep 1 |
05:34 |
Progress M-39 docks automatically with the rear port of Kvant for a second time - orbit is 362 x 372 kilometres |
| 1998 Oct 25 |
04:14 |
Progress M-40 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Soyuz rocket into 190 x 222 kilometre orbit at 51.6 degrees inclination - its cargo includes the The 'Znamya 2.5' space mirror to be deployed ofter separation of Progress M-40 from Mir |
| 1998 Oct 25 |
23:03 |
Progress M-39 undocks from Mir for the second time |
| 1998 Oct 27 |
05:34 |
Progress M-40 docks automatically with the rear port of Kvant - orbit is 355 x 365 kilometres |
| 1998 Oct 29 |
03:27 |
Progress M-39 fires its retro-rocket to initiate re-entryresult of frictional heating |
| 1998 Oct 29 |
04:14 |
Progress M-39 enters the upper atmosphere and burns up as a result of frictional heating |
