Soyuz TM-29 - prime + backup crew

Soyuz TM-29 Baikonur Launch Cover — Signed by the Complete Prime and Backup Crews

Rare and historically significant Soyuz TM-29 launch cover from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, hand-signed by all six members of the mission’s official prime and backup crews.

Prime crew:

• Viktor Afanasyev — Russia, Soyuz Commander
• Jean-Pierre Haigneré — France, Flight Engineer
• Ivan Bella — Slovakia, Research Cosmonaut

Backup crew:

• Salizhan Sharipov — Russia, Backup Commander
• Claudie André-Deshays — France, Backup Flight Engineer, later known as Claudie Haigneré
• Michal Fulier — Slovakia, Backup Research Cosmonaut

Soyuz TM-29 lifted off from Baikonur’s historic Site 1 on 20 February 1999 and docked with the Mir space station two days later. The mission was unusual for carrying representatives of three nations in a single Soyuz spacecraft. With two seats assigned to France and Slovakia, Commander Viktor Afanasyev was the only Russian cosmonaut aboard.

The flight marked a major national milestone for Ivan Bella, who became the first Slovak citizen to travel into space. His short-duration mission, named Štefánik, lasted approximately eight days before he returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-28.

French astronaut Jean-Pierre Haigneré remained aboard Mir for the long-duration Perseus mission. He served as a Soyuz and Mir flight engineer, conducted an extensive program of European scientific experiments and participated in a spacewalk. His nearly 189-day flight was, at the time, the longest space mission completed by a non-Russian astronaut.

Afanasyev and Haigneré returned aboard Soyuz TM-29 on 28 August 1999, accompanied by veteran Mir cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev, who had already been aboard the station when TM-29 arrived. Their departure temporarily left Mir unoccupied and placed the station into standby mode near the end of its operational life.

The backup signatures add considerable depth to the piece. Salizhan Sharipov had already flown to Mir aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-89. Claudie André-Deshays, later Claudie Haigneré, was France’s first female space traveller and subsequently flew to the International Space Station. Michal Fulier trained as Ivan Bella’s Slovak backup for the Štefánik mission.

Bringing together six signatures from Russia, France and Slovakia, this launch cover is an exceptional document of international cooperation during the final years of the Mir program. The complete prime-and-backup crew combination is considerably more desirable than a conventionally signed mission cover and provides a direct connection to one of the most internationally distinctive Soyuz flights of the Mir era.

A rare Baikonur launch artifact signed by the complete Soyuz TM-29 prime and backup crews.