Happy birthday, French astronaut Jean-Pierre Haignere!

Jean-Pierre Haignere, born May 19, 1948 in Paris, France, has been in space twice as an astronaut for France's National Centre for Space Studies.

His first flight was aboard Soyuz TM-17 to the space station Mir, launched July 1, 1993.  He returned to Earth July 22 aboard Soyuz TM-16.

His second and final flight was aboard Soyuz TM-29 to Mir in February 1999.  He participated in Mir EO-27 and stayed aboard  for almost 189 days before returning to Earth in August 1999.

Soyuz TM-17 launched 1993

Soyuz TM-17 crew (L-R): Vasili Tsibliyev, Aleksandr Serebrov, Jean-Pierre Haignere

Mission patch

Soyuz TM-17, launched July 1, 1993, was the seventeenth mission to the space station Mir.  Its crew consisted of Commander Vasili Tsibliyev, Aleksandr Serebrov, and Jean-Pierre Haignere (ESA).  The spacecraft struck the station twice about 2 seconds apart, but fortunately neither the Soyuz capsule nor Mir were seriously damaged.

Soyuz TM-16 launched 1993

Soyuz TM-16 crew (L-R): Gennadi Manakov, Alexander Poleshchuk

Soyuz TM-16 mission patch

Soyuz TM-16, launched January 24, 1993, was the sixteenth expedition to the space station Mir.  Its crew consisted of  Commander Gennadi Manakov and Alexander Poleshchuk.  They made up the crew of expedition Mir EO-13.  They remained in space for 179 days and returned to Earth in July with Jean-Pierre Haignere, a French astronaut. 

Soyuz TM-29 launched 1999

Crew of Soyuz TM-29

Mission logo

Soyuz TM-29, launched February 20, 1999, was the 38th mission to Mir.  Its crew consisted of Commander Viktor Afanasyev, Flight Engineer Jean-Pierre Haignere (France), and Research Cosmonaut Ivan Bella (Slovakia).   Bella is the first Slovak citizen to go into space.  He stayed on Mir for about a week and returned to Earth on Soyuz TM-28.

Afanasyev and Haignere remained on board until August 28 and returned with fellow cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev.

I could not find a video of Soyuz TM-29 anywhere.