He landed in Kazakhstan, bringing to an end the fifth French-Russian mission named Perseus and making him the non-Russian astronaut to have spent the longest time in space during one spaceflight.

During the flight (20 February-28 August 1999), Haigneré carried out scientific research on behalf of the French space agency CNES. He made one spacewalk outside Mir on 16 April to collect experiment samples.

Credits: ESA/CNES

Tognini participated in the “Antares” mission from 27 July–10 August 1992. This was his first flight to Mir, where he spent 14 days carrying out a program of joint Soviet-French experiments.

His second flight was on STS-93 which took place from 22-27 July 1999. During this mission his primary task was to assist in the deployment of the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and to conduct a spacewalk if needed. The Chandra X-Ray Observatory is designed to conduct comprehensive studies of the universe, and the telescope will enable scientists to study exotic phenomena such as exploding stars, quasars, and black holes.

On 1 May 2003, Tognini left the European Astronaut Corps and was assigned as Head of the Astronaut Division at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC), Cologne, Germany.

Credits: ESA

Front line left to right: Paolo Nespoli, Roberto Vittori, Hans Schlegel, Christer Fuglesang, André Kuipers
Back line left to right: Frank De Winne, Jean-François Clervoy, Leopold Eyharts.

Credits: ESA-J-L.Atteleyn

Shortly after the spacewalk officially started to 15:27 CET (14:27 UT), Schlegel and NASA astronaut Rex Walheim headed out of the International Space Station’s Quest Airlock. The spacewalkers main task was to replace a nitrogen tank used to pressurise the Station's ammonia cooling system. The replacement of the tank is part of regular Station maintenance. A new nitrogen tank was carried to ISS inside Atlantis’ payload bay.

Credits: ESA/NASA