UMD

The Director of Academic Affairs, Mr Browne, met with Mr. Shairpov the Kyrgyz cosmonaut who expressed his wishes and good luck to the Plato University of Management and Design.

On January 23, 1998 S. Sharipov made his first orbital flight which lasted 8 days 19 hours 46 minutes and 54 seconds. Every January 23rd is the regular anniversary of this first flight of Kyrgyz cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov into space.1

Sharipov has flown two missions and has logged over 422 hours in space, including 9 hours and 58 minutes of EVA. He served as a mission specialist on the crew of STS-89 (January 22-31, 1998), the eighth Shuttle-Mir docking mission during which the crew transferred more than 8,000 pounds of scientific equipment, logistical hardware and water from Space Shuttle Endeavour to Mir. In the fifth and last exchange of a U.S. astronaut, STS-89 delivered Andy Thomas to Mir and returned with David Wolf. Mission duration was 8 days, 19 hours and 47 seconds, traveling 3.6 million miles in 138 orbits of the Earth.

(1 Extract courtsey Karbar.kg)