The Russian recoverable satellite for research,Foton-12, was launched by a Soyuz-2 rocket, form Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia, on 9 September 1999, as part of a continuing programme of microgravity research. The Foton-12 mission is an international project under the leadership of the Russian Space Agency (RKA), with participation in the experimental payload by the European Space Agency (ESA), German Space Agency (DLR) and French Space Agency (CNES). ESA's scientific contribution included ten experiments, seven of which used the Biopan and Fluidpac facilities. The experiment Stone simulates the entry of meteorites into the Earth's atmosphere. Foton-12 remained in low-Earth orbit for 15 days, safely landing 133 km. north-west of Orenburg, Russia, on 24 September 1999. ESA scientists and engineers monitored the mission from two differnet locations: the TeleScience Centre, Esrange, Kiruna, Sweden, and the KB Photon User Centre, Samara, Russia, which has direct links to the Foton-12 Flight Control Centre, Moscow.

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