Progress M-8

{{Infobox spaceflight

| name = Progress M-8

| image =

| image_caption =

| mission_type = Mir resupply

| operator =

| COSPAR_ID = 1991-038A

| SATCAT =

| mission_duration =

| spacecraft_type = Progress-M 11F615A55

| manufacturer = NPO Energia

| dry_mass =

| launch_mass = {{convert|7250|kg|lb}}

| launch_date = {{start-date|30 May 1991, 08:04:03|timezone=yes}} UTC

| launch_rocket = Soyuz-U2

| launch_site = Baikonur Site 1/5

| disposal_type = Deorbited

| decay_date = {{end-date|16 August 1991, 06:59:32|timezone=yes}} UTC

| orbit_epoch =

| orbit_reference = Geocentric

| orbit_regime = Low Earth

| orbit_periapsis = {{convert|391|km}}

| orbit_apoapsis = {{convert|394|km}}

| orbit_inclination = 51.6 degrees

| orbit_period =

| apsis = gee

| docking =

{{Infobox spaceflight/Dock

| docking_target = Mir

| docking_type = dock

| docking_port = Core Forward

| docking_date = 1 June 1991, 09:44:37 UTC

| undocking_date = 15 August 1991, 22:16:59 UTC

| time_docked = 75 days

}}

| cargo_mass =

| cargo_mass_press =

| cargo_mass_fuel =

| cargo_mass_gas =

| cargo_mass_water =

}}

Progress M-8 ({{langx|ru|Прогресс М-8|italic=yes}}) was a Soviet uncrewed cargo spacecraft which was launched in 1991 to resupply the Mir space station.{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1991-038A|title=Progress M-8|publisher=US National Space Science Data Center|work=NSSDC Master Catalog|access-date=2009-08-28}} The twenty-sixth of sixty four Progress spacecraft to visit Mir, it used the Progress-M 11F615A55 configuration,{{cite web|url=http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/progress-m.htm|title=Progress-M 1 - 13, 15 - 37, 39 - 67 (11F615A55, 7KTGM)|first=Gunter|last=Krebs|publisher=Gunter's Space Page|access-date=2009-08-28}} and had the serial number 207.{{cite web|url=http://planet4589.org/space/log/launchlog.txt|title=Launch Log|last=McDowell|first=Jonathan|publisher=Jonathan's Space Page|access-date=2009-08-28}} It carried supplies including food, water and oxygen for the EO-9 crew aboard Mir, as well as equipment for conducting scientific research, and fuel for adjusting the station's orbit and performing manoeuvres. It also carried the Naduvaniy Hazovoy Ballon satellite, which was subsequently deployed from Mir.{{cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/flights/mireo9.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040107100506/http://www.astronautix.com/flights/mireo9.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 7, 2004|title=Mir EO-9|last=Wade|first=Mark|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|access-date=2009-08-28}}

Progress M-8 was launched at 08:04:03 GMT on 30 May 1991, atop a Soyuz-U2 carrier rocket flying from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Following two days of free flight, it docked with the forward port of Mir's core module at 09:44:37 GMT on 1 June.{{cite web|url=http://space.kursknet.ru/cosmos/english/cargoes/prm8.sht|first=Alexander|last=Anikeev|publisher=Manned Astronautics - Figures & Facts|title=Cargo spacecraft "Progress M-8"|access-date=2009-08-28|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009100455/http://space.kursknet.ru/cosmos/english/cargoes/prm8.sht|archive-date=2007-10-09}}{{cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/craft/proressm.htm|title=Progress M|last=Wade|first=Mark|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|access-date=2009-08-28|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090710175743/http://www.astronautix.com/craft/proressm.htm|archive-date=2009-07-10}}

During the 75 days for which Progress M-8 was docked, Mir was in an orbit of around {{convert|391|by|394|km|nmi}}, inclined at 51.6 degrees. Progress M-8 undocked from Mir at 22:16:59 GMT on 15 August, and was deorbited the next day, to a destructive reentry over the Pacific Ocean at around 06:59:32.{{cite web|url=http://www.planet4589.org/space/log/satcat.txt|title=Satellite Catalog|last=McDowell|first=Jonathan|publisher=Jonathan's Space Page|access-date=2009-08-28}}