CLASSIFICATION: 78/308.
NUMBER OF MISSIONS: 3.
SPACE FLIGHT HOURS: 322 days 16 hours 51 min. 06 sec.
EVA OPERATIONS: 3.
TOTAL EVA DURATION: 17 hours 22 min.
PLACE AND DATE OF BIRTH: December 22, 1961, Svetlovodsk, Kirovograd region, UkSSR (Ukraine).
NATIONALITY: Ukrainian.
EDUCATION:
1978 – finished the secondary school of Pavlovka village with honors, Svetlovodsk district, Kirovograd region;
1979 - finished the first year of the Kharkov radio electronics institute;
1983 - graduated with honors from the Kharkov Gritsevts Air Force Pilots school and acquired the pilot-engineer diploma;
1993 - graduated from the correspondence department of the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy getting the Engineering tactical training and flying vehicles major.
OCCUPATION BEFORE JOINING COSMONAUT CORPS:
From December 15, 1983 – a pilot,
from November 30, 1984 – a senior pilot,
from November 28, 1986 – a air squad commander of Guards fighter regiment 684of fighter division 119 for the Air Force of the Odessa Military command, Tiraspol, Moldavia SSR.
DATE OF JOINING COSMONAUT CORPS (GROUP NUMBER, DATE):
March 26, 1987 - by the State Interdepartmental Board decision selected for the enrollment in the cosmonauts corps of the Air Force Cosmonaut training center (the seventh group);
October 6, 1987 - by The Soviet Ministry of Defence order assigned for a position of cosmonaut-tester candidate of the sixth group;
from August 30, 1989 – a cosmonaut-tester of the first group.
RATING: - 1984 - a third-class pilot (total flight time more than 800 hours, more than 150 parachute jumps);
1995 - а second-class cosmonaut.
BACK-UP ACTIVITY:
January to June 1993 – a commander of the backup crew (the third one) under the Primary Expedition-14 to the Mir space station along with G. Strekalov;
August to December 17, 1993 – a commander of the second crew under the Primary Expedition-15 program to fly to the Mir space station along with T. Musabaev and G. Arzamazov;
January 8, 1994 – a backup for V. Afanasyev the Soyuz TM-18 commander;
February 24, 1998 – a commander of the ISS Expedition-4 backup crew;
SPACE FLIGHTS PERFORMED:
The first flight - July 1 to November 4, 1994 – a commander of the Primary Expedition-16 aboard the Mir space station. Had the launch aboard the Soyuz TM-19 along with T. Musabaev. During the mission performed two EVA operations. Landed along with T. Musabaev and U. Merbold (ESA). Flight duration:125 days 22 hours 53 min. 36 sec. Call sign: Agat-1;
The second mission – September 8 through September 20, 2000 – a mission specialist of the Atlantis STS-106 crew intended to assemble the ISS along with T. Wilcutt, S.Altman, D. Burbank, R. Mastracchio, E. Lu (USA) and B. Morukov. Had one EVA operation lasted for 6 hours 14 minutes.Flight duration: 11 days 19 hours 11 min. 02 sec.
The third flight – April 26 – October 28, 2003- a commander of the ISS and Soyuz TMA-2 spacecraft, launched together with D-r Edward Tsan Lu. Flight duration: 184 days 22 hours 46 min. 28 sec.
AWARDS:
Medal “Gold Star” of the Russian Hero (10 February 1995),
Order of Military Service (2000),
For Excellent Military Service Medal of the third grade,
For Excellent Military Service Medal of the second grade (4 April 1996),
For Excellent Military Service Medal of the first grade (2000),
For Faultless Service Medal of the third grade (1990),
For Military Valor Medal of the first grade (2000),
The 70-th celebration of the Soviet Armed Forces Medal (1988),
Kazakhstan Republic National Hero Medal (1995).
PRESENT TIME: December 17, 1995- an Air Force colonel (ahead of time),
April 29, 1995 – an instructor, cosmonaut-tester.

---