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VICTOR MIKHAILOVICH AFANASYEV (COLONEL, RUSSIAN AIR FORCE)
TEST COSMONAUT OF THE YU.A. GAGARIN COSMONAUT TRAINING CENTER

PERSONAL: Born December 31, 1948, in Bryansk, Russia. Married to Yelena Ya. Afanasyeva, born 1952. They have two children. His father, Mikhail Z. Afanasyev, is deceased. His mother, Marya S. Afanaasyeva, resides in Merkulyevo, Bryansk region, Russia. Victors recreational interests include football, swimming, and tourism.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Kachynskoye Military Pilot School in 1970 and the Ordzhonikidze Aviation Institute, Moscow, in 1980.

SPECIAL HONORS: Hero of the Soviet Union; Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.

EXPERIENCE: 1970 to 1976 served in the Air Force fighting troops as a pilot, senior pilot and aircraft flight commander. 1976 to 1977 attended the Test Pilot Training Center. 1977 to 1988 served as a test pilot and senior test pilot at the State Research/Test Institute named after Valery Chkalov. Victor Afanasyev has a Class 1 military test pilot certification. He has logged over 2000 flight hours in more than 40 different aircraft.

GCTC EXPERIENCE: 1985 to 1987 Victor Afanasyev was taking basic space training course at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center on the part-time training basis. He reported to the GCTC and proceeded to advanced training in 1988. From February 1989 on Afanasyev was training for a space flight aboard the Mir orbital station as the Mir-7 mission backup crew commander.

He has logged 175 flight days during his first space flight (December 2, 1990 to May 26, 1991) as the Mir-8 mission crew commander. The mission program included joint flight with a Japanese and British crewmember. He performed 4 EVAs totaling 20 hours and 55 minutes.

January 8 to July 9, 1994, Afanasyev was participating in a space flight aboard the Soyuz-TM-18 transport vehicle and Mir orbital station as the Mir-15 mission crew commander.

October 1996 to January 1998 Afanasyev was training for the Mir-25 mission as a backup crew commander. The mission was supposed to include NASA-7 and Pegasus (CNES) programs.

From March 1998 he underwent training as the Mir-27 mission primary crew commander. February 20 to August 28, 1999, he was participating in a 189-day space flight aboard the Soyuz-TM transport vehicle and Mir orbital station. He has performed 3 EVAs.

Colonel Afanasyev is a veteran of 3 long-duration missions. He has logged over 545 days in space, and 7 EVAs totaling 38.55 hours. He has a Class 1 cosmonaut certification.

Presently Victor Afanasyev is assigned to the ISS Taxi-1 backup crew.

Alexandrov became an astronaut in 1978. He flew aboard the second Soviet-Bulgarian space mission in 1988. He spent eight days aboard the Mir Space Station.

Yury Valentinovich Lonchakov born 4 March 1965) is a Russian cosmonaut and a veteran of three space missions. He has spent 200 days in space and has conducted two career spacewalks. Lonchakov was born on March 4, 1965, in Balkhash, Dzhezkazkansk Region, Kazakhstan. He considers Aktyubinsk as his native city since he had spent his childhood and youth there. Lonchokov's parents, Lonchakov Valentin Gavrilovich and Galina Vasilyevna were geologists. He is married to Lonchakova (Dolmatova) Tatyana Alexeevna. They have one son, Kirill, born in 1990. His hobbies include books, tourism, auto-tourism, downhill skiing, sport games.