Cosmonaut Biography: Fyodor Yurchikhin

Veteran Russian spaceflyer Fyodor Yurchikhin poses for a cosmonaut portrait. CREDIT: NASA.

NAME: Fyodor Nikolayevich Yurchikhin (Ph.D)
RSC Energia Test-Cosmonaut

PERSONAL DATA: Born January 3, 1959, in Batumi, Autonomous Republic of Ajara in Georgia. Married to Larisa Anatolievna Yurshikina, born in Shyolkovo, Moscow region. They have two daughters.

His father, Nikolai Fyodorovich Yurchikhin, and mother, Mikrula Sofoklevna Yurchikhina, reside in Sindos, Greece. He also has a brother, 2 years younger. Hobbies include collecting stamps and space logos, sports, history of cosmonautics, and promotion of space. He also enjoys reading history, science fiction and the classics.

EDUCATION: After graduation from high school in Batumi in 1976, he entered the Moscow Aviation Institute named after Sergey Ordzhonikidze. He finished studying in 1983, and is qualified as a mechanical engineer, specializing in airspace vehicles. In 2001, he graduated from the Moscow Service State University with a Ph.D. in economics.

EXPERIENCE: Since graduating from the S. Ordzhonikidze Moscow Aviation Institute in 1983, Yurchikhin has worked at the Russian Space Corporation Energia. He began working as a controller in the Russian Mission Control Center, and held the positions of engineer, senior engineer, and lead engineer, eventually becoming a lead engineer for Shuttle-Mir and NASA-Mir Programs.

In August 1997, he was enrolled in the RSC Energia cosmonaut detachment as a cosmonaut-candidate.

From January 1998 to November 1999, he completed his basic training course. In November 1999, he was qualified as a test cosmonaut. In January 2000, he started training in the test-cosmonaut group for the ISS program.

In October 2002, Fyodor Yurchikhin flew aboard STS-112. In completing his first space flight he has logged a total of 10 days, 19 hours, and 58 minutes in space.

Fyodor Yurchikhin is assigned to command the Expedition-15 mission to the International Space Station, arriving at the complex aboard a Soyuz spacecraft scheduled to launch in April 2007, for a six month tour of duty aboard the Station.

SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: STS-112 Atlantis (October 7-18, 2002) launched from and returned to land at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. STS-112 was an International Space Station assembly mission during which the crew conducted joint operations with the Expedition-5 by delivering and installing the S-One Truss (the third piece of the station's 11-piece Integrated Truss Structure).

Three spacewalks were required to outfit and activate the new component. The crew also transferred cargo between the two vehicles and used the shuttle's thruster jets during two maneuvers to raise the station's orbit. STS-112 was the first shuttle mission to use a camera on the External Tank, providing a live view of the launch to flight controllers and NASA TV viewers. The STS-112 mission was accomplished in 170 orbits, traveling 4.5 million miles in 10 days, 19 hours, and 58 minutes.

Last updated: November 2006

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