Cosmonaut Biography: Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko

NAME: Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko
(Colonel, Russian Air Force)
Test Cosmonaut
Yuri A. GAGARIN Cosmonaut Training Center

PERSONALDATA: Born Dec. 22, 1961 in Svetlovodsk,Kirovograd Region, Ukraine.

EDUCATION: Graduated from the Kharkov Military Aviation School in 1983,and from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy in 1993.

HONORS: Awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation medal, theNational Hero of Kazakhstan medal, Military award of excellence, MeritoriousService medals (3), Commendation medal, Achievement medal, Medal ?70 years ofthe Soviet Armed Forces?.

EXPERIENCE: After graduation from the Military Aviation School, heserved as a pilot, senior pilot and multi-ship flight lead from 1983 till 1987 inthe Odessa Region. In 1987 he was selected as a cosmonaut, and arrived at theGagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. From Dec. 1987 to June 1989 he underwent acourse of general space training.

Aftercompletion of the course, Malenchenko was qualified as a test-cosmonaut. InSept. 1989 ? Dec. 1993 he was taking advanced training courses getting readyfor spaceflight. In Jan.-July, 1993 Malenchenko trained as commander of theMir-14 reserve crew. In July 1993 ? Jan. 1994 he completed training as a backupcommander of the Mir-15 crew. In Feb. ? June 1994 he trained for the Mir-16mission.

SPACEFLIGHT EXPERIENCE: Malenchenko completed his first126-day spaceflight in July 1 ? Nov. 4, 1994 on the Soyuz TM-14 vehicle and theMir station (Mir-16 mission). The mission included spaceflight of Ulf Merbold,an ESA astronaut as part of the EuroMir program. Malenchenko completed twospacewalks that lasted 11 hours and 7 minutes total. He performed the firstmanual docking of the Mir station with the Progress M-24 vehicle in theteleoperator mode. Since Oct. 1998 till Sept. 2000 Malenchenko trained at NASAfor a Shuttle spaceflight (2A, later 2A.2B).

Malenchenko servedon the crew of STS-106 preparing the InternationalSpace Station for the arrival of the first permanent crew. The fiveastronauts and two cosmonauts delivered more than 6,600 pounds of supplies andinstalled batteries, power converters, a toilet and a treadmill on the SpaceStation. Yuri Malenchenko and Ed Lu performed a 6 hour and 14 minute space walkin order to connect power, data and communications cables to the newly arrivedZvezda Service Module and the Space Station.

Since Jan.2001 he trained as a commander ofthe ISS 7 prime crew. Malenchenko completed his third spaceflight (withNASA astronaut Ed Lu) as an ISS 7 crew and Soyuz TMA commander. The flightlasted from April 26 till Oct. 27, 2003, with a total duration of 185 days.

Since Nov.2003 till Sept. 2005 Malenchenko trained with a group of test-cosmonauts.

Since Oct.2005 till Oct. 2006 he trained as a flight engineer of the ISS 14 crew andSoyuz commander.

In Oct. 2006he started training as an ISS 16 crewflight engineer and Soyuz commander that is scheduled to launch to the ISSin Oct. 2007.

Last Updated: July 2007

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  • Complete ISS Expedition Coverage

 

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