Sergei Krikalev

Biography

Born in Leningrad in the Soviet Union, Krikalev finished high school in 1975 and earned a mechanical engineering degree from the Leningrad Mechanical Institute in 1981. He then joined NPO Energia, where he tested space flight equipment, developed operations methods, and worked ground control. In 1985, he contributed to the rescue team for the failed Salyut 7 station, creating docking and repair procedures. Selected as a cosmonaut in 1985, he completed basic training in 1986 and was briefly assigned to the Buran Shuttle program.

Mir

By early 1988, he was training for his first long-duration Mir flight. Soyuz TM-7 launched on 26 November 1988 with Krikalev as flight engineer; the previous crew stayed an extra 25 days, setting a record for the longest six-person crew in orbit. He returned to Earth on 27 April 1989. In April 1990, he trained as backup for the eighth Mir mission.

Soyuz TM-12 launched on 19 May 1991 with Krikalev as flight engineer; that summer, he and Commander Anatoly Artsebarsky performed six EVAs for experiments and station maintenance. In July 1991, he agreed to stay on as flight engineer for the next crew, which arrived in October. After the crew swap, he and Commander Alexander Volkov continued experiments and conducted another EVA before returning on 25 March 1992. During his Mir missions, he regularly contacted amateur radio operators worldwide, notably Australian Margaret Iaquinto, with whom he communicated daily for a year and achieved the first packet radio link between an orbiting station and a ham operator.

Space Shuttle

Because the Soviet Union dissolved while he was in space, his return was delayed, and he spent 311 days in orbit—twice the original plan. Time dilation from his high velocity made him 0.02 seconds younger than others born at the same time. In October 1992, NASA announced an experienced cosmonaut would fly on a future Shuttle; Krikalev was one of two candidates named by the Russian Space Agency for STS-60. He flew on STS-60, launched 3 February 1994, as the first Russian cosmonaut on the Shuttle, conducting Remote Manipulator System operations during the eight-day mission.

He later flew on STS-88 Endeavour (4–15 December 1998), the first ISS assembly mission, where he and commander Robert Cabana became the first to enter the new station together on 10 December 1998. Krikalev was a member of Expedition 1, launching 31 October 2000 and docking with the ISS on 2 November 2000, where the crew prepared the station for future crews. He later returned as commander of Expedition 11.

Public activities

Sergei Krikalev led the Russian Gliding Federation from 1999 to 2007. In February 2012, he joined the Public Chamber of the Central Federal District and became a confidant of Vladimir Putin. He was later appointed as the Sevastopol Governor's representative in Moscow and St. Petersburg in April 2014.

By September 2016, he was a confidant for the United Russia party. Since 2017, he has served as President of the Aircraft Sports Federation of Russia. He has also been President of the International Environmental Foundation Clean Seas since 2009.

Awards

He was the first person awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation. His awards include Hero of the Soviet Union, Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR, Order of Lenin, Order For Merit to the Fatherland 4th class, Order of Honour, Order of Friendship of Peoples, Medal 'For Merit in Space Exploration', and Medal 'In Commemoration of the 300th Anniversary of Saint Petersburg'. Foreign awards include Officer of the Legion of Honour, NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, and three NASA Space Flight Medals.

He overtook Sergei Avdeyev's record for career total time in space during Expedition 11. On 23 May 2007, he was selected as an honorary citizen of Saint Petersburg. He was one of five cosmonauts to raise the Russian flag at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.