Aleksandr Ivanovich Lazutkin (russian: Александр Иванович Лазуткин; born October 30, 1957) is a Russian

cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

Life and career

Lazutkin attended the

Moscow Aviation Institute Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University) (MAI; russian: Московский авиационный институт, МАИ) is one of the major engineering institutes in Moscow, Russia. Since its inception MAI has been spearhe ...

and received a

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

degree. He was selected as cosmonaut on March 3, 1992. His first spaceflight was

Soyuz TM-25 Soyuz TM-25 was a crewed Soyuz spaceflight, which launched on February 10, 1997.The mission report is available here: http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/soyuz-TM-25.htm It transported Russian cosmonauts Vasily Tsibliyev, Aleksandr Lazutkin, ...

, on which he was the flight engineer. Lazutkin has said that Russian cosmonauts were given

cognac Cognac ( , also , ) is a variety of brandy named after the Communes of France, commune of Cognac, France. It is produced in the surrounding wine-growing region in the Departments of France, departments of Charente and Charente-Maritime. Cog ...

for extended missions in space.

1997 Progress supply mission

Lazutkin was aboard the

Mir Space Station ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...

when a collision occurred with the unmanned

Progress Progress is the movement towards a refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. In the context of progressivism, it refers to the proposition that advancements in technology, science, and social organization have resulted, and by extension wi ...

M34, its supply craft which was piloted by

Vasily Tsibliyev Vasily Vasiliyevich Tsibliyev (russian: Василий Василиевич Циблиев); born on February 20, 1954) is retired Russian cosmonaut and former head of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. Life He was selected as a cosmona ...

while on the Mir. The collision, which is considered the worst in the history of the space age, knocked out the

Spektr Spektr (russian: Спектр; en, Spectrum) (TKM-O, 77KSO, 11F77O) was the fifth module of the Mir Space Station. The module was designed for remote observation of Earth's environment containing atmospheric and surface research equipment. Sp ...

's solar panels and took the Mir out of its alignment with the sun, also causing it to lose power. It also caused the cabin to decompress. Quick action by the three crewmen managed to stave off immediate disaster. Lazutkin and fellow crewman

Michael Foale Colin Michael Foale (; born 6 January 1957) is a British-American astrophysicist and former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of six space missions, and is the only NASA astronaut to have flown extended missions aboard both Mir and the Internati ...

quickly severed the connecting cables with the module and sealed off the hatches to the module, saving the rest of the station. Lazutkin managed to successfully cut some of the wires connecting the Mir and the Spektr using a tiny dinner knife. A few days after the collision, Tsibliyev and Lazutkin were ordered to attempt to repair the Mir. Foale was ordered to the

Soyuz-TM The Soyuz-TM were fourth generation (1986–2002) Soyuz spacecraft used for ferry flights to the Mir and International Space Station, ISS space stations. The Soyuz spacecraft consisted of three parts, the Orbital Module, the Descent Module and th ...

escape pod. The station was eventually secured safely.

References

1957 births Living people Moscow Aviation Institute alumni Cosmonauts from Moscow Heroes of the Russian Federation Mir crew members {{Astronaut-stub