Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Serebrov (russian: Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Серебро́в, 15 February 1944 – 12 November 2013) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

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 ...

. He graduated from

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT; russian: Московский Физико-Технический институт, also known as PhysTech), is a public research university located in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It prepares speciali ...

(1967), and was selected as a cosmonaut on 1 December 1978. He retired on 10 May 1995. He was married and had one child. Serebrov flew on

Soyuz T-7 Soyuz T-7 (; code name Dnieper) was the third Soviet space mission to the Salyut 7 space station. Crew member Svetlana Savitskaya was the first woman in space in almost twenty years, since Valentina Tereshkova who flew in 1963 on Vostok 6. Savi ...

Soyuz T-8 Soyuz T-8 was a crewed mission to the Salyut 7 space station in 1983. Shortly into the mission, the spacecraft failed to dock with the space station due to an incident involving an antenna being torn off the craft by the protective launch shroud. ...

Soyuz TM-8 Soyuz TM-8 was a 1989 spaceflight which carried the fifth long duration crew to the Soviet space station Mir.The mission report is available here: http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/soyuz-TM8.htm It was part of the Soyuz-TM series of s ...

, and

Soyuz TM-17 Soyuz TM-17 was a Russian spaceflight to the space station Mir, launched on July 1, 1993. It carried Russian cosmonauts Vasily Tsibliyev and Aleksandr Serebrov, along with French astronaut Jean-Pierre Haigneré. It lasted 196 days and 17 hours, ...

. He was one of very few cosmonauts to fly for both the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and the Russian Federation that followed it. He held the record for most spacewalks, 10, until Anatoly Solovyev surpassed it. In all, he spent 371.95 days in space. Serebrov contributed to the design of

Salyut 6 Salyut 6 (russian: Салют-6; lit. Salute 6), DOS-5, was a Soviet orbital space station, the eighth station of the Salyut programme. It was launched on 29 September 1977 by a Proton rocket. Salyut 6 was the first space station to recei ...

, Salyut 7, and the

Mir ''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 ...

space stations. He helped design, and, according to a New York Times obituary, "was the first to test a one-person vehicle - popularly called a space motorcycle - to rescue space crews in distress and repair satellites." This vehicle, known as ''Icarus'', was tested in February 1990, and remained onboard ''

'' for several years but was never used after that. Serebrov died suddenly in Moscow on 12 November 2013, aged 69, and was buried on November 15 at Ostankinsky cemetery. He is also known for playing ''

Tetris ''Tetris'' (russian: link=no, Тетрис) is a puzzle video game created by Soviet software engineer Alexey Pajitnov in 1984. It has been published by several companies for multiple platforms, most prominently during a dispute over the appro ...

'' on a

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same t ...

in the spacecraft, making it the first time a video game has ever been played in space.

Awards and honors

* Title of

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union (russian: Герой Советского Союза, translit=Geroy Sovietskogo Soyuza) was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for ...

* Title of

Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR The honorary title Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR (russian: Летчик-космонавт СССР) was a state award of the Soviet Union presented to all cosmonauts who flew for the Soviet Space Agency. Usually accompanying the distinction ...

Order of Friendship of Peoples The Order of Friendship of Peoples (russian: oрден Дружбы народов, translit=orden Druzhby narodov) was an order of the Soviet Union, and was awarded to persons (including non-citizens), organizations, enterprises, military unit ...

* Two

Orders of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...

Order of the October Revolution The Order of the October Revolution (russian: Орден Октябрьской Революции, ''Orden Oktyabr'skoy Revolyutsii'') was instituted on October 31, 1967, in time for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. It was conferr ...

Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" The Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" (russian: Медаль "За заслуги в освоении космоса") is a state decoration of the Russian Federation aimed at recognising achievements in the space program. It was established ...

(Russian Federation) * Officer of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

(France) Asteroid 365375 Serebrov, discovered by Timur Kryachko in 2009, was named in his memory. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on 8 November 2019 ().

References

Soviet cosmonauts Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology alumni Heroes of the Soviet Union 1944 births 2013 deaths Cosmonauts from Moscow Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Salyut program cosmonauts Spacewalkers Mir crew members {{hero-USSR-stub