Aleksandr "Sasha" Yuriyevich Kaleri (russian: Александр Юрьевич Калери; born in
Jūrmala
Jūrmala (; "seaside") is a state city in Latvia, about west of Riga. Jūrmala is a resort town stretching and sandwiched between the Gulf of Riga and the Lielupe River. It has a stretch of white-sand beach, and a population of 49,325 in 2019 ...
,
Latvia on 13 May 1956) is a Russian cosmonaut and veteran of extended stays on 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 Station and the
International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ( ...
(ISS). Kaleri has most recently been in space aboard the ISS serving as a flight engineer for the long duration
Expedition 25
Expedition 25 was the 25th long-duration mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Expedition 25 began with the Soyuz TMA-18 undocking on 25 September 2010. Three new crewmembers (Scott Kelly, Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka) arriv ...
/
26 missions. He has spent the fourth-longest time in space of any person, the longest time in space of any currently active cosmonaut, and the longest time in space of any person not born in what is now Russia.
Personal
Kaleri is married to the Svetlana L. Nosova. They have a son, Oleg Aleksandrovich Kaleri, born in 1996. Kaleri's mother, Antonina Petrovna Kaleri, resides in Sevastopol, Crimea, and his father, Yuri Borisovich Kaleri, is deceased. Kaleri enjoys running, reading and gardening.
Education
In 1979, Kaleri graduated from the
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 ...
,
Dolgoprudny
Dolgoprudny (russian: Долгопру́дный, ) is a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located about north of Moscow city center. The town's name is derived from Russian "" (''dolgy prud'', lit. "long pond")—a long and narrow pond situated in t ...
, Moscow region, as a specialist in Aircraft Flight Dynamics and Control. In 1983, he completed post-graduate studies at the same institute as a specialist in the field of Mechanics of Fluids and Plasma.
Experience
In 1979, he was hired by the
Energia Corporation and worked on 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 station. He participated in development of design and engineering documentation, full-scale tests of the Mir. Kaleri is a skilled programmer.
Cosmonaut career
![Kaleri Exp8 Zvezda1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Kaleri_Exp8_Zvezda1.jpg)
Kaleri was selected as the Energia RSC cosmonaut candidate in April 1984. Between 1985 and 1986, he completed basic training and evaluation at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. In 1987 he was qualified for flight assignment as a test cosmonaut.
Kaleri took a training course for a spaceflight aboard the Mir orbital station as a backup crew flight engineer of the
Mir-3 mission from 1 April to 9 December 1987. He took a training course for a spaceflight aboard the Mir as a backup crew flight engineer of the Mir-9 mission from January to April 1991. From 8 October 1991 to 25 February 1992, Kaleri was training as a primary crew flight engineer for the Mir-11 mission.
Kaleri has participated in three extended missions aboard the Mir Space Station. In 1992, he participated in a 145-day flight aboard the Soyuz-TM-14 spacecraft and the Mir. Between 17 August 1996 to 2 March 1997, Kaleri spent 197-days in space aboard the Soyuz-TM-24 spacecraft and the Mir as the Mir-22 mission flight engineer. In 2000, Kaleri performed his third spaceflight aboard the Soyuz-TM-30 spacecraft and the Mir as the Mir-28 mission flight engineer.
Expedition 8
In 2003, he first flew to the
International Space Station
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ( ...
(ISS) with NASA astronaut
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 Internat ...
on his fourth spaceflight. Kaleri served as a Flight Engineer on
Expedition 8
Expedition 8 was the eighth expedition to the International Space Station.
Crew
Planned crew before ''Columbia'' disaster
Mission parameters
*Perigee: 384 km
*Apogee: 396 km
*Inclination: 51.6°
* Period: 92 min
*Docked: 20 Octo ...
and spent 194 days in space from 18 October 2003 to 30 April 2004. The
Soyuz TMA-3 Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз (Russian and Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Сою́з Сове́тских Социалис ...
spacecraft carrying Kaleri, Foale and ESA astronaut
André Kuipers
André Kuipers (; born 5 October 1958) is a Dutch physician and ESA astronaut. He became the second Dutch citizen, third Dutch-born and fifth Dutch-speaking astronaut upon launch of Soyuz TMA-4 on 19 April 2004. Kuipers returned to Earth abo ...
successfully landed in Kazakhstan at 00:11 GMT on 30 April 2004. The landing site was located some 60 kilometers northeast of the town of
Arkalyk
Arkalyk ( kz, Arqalyq; cyrl, Арқалық, russian: Аркалык) is a city in Kostanay Region, northern Kazakhstan. Earlier, it was the centre of Torgay Region, which was abolished in 1997. Today, it is the administrative centre of Torgay D ...
.
Expedition 25/26
Kaleri was a member (Flight Engineer) of the ISS Expedition 25/26, that was launched on 7 October 2010 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, aboard
Soyuz TMA-01M spacecraft, together with cosmonaut
Oleg Skripochka
Oleg Ivanovich Skripochka (russian: Оле́г Ива́нович Скри́почка; born 24 December 1969 in Nevinnomyssk, Stavropol Krai, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union) is a Russian engineer and cosmonaut. In 2011 he was in space serving as a ...
and NASA astronaut
Scott Kelly.
He served as the Soyuz commander. The mission marked Kaleri's fifth flight into space. He arrived at the ISS after the Soyuz spacecraft linked up with the space station at 00:01 UTC on 10 October 2010. He remained in the ISS till March 2011. During their mission, Kaleri and the rest of the Expedition 25/26 crew participated in a wide array of research, including fundamental physics, biometric experiments and investigations of crystal growth in space, as well as education outreach.
Spacewalks
![AKaleri inside Orlan Spacesuit](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/AKaleri_inside_Orlan_Spacesuit.jpg)
Kaleri has participated in five spacewalks and has accumulated 23
EVA
Eva or EVA may refer to:
* Eva (name), a feminine given name
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters
* Eva (Dynamite Entertainment), a comic book character by Dynamite Entertainment
* Eva (''Devil May Cry''), Dante's mother in t ...
hours.
On 8 July 1992, at 12:38 UTC Kaleri started his first career spacewalk. During the spacewalk, he and cosmonaut
Aleksandr Viktorenko
Aleksandr Stepanovich Viktorenko (; born 29 March 1947) is a Soviet/Russian cosmonaut.
He was selected as a cosmonaut on March 23, 1978, and retired on May 30, 1997. During his active career he had been Commander of Soyuz TM-3, Soyuz TM-8, Soyuz ...
inspected some of Mir's gyrodynes. The spacewalk lasted 2 hours and 3 minutes.
On 2 December 1996, Kaleri and fellow cosmonaut
Valery Korzun
Valery Grigoryevich Korzun (russian: Валерий Григорьевич Корзун, born 5 March 1953) is a Russian cosmonaut. He has been in space twice totalling 381 days. He has also conducted four career spacewalks.
Personal
He is a R ...
completed a 5 hours 57 minutes long spacewalk. The main purpose was to complete connections of the cooperative solar array to provide more electrical power to the Mir station.
The spacewalk was Kaleri's second career spacewalk.
On 9 December 1996, Kaleri and fellow cosmonaut Valery Korzun completed a 6 hours 36 minutes long spacewalk. The spacewalk began at 13:50 UTC and ended at 20:28 UTC. During the spacewalk, the two cosmonauts completed connecting the solar array and attached a new Kurs docking antenna subsequently used to guide Progress vehicles docking with Mir. They also repaired the transceiver system that the Mir crew used to talk to amateur operators all around the world.
On 12 May 2000, Kaleri and fellow cosmonaut
Sergei Zalyotin
Sergei Viktorovich Zalyotin (russian: Серге́й Викторович Залётин; born April 21, 1962) is a Russian cosmonaut and a veteran of two space missions.
Zalyotin was born in Tula, Russia, Tula and attended the Borisoglebsk Hi ...
completed a five-hour spacewalk to inspect the exterior of Mir. The two spacewalkers also tested a glue which would have been useful to seal tiny cracks, and applied the new airtight sealant to a special panel imitating a damaged section in Mir's skin. The two cosmonauts also examined the exterior of the
Progress M1-2
Progress M1-2 was a Progress spacecraft which was launched by Russia in 2000 to resupply the Mir space station. It was a Progress-M1 11F615A55 spacecraft, with the serial number 252.
Progress M1-2 was launched by a Soyuz-U carrier rocket from Si ...
cargo spacecraft.
On 26 February 2004, Kaleri and NASA astronaut
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 Internat ...
floated outside the ISS from the
''Pirs'' Docking Compartment airlock. The spacewalk began at 4:17 EST, and Foale and Kaleri were able to complete all but two of their planned tasks, swapping out experiment packages and mounting an instrumented dummy torso on the station's hull to measure the radiation environment faced by spacewalking astronauts. Although the spacewalk was originally planned for 5 hours and 30 minutes, it was cut short due to a cooling system malfunction in Kaleri's spacesuit. Kaleri reported seeing drops of water on the inside of his spacesuit's visor. The spacewalk lasted 3 hours and 55 minutes. The excursion was the fifth career spacewalk for Kaleri.
Honours and awards
*
Hero of the Russian Federation (11 August 1992) - for the successful implementation of long-duration space flight on the orbital station ''Mir'' and displaying courage and heroism
*
Order of Merit for the Fatherland
Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to:
* Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood
* Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...
;
**2nd class (9 November 2000) - for courage and heroism displayed during spaceflight on the orbital scientific research complex ''Mir''
**3rd class (11 April 1997) - for courage and heroism displayed during prolonged space flight 22nd major expedition to the orbital scientific research complex ''Mir''
**4th class (12 April 2011) - for courage and professionalism shown during the implementation of long-duration space flight on the International Space Station
*
Order of Friendship
The Order of Friendship (russian: Орден Дружбы, ') is a state decoration of the Russian Federation established by Boris Yeltsin by presidential decree 442 of 2 March 1994 to reward Russian and foreign nationals whose work, deeds ...
(31 October 2005) - for dedication and professionalism shown during the implementation of the 195-day space flight, and the strengthening of friendship between peoples
*
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 ...
*
NASA Space Flight Medal
The NASA Space Flight Medal is a decoration of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. According to its statutes, it is awarded "for significant achievement or service during individual participation as a civilian or military astrona ...
*
NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal
The NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal is an award similar to the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, but awarded to non-government personnel. This is the highest honor NASA awards to anyone who was not a government employee when the service ...
* Chevalier 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, 1997)
*
Pilot-Cosmonaut of the Russian Federation
The Honorary Title Pilot-Cosmonaut of the Russian Federation (russian: Летчик-космонавт Российской Федерации) is a state award of the Russian Federation presented to all cosmonauts who fly for the Russian Feder ...
(11 August 1992) - for the successful implementation of spaceflight on the space station ''Mir'' and expressed at high level of professionalism
References
External links
Spacefacts biography of Aleksandr Kaleri
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaleri, Aleksandr
1956 births
Living people
People from Jūrmala
Russian people of Latvian descent
Russian cosmonauts
Crew members of the International Space Station
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology alumni
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology faculty
Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 2nd class
Recipients of the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal
Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur
Recipients of the Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration"
Heroes of the Russian Federation
Spacewalkers
Mir crew members