Sergey Aleksandrovich Volkov (russian: Сергей Александрович Волков; born April 1, 1973, in
Chuhuiv
Chuhuiv ( uk, Чугуїв) or Chuguev (russian: Чугуев) is a city in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. The city is the administrative center of Chuhuiv Raion (district). It hosts the administration of Chuhuiv urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Uk ...
,
Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...
,
Soviet Union
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 national ...
) is a retired Russian cosmonaut and
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
. He was a member of three missions 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 ...
, spending more than a year in total in space. During his missions he did four spacewalks lasting more than 23 hours in total.
Volkov retired from the Cosmonaut group in February 2017.
Personal
Volkov is the first second-generation cosmonaut (and space walker), the son of
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 ...
Aleksandr Volkov. He was born on April 1, 1973 in Chuguyev, Kharkov Region, Ukraine. Volkov and his wife Natalia have a son who was born in 2001. His recreational activities include tennis, windsurfing, reading, and visiting museums.
Education
Volkov graduated from Star City high school in 1990 and entered the Tambov Air Force Academy for Pilots. He graduated in 1995 with a degree of pilot/engineer.
Awards
Volkov was awarded the
Hero of the Russian Federation
Hero of the Russian Federation (russian: Герой Российской Федерации, Geroy Rossiyskoy Federatsii), also unofficially Hero of Russia (russian: link=no, Герой России, Geroy Rossii), is the highest honorary title ...
medal and Russian Federation Armed Forces medals.
Experience
After graduating from Tambov Air Force Academy, Volkov served in the air force as an assistant aircraft commander. He has mastered the Aero L-29 and L-39, the
Ilyushin Il-22
The Ilyushin Il-22, USAF/ DOD designation Type 10,Parsch, Andreas and Aleksey V. Martynov"Designations of Soviet and Russian Military Aircraft and Missiles."''designation-systems.net,'' 2008. Retrieved: 21 August 2011. was the first Soviet jet- ...
, and the
Tupolev Tu-134
The Tupolev Tu-134 (NATO reporting name: Crusty) is a twin-engined, narrow-body jet airliner built in the Soviet Union for short and medium-haul routes from 1966 to 1989. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain ot ...
, and has also accumulated 450 flight hours. He is a Class 3 military pilot.
Cosmonaut career
From December 1997 to November 1999, Volkov underwent general cosmonaut training, and in November 1999, was qualified as a test cosmonaut. Since January 2000, he has been part of a group of test cosmonauts training for missions 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).
From August 2001 to February 2003, Volkov trained as part of the
Expedition 7
Expedition 7 was the seventh 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
Mission objec ...
backup crew as a Soyuz-TMA Commander and ISS Flight Engineer. From March 2003 to December 2004, he trained as part of the
Expedition 11
Expedition 11 (2005) was the 11th expedition to the International Space Station, using the Soyuz TMA-6, which stayed during the expedition for emergency evacuation.
European Space Agency Italian Astronaut Roberto Vittori launched with Expediti ...
primary crew for launch on the
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...
. From January 2005 to February 2006, he trained as part of a group of test cosmonauts for missions to the ISS. In February 2006, he was appointed as a member of the
Expedition 13
Expedition 13 was the 13th expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), and launched at 02:30 UTC on 30 March 2006. The expedition used the Soyuz TMA-8 spacecraft, which stayed at the station for the duration of the expedition for emerge ...
backup crew and Visiting Crew 10 as a Soyuz TMA Flight Engineer 2 and an ISS Visiting Crew Flight Engineer.
Expedition 17
In June 2006, he was appointed a member of the Expedition 17 prime crew as Soyuz TMA Commander and ISS Commander. The
Soyuz TMA-12
Soyuz TMA-12 was a Soyuz mission to the International Space Station (ISS) which was launched by a Soyuz FG rocket at 11:16 UTC on 8 April 2008. It docked to the Pirs module of the station on 10 April 2008. Landing occurred at 03:37 on 24 October ...
spacecraft carrying Volkov along with fellow cosmonaut
Oleg Kononenko
Oleg Dmitriyevich Kononenko (russian: Олег Дмитриевич Кононенко; ; born 21 June 1964 in Turkmenistan) is a Russian cosmonaut from the Turkmen SSR. He has flown to the International Space Station four times, as a flight eng ...
and South Korean spaceflight participant
Yi So-Yeon
Yi So-yeon (born June 2, 1978) is a South Korean astronaut and biotechnologist who became the first Korean to fly in space. Upon return from her mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Yi continued as a KARI researcher attending ...
blasted into space on April 8, 2008. Volkov served as the commander of the ISS expedition 17. He is the youngest ISS commander to date. His mission lasted from April to October 2008.
Volkov, Kononeko and
space tourist
Space tourism is human space travel for recreational purposes. There are several different types of space tourism, including orbital, suborbital and lunar space tourism.
During the period from 2001 to 2009, seven space tourists made eight s ...
Richard Garriott
Richard Allen Garriott de Cayeux (''né'' Garriott; born July 4, 1961) is an American video game developer, entrepreneur and private astronaut. Although both his parents were American, he maintains dual British and American citizenship by birth. ...
, the son of astronaut
Owen K. Garriott
Owen Kay Garriott (November 22, 1930 – April 15, 2019) was an American electrical engineer and NASA astronaut, who spent 60 days aboard the Skylab space station in 1973 during the Skylab 3 mission, and 10 days aboard Spacelab-1 on a Spac ...
returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-12 on October 24, 2008. Garriott is the first second-generation American space explorer. The spacecraft landed at 03:36
GMT
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being calculated from noon; as a cons ...
55 miles north 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 ...
,
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
. Later they were lifted to the Kazakhstan
Baikonur Cosmodrome
The Baikonur Cosmodrome ( kk, Байқоңыр ғарыш айлағы, translit=Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy, ; russian: Космодром Байконур, translit=Kosmodrom Baykonur, ) is a spaceport in an area of southern Kazakhstan leased to R ...
by helicopter and then flown to Zvezdny Gorodok (Star City) in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
.
Expedition 28/29
On June 7, 2011 (UTC), Volkov returned to space aboard
Soyuz TMA-02M
Soyuz TMA-02M was a space mission that transported three members of the Expedition 28 crew to the International Space Station. TMA-02M was the 110th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft (first launched 1967) and the second flight of the improved Soyuz ...
to join the crew of
Expedition 28
Expedition 28 was the 28th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station, and began on 23 May 2011 with the departure of the members of Expedition 27. The first three members of Expedition 28 arrived on the ISS aboard the Soyuz TM ...
.
Expedition 28 crews worked with 111 experiments involving approximately 200 researchers across a variety of fields, including human life sciences, physical sciences and Earth observation, and conduct technology demonstrations ranging from recycling to robotics. Seventy-three of these experiments are sponsored by NASA, including 22 under the auspices of the U.S. National Laboratory program, and 38 are sponsored by international partners. More than 540 hours of research are planned. As with prior expeditions, many experiments are designed to gather information about the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the human body, which will help us understand complicated processes such as immune systems with a plan for future exploration missions.
The station command changed from US astronaut
Michael Fossum
Michael Edward Fossum (born December 19, 1957, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota) is a former American astronaut, engineer, and thChief Operating Officer of Texas A&M University at Galveston He flew into space on board the NASA Space Shuttle missions S ...
to US astronaut
Daniel Burbank
Daniel Christopher Burbank (born July 27, 1961) is a retired American astronaut and a veteran of two Space Shuttle missions. Burbank, a Captain in the United States Coast Guard, is the second Coast Guard astronaut after Bruce Melnick.
Early lif ...
. With undocking of
Soyuz TMA-02M
Soyuz TMA-02M was a space mission that transported three members of the Expedition 28 crew to the International Space Station. TMA-02M was the 110th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft (first launched 1967) and the second flight of the improved Soyuz ...
, carrying Volkov, Fossum and
Satoshi Furukawa
is a Japanese surgeon and JAXA astronaut. Furukawa was assigned to the International Space Station as a flight engineer on long-duration missions Expedition 28/ 29, lifting off 7 June 2011 and returning 22 November 2011.
Medical career
Furakawa ...
on November 21, 2011 at 23:00 UTC the Expedition 29 concluded and the new ISS Expedition 30 began.
An EVA by Volkov and crewmate
Aleksandr Samokutyayev
Aleksandr Mikhailovich Samokutyaev (russian: Александр Михайлович Самокутяев; born 13 March 1970 in Penza, Russian SFSR, USSR) is a Russian politician and former cosmonaut. Samokutyaev served as a Flight Engineer for ...
occurred on August 3, 2011 to move a small crane, install a communications terminal and remove and inspect antennas. Other tasks included installing a materials science experiment and deploying a micro-satellite. The duration of the spacewalk was 6 hours 23 minutes.
Spacewalks
Volkov conducted his first spacewalk on July 10, 2008 when he ventured into space from the ''Pirs'' docking compartment airlock of the ISS. He and cosmonaut Kononenko inspected their Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft and retrieved a pyro bolt from it. The spacewalk lasted 6 hours and 18 minutes and Volkov served as the lead spacewalker.
On July 15, 2008, Volkov together with Kononenko again went outside from ''Pirs'' to conduct a spacewalk. The two spacewalking cosmonauts installed one experiment and retrieved another. They also continued to outfit the station's exterior, including the installation of a docking target on the Zvezda service module. The spacewalk was in Russian
Orlan suits
image:iss022e023623.jpg, 270px, Cosmonaut Maksim Surayev next to two Orlan-MK models on the International Space Station
image:Sharipov one.jpg, 270px, Cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov, next to the Orlan-M spacesuit.
The Orlan space suit (russian: Ор ...
and Volkov, as the lead spacewalker wore the suit with red stripes. This spacewalk lasted 5 hours and 54 minutes.
An EVA by Volkov and crewmate
Aleksandr Samokutyayev
Aleksandr Mikhailovich Samokutyaev (russian: Александр Михайлович Самокутяев; born 13 March 1970 in Penza, Russian SFSR, USSR) is a Russian politician and former cosmonaut. Samokutyaev served as a Flight Engineer for ...
occurred on August 3, 2011 to move a small crane, install a communications terminal and remove and inspect antennas. Other tasks included installing a materials science experiment and deploying a micro-satellite. The duration of the spacewalk was 6 hours 23 minutes.
The fourth EVA of Volkov's career was during
Expedition 46
Expedition 46 was the 46th expedition to the International Space Station.
Sergey Volkov, Mikhail Korniyenko and Scott Kelly transferred from Expedition 45, the latter two as part of their year-long stay aboard the ISS. Expedition 46 began wit ...
, with veteran cosmonaut
Yuri Malenchenko
Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko (russian: Юрий Иванович Маленченко; born December 22, 1961) is a retired Russian cosmonaut. Malenchenko became the first person to marry in space, on 10 August 2003, when he married Ekaterina Dmit ...
. The spacewalkers performed works with the experiment Test at two locations: they took away samples from the outer surface of the docking compartment Pirs hatch and in the area of the cover window #8 at the service module Zvezda. The goal of the experiments was to develop methods for detecting leaks and control of elements of the exterior surface of the ISS.
The cosmonauts also dismantled a monoblock responsible for exposing samples of organic and biological materials in open space (experiment Expose-R) and set the unit samples #2 from an experiment for the study of space influence on the mechanical properties of materials. At the same module, they had to replace a removable cassette container, where the samples are placed on the exterior of stations in conditions of prolonged exposure, change the orientation of the pressure control unit on the module Poisk.
One of the important tasks were works on an experiment with the goal to develop technologies for sticking film thermal control coating, secure package screen-vacuum thermal insulation on the surface to be repaired and transactions that require bonding film materials in space flight.
For more convenient travel on the outer surface of the ISS the spacewalkers installed handrails on the soft part of the conical device of the Functional Cargo Block Zarya. Upon completion of the main tasks, the cosmonauts started a photo documentation of the external surface of the ISS Russian segment. The spacewalk concluded after 4 hours 45 minutes.
Russian EVA #28
On August 3, 2011 Volkov participated in his third spacewalk. He and cosmonaut
Aleksandr Samokutyayev
Aleksandr Mikhailovich Samokutyaev (russian: Александр Михайлович Самокутяев; born 13 March 1970 in Penza, Russian SFSR, USSR) is a Russian politician and former cosmonaut. Samokutyaev served as a Flight Engineer for ...
worked for six hours and 23 minutes performing a variety of tasks for both science and maintenance outside the Russian segment of the ISS. Outside the Zvezda service module, Volkov and Samokutyayev installed laser communications equipment. They also photographed an antenna with signs of degraded performance. After ground controllers took time to work on an antenna problem, the two cosmonauts also deployed a small satellite named Radioskaf-V which was originally planned for deployment at the beginning of the spacewalk. The satellite contained an amateur radio transmitter and a student experiment. The primary task of the spacewalk the relocation of the Strela 1 boom from the Pirs module to the Poisk module, had to be called off due to time constraints. The cosmonauts removed an antenna that helped guide the Poisk module to a docking in November 2009 and was returned to the ISS at the end of the spacewalk. They also successfully installed the materials science experiment – BIORISK on a handrail outside the Pirs module. BIORISK experiment studies the effect of microbes on spacecraft structures and whether solar activity affects microbial growth. Finally, Volkov and Samokutyayev took more photographs holding photos of the first cosmonaut
Yury Gagarin
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space. Tr ...
, spacecraft designer
Sergei Korolyov
Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (russian: Сергей Павлович Королёв, Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov, sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪtɕ kərɐˈlʲɵf, Ru-Sergei Pavlovich Korolev.ogg; ukr, Сергій Павлович Корольов, ...
and Soviet astronautic theory pioneer
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (russian: Константи́н Эдуа́рдович Циолко́вский , , p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin ɪdʊˈardəvʲɪtɕ tsɨɐlˈkofskʲɪj , a=Ru-Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.oga; – 19 September 1935) ...
with Earth in the background before entering the Pirs module, closing the hatch and completing the Russian EVA #28.
Lawsuit with the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center
In February 2012, the Russian Government excluded the
Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center
The Yuri A. Gagarin State Scientific Research-and-Testing Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC; Russian: Центр подготовки космонавтов имени Ю. А. Гагарина) is a Russian training facility responsible for train ...
from the list of organizations served by military officers. All military personnel serving as cosmonauts were forced to retire from military service and become civilian specialists at significantly lower rates of pay (the premium for military officers working as cosmonauts was between 55% and 120% of their nominal salaries). Sergey Volkov successfully sued the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, winning back 1,382,000
Volkov launched for his third trip to the ISS as commander of
Soyuz TMA-18M
Soyuz TMA-18M was a 2015 Soyuz spaceflight to the International Space Station. It provided the two twelve-months occupants ( Scott Kelly and Mikhail Korniyenko) at the International Space Station with a fresh Soyuz capsule. TMA-18M was the 127th ...
alongside Visiting Crew Members
Andreas Mogensen
Andreas Enevold Mogensen (born 2 November 1976) is a Danish engineer and ESA astronaut who is best known for being the first Dane to fly in space as part of the European Space Agency's iriss program. Mogensen has also been involved in a number of ...
and
Aidyn Aimbetov
Aidyn Akanuly Aimbetov ( kk, Айдын Ақанұлы Айымбетов, ''Aidyn Aqanūly Aiymbetov''; russian: Айдын Аканович Аимбетов,Soyuz TMA-16M
Soyuz TMA-16M was a 2015 flight to the International Space Station.Scott Kelly and
Mikhail Korniyenko
Mikhail Borisovich Kornienko (Михаил Борисович Корниенко; born 15 April 1960) is a Russian cosmonaut. Kornienko served as a flight engineer on the International Space Station during Expedition 23/ 24 and was selected alon ...
.
The fourth EVA of Volkov's career was during Expedition 46, with veteran cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko. The duration was 4 hours 45 minutes.
with undocking of
Soyuz TMA-18M
Soyuz TMA-18M was a 2015 Soyuz spaceflight to the International Space Station. It provided the two twelve-months occupants ( Scott Kelly and Mikhail Korniyenko) at the International Space Station with a fresh Soyuz capsule. TMA-18M was the 127th ...
, carrying Volkov, Korniyenko and Kelly, on March 2, 2016 at 01:02:48 UTC, the Expedition 46 concluded and the new ISS Expedition 47 began. The landing of TMA-18M occurred two and half hours later, which concluded the 11-month mission of Kelly and Korniyenko.