Mukhtar Rabatuly Aymakhanov ( kk, Мұхтар Рабатұлы Аймаханов, ''Mūhtar Rabatūly Aimahanov''; born January 1, 1967, in Zhosaly,

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 ...

) is a Russian cosmonaut; he was originally a

i cosmonaut.

Kazakh cosmonaut career

Aimakhanov and

Aidyn Aimbetov Aidyn Akanuly Aimbetov ( kk, Айдын Ақанұлы Айымбетов, ''Aidyn Aqanūly Aiymbetov''; russian: Айдын Аканович Аимбетов,KazCosmos The National Space Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan ( kk, Қазақстан Республикасы Ұлттық ғарыш агенттiгi, Qazaqstan Respublikasy Ūlttyq ğaryş agenttıgı), also known as KazCosmos, or KazKosmos, is Ka ...

. They trained at Star City as cosmonauts from 2003 to 2009, until the world financial crisis indefinitely postponed the prospective Kazakhstan mission. The Kazakh mission finally took place in September 2015 aboard

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 ...

after prospective

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 ...

Sarah Brightman Sarah Brightman (born 14 August 1960) is an English classical crossover soprano singer, actress and dancer. Brightman began her career as a member of the dance troupe Hot Gossip and released several disco singles as a solo performer. In 1981, ...

pulled out from the flight. Aimbetov flew with Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev as his backup since Aymakhanov had already left KazCosmos and joined Roscosmos by the time of the flight. On December 28, 2022, he left the position of a test cosmonaut in the

Roscosmos The State Space Corporation "Roscosmos" (russian: Государственная корпорация по космической деятельности «Роскосмос»), commonly known simply as Roscosmos (russian: Роскосмос) ...

cosmonaut squad after the decision of the Main Medical Commission. He will continue to work at the

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 ...

as a leading specialist in cosmonaut training.

Russian cosmonaut career

In 2012, to pursue his cosmonaut dreams, Aymakhanov became a Russian citizen, and gave up his Kazakhstani citizenship.

References

External links

Spacefacts biography of Mukhtar Aymakhanov
1967 births Living people Kazakhstani cosmonauts Russian cosmonauts Russian people of Kazakhstani descent People from Kyzylorda Region {{cosmonaut-stub