Aleksey Nikolayevich Ovchinin (Russian:Алексей Николаевич Овчинин; born 28 September 1971) is a Russiancosmonaut and holds the rank ofPodpolkovnik (lieutenant colonel) in the in theRussian Air Force Reserve. He was selected as a cosmonaut in 2006 and made his first spaceflight in 2016 onSoyuz TMA-20M, where he also served as commander.

Aleksey Ovchinin
Алексей Овчинин
Ovchinin in 2014
Born	Aleksey Nikolayevich Ovchinin (1971-09-28)28 September 1971 (age 53) Rybinsk,Yaroslavl Oblast,Russian SFSR, USSR
Status	Active
Alma mater	Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration
Awards	Hero of the Russian Federation Pilot-Cosmonaut of the Russian Federation
Space career
Roscosmos cosmonaut
Current occupation	Test cosmonaut
Rank	Podpolkovnik,Russian Air Force (reserve)[1]
Time in space	595 days, 4 hours, 27 minutes
Selection	TsPK-14 Cosmonaut Group (2006)
TotalEVAs	2
Total EVA time	13 hours, 18 minutes[1]
Missions	Soyuz TMA-20M (Expedition 47/48) Soyuz MS-10 (aborted) Soyuz MS-12 (Expedition 59/60) Soyuz MS-26 (Expedition 71/72)
Mission insignia

He graduated from high school No. 2 in the city ofRybinsk.

From August 1988 to September 1990 he was a cadet of Borisoglebsk Higher Military Pilot School and, from September 1990 to August 1992, a student of the Yeisk Higher Military Pilot School where he qualified as a pilot-engineer.^[2]

From August 1992 to February 1998 he served as a pilot instructor in the Training Aviation Regiment (TAR) at Yeisk Higher Military Pilot School. From February 1998 to September 2003 he was a pilot instructor, then commander of the aviation section of Krasnodar Military Aviation Institute (MAI) in Kotelnikovo (Volgograd region). From September 2003, until his enrollment as a cosmonaut, he served as a commander of an aviation unit of the 70th Separate Test Training Aviation Regiment of Special Purpose (OITAPON). He has over 1300 hours flying time inYak-52 andL-39 aircraft. Ovchinin is qualified as a Pilot Instructor Second Class.

By order of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation in 2012 he was dismissed from the Armed Forces into reserve.

On 11 October 2006, at the meeting of the Interdepartmental Commission for the selection of cosmonauts, he was recommended as a cosmonaut candidate at theYuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.^[3]

From 16 to 22 June 2008 inSevastopol he participated in descent vehicle training along withRobert Thirsk (Canada) andRichard Garriott (USA). The training was specifically for landing on water.

On 9 June 2009 he qualified as a "test cosmonaut" and was presented with Cosmonaut Certificate No. 205. On 1 August 2009 he was appointed as a test cosmonaut of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.In October 2009, at theBaikonur Cosmodrome, he participated in training in the Mini Research Module (MRM). On 26 April 2010 he was certified as a cosmonaut of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center NII FGBU detachment. In September 2013, he took part in theCAVES^[4] (Cooperative Adventure from Valuing and Exercising human behaviour and performance Skills) mission^[5] in the Sa Grutta caves on the island ofSardinia (Italy).^[6] During the mission, five astronauts and cosmonauts (Michael Barratt,Jack Fisher,Jeremy Hansen,Paolo Nespoli andSatoshi Furukawa) from different space agencies worked in a multicultural and multi-ethnic team in extreme conditions underground.^[7]

He trained as a part of the backup crew forSoyuz TMA-16M, the launch of which took place on 27 March 2015. In the autumn of 2015, Ovchinin and cosmonautOleg Skripochka tasted 160 culinary dishes, designed for astronauts on board the ISS, over an 8-day period. Food was evaluated on a 9-point scale.

Ovchinin launched to space on his first flight as the commander ofSoyuz TMA-20M, which launched on 18 March 2016 21:26 UTC, to join theInternational Space Station as part ofExpedition 47/48.^[8] He returned to Earth with his crew mates on 7 September 2016 after 172 days on orbit.

On 11 October 2018 Ovchinin andNick Hague boardedSoyuz MS-10 on the way to the International Space Station to joinExpedition 57, but the launch was aborted mid-flight due to a booster failure; the crew landed safely after a ballistic descent.^[9][10] During his MS-10 flight, the Soyuz spacecraft aborted at an altitude of around 50 kilometers (31 miles) and reached anapogee of 93 km (58 mi), just short of theKármán line, before landing 19 minutes and 41 seconds after launch.^[11]

Ovchinin launched to the ISS again on 14 March 2019, travelling onSoyuz MS-12 with American astronautsNick Hague andChristina Koch. The trio joined theExpedition 59 crew, along with commanderOleg Kononenko and flight engineersDavid Saint-Jacques andAnne McClain.^[12] After the departure of Kononenko, Saint-Jacques, and McClain on 24 June 2019, Ovchinin took command of the station forExpedition 60.^[13]

In September 2024, he flew onSoyuz MS-26 withIvan Vagner andDonald Pettit. His return occurred in April 2025.

He has a wife, Svetlana, and a daughter. His hobbies include hunting, fishing and music.

• List of Heroes of the Russian Federation

• Spacefacts biography of Aleksey Ovchinin
• Spaceflight101 biography of Aleksey Ovchinin