Sergei Krikalev | |
|---|---|
| Сергей Крикалёв | |
 Krikalev in 2022 | |
| Born | (1958-08-27)27 August 1958 (age 67) |
| Status | Retired |
| Occupation | Mechanical engineer |
| Awards | |
| Space career | |
| Roscosmos cosmonaut | |
Time in space | 803 days, 9 hours, 39 minutes[1] |
| Selection | NPOE–7 Cosmonaut Group (1985) |
TotalEVAs | 8 |
Total EVA time | 41 hours, 8 minutes |
| Missions | |
Mission insignia |           |
Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev (Russian:Сергей Константинович Крикалёв, also transliterated asSergei Krikalyov; born 27 August 1958) is a Russian mechanical engineer and formercosmonaut. He is a veteran of six spaceflights, including two long-duration missions toMir, two short-duration missions aboard NASA'sSpace Shuttle, and two long-duration missions to theInternational Space Station (ISS).
OnSTS-60, he became the first Russian cosmonaut to fly on the Shuttle, and onSTS-88, he helped connect the first Russian and American ISS segments—becoming, alongside mission commanderRobert Cabana, one of the first people to enter the station. He later joined the ISS's first long-duration crew,Expedition 1, and returned as commander ofExpedition 11.
Krikalev is sometimes referred to as the "last Soviet citizen," having been aboardMir during thedissolution of the Soviet Union. With the country that launched him no longer existing, his return was delayed, and he remained in space for 311 days—twice as long as planned.[2] He ultimately accumulated 803 days, 9 hours, and 39 minutes in space, placing him fourth on the list of those with themost time spent in space.[1]
He retired as a cosmonaut in 2007 and then served as deputy chief designer atEnergia, where he contributed to the development of Russian spacecraft. From 2009 to 2014, he headed theYuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. Since 2014, he has worked forRoscosmos, Russia's space agency, where he is a Deputy Director General leading manned spaceflight efforts.[3]
Krikalev was born inLeningrad in the Soviet Union (nowSaint Petersburg, Russia). He enjoys swimming, skiing, cycling, aerobatic flying, andamateur radio operations, particularly from space (callsign U5MIR). He graduated from high school in 1975. In 1981, he received amechanical engineering degree from theLeningrad Mechanical Institute, now calledBaltic State Technical University.
After graduation in 1981, he joinedNPO Energia, the Russian industrial organization responsible for crewed space flight activities. He tested space flight equipment, developed space operations methods, and participated in ground control operations. When theSalyut 7 space station failed in 1985, he worked on the rescue mission team, developing procedures for docking with the uncontrolled station and repairing the station's on-board system.
Krikalev was selected as acosmonaut in 1985, completed his basic training in 1986, and, for a time, was assigned to theBuran Shuttle program. In early 1988, he began training for his first long-duration flight aboard theMir space station.
This training included preparations for at least sixEVAs (space walks), installation of a new module, the first test of the newManned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), and the second joint Soviet-French science mission.Soyuz TM-7 was launched on 26 November 1988, with Krikalev as flight engineer, CommanderAleksandr Volkov, and French astronautJean-Loup Chrétien. The previous crew (Vladimir Titov,Musa Manarov, andValeri Polyakov) remained on Mir for another 25 days, marking the longest period a six-person crew had been in orbit. After the previous crew returned to Earth, Krikalev, Polyakov, and Volkov continued to conduct experiments aboard the Mir station. Because the arrival of the next crew had been delayed, they prepared the Mir for a period of uncrewed operations before returning to Earth on 27 April 1989.
In April 1990, Krikalev began preparing for his second flight as a member of the backup crew for the eighth long-duration Mir mission, which also included five EVAs and a week of Soviet-Japanese operations. In December 1990, Krikalev began training for the ninth Mir mission which included training for ten EVAs.Soyuz TM-12 launched on 19 May 1991, with Krikalev as flight engineer, CommanderAnatoly Artsebarsky, and British astronautHelen Sharman. Sharman returned to Earth with the previous crew after one week, while Krikalev and Artsebarsky remained on Mir. During the summer, they conducted six EVAs to perform a variety of experiments and some station maintenance tasks.
In July 1991, Krikalev agreed to stay on Mir as flight engineer for the next crew, scheduled to arrive in October because the next two planned flights had been reduced to one. Theengineer slot on theSoyuz TM-13 flight on 2 October 1991, was filled byToktar Aubakirov, an astronaut from theKazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, who had not been trained for a long-duration mission. Both Aubakirov andFranz Viehböck, the first Austrian astronaut, returned with Artsebarsky on 10 October 1991. CommanderAlexander Volkov remained on board with Krikalev. After the crew replacement in October, Volkov and Krikalev continued Mir experiment operations and conducted another EVA before returning to Earth on 25 March 1992.
Throughout his various missions aboard Mir, Krikalev regularly communicated with variousamateur radio operators (hams) across the globe. A particularly lengthy relationship was formed between Krikalev and Australian amateur radio operatorMargaret Iaquinto. At one point during one of his stays in space, he contacted her once a day for an entire year. Krikalev and Iaquinto successfully communicated viapacket radio for the first time in history between an orbiting space station and an amateur radio operator. They communicated about personal matters, as well as political ones. Iaquinto set up a makeshift digital bulletin board that the Mir cosmonauts would often use to obtain uncensored western news and information regarding the state of the collapsing Soviet Union.[4]
Krikalev was in space whenthe Soviet Union was dissolved on 26 December 1991. With theBaikonur Cosmodrome and the landing area both being located in the newly independent Kazakhstan, there was a great deal of uncertainty about the fate of his mission. He remained in space twice as long as originally planned, spending a total of 311 days in space.[2] Because Krikalev spent so much time in space traveling at high velocities,time dilation (or the slowing down of clocks) caused him to be 0.02 seconds younger than other people born at the same time as him.[5][6] He returned to Earth on 25 March and is sometimes referred to as the "last Soviet citizen".[2][7][8][9] These events are documented and contextualized in Romanian filmmakerAndrei Ujică's 1995documentaryOut of the Present.[10] Krikalev's story inspired the 2017 filmSergio and Sergei, directed byErnesto Daranas.[11]
In October 1992, NASA announced that an experienced cosmonaut would fly aboard a futureSpace Shuttle mission. Krikalev was one of two candidates named by theRussian Space Agency for mission specialist training with the crew ofSTS-60. In April 1993, he was assigned as prime mission specialist. In September 1993, Vladimir Titov was selected to fly onSTS-63 with Krikalev training as his backup.
Krikalev flew on STS-60, the first joint U.S./Russian Space Shuttle Mission. Launched on 3 February 1994, STS-60 was the second flight of theSpace Habitation Module-2 (Spacehab-2), and the first flight of theWake Shield Facility (WSF-1). During the eight-day flight, the crew ofDiscovery conducted a wide variety of materials science experiments, both on the Wake Shield Facility and in the Spacehab, Earth observation, and life science experiments. Krikalev conducted significant portions of theRemote Manipulator System (RMS) operations during the flight. Following 130 orbits of the Earth in 3,439,705 nautical miles (6,370,334 km), STS-60 landed atKennedy Space Center,Florida, on 11 February 1994. With the completion of this flight, Krikalev logged an additional eight days, seven hours, nine minutes in space.
Krikalev returned to duty in Russia following his American experience on STS-60. Periodically he returned to theJohnson Space Center inHouston to work withCAPCOM inMission Control and ground controllers in Russia supporting joint U.S./Russian MissionsSTS-63,STS-71,STS-74 andSTS-76.
Krikalev andRobert Cabana became the first people to enter theISS in December 1998, when they turned on the lights in the US moduleUnity.
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Krikalev flew onSTS-88Endeavour (4–15 December 1998), the first International Space Station assembly mission. During the 12-day mission theUnity module was mated withZarya module. Two crew members performed three space walks to connect umbilicals and attach tools and hardware for use in future EVAs. The crew also performedIMAX Cargo Bay Camera (ICBC) operations, and deployed two satellites, Mighty Sat 1 and SAC-A. The mission was accomplished in 185 orbits of the Earth in 283 hours and 18 minutes.
Krikalev was a member of theExpedition 1 crew. They launched 31 October 2000, on a Soyuz rocket fromBaikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, successfully docking with the station on 2 November 2000. During their stay on the station, they prepared the inside of the orbital outpost for future crews. They also saw the station grow in size with the installation of the U.S. solar array structure and the U.S.Destiny Laboratory Module. They left the station with theSTS-102 crew, undocking from the station on 18 March with landing at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 21 March 2001.
Krikalev was also the commander ofExpedition 11. He lived and worked aboard theInternational Space Station on a six-month tour of duty. This was the third time he had flown to theInternational Space Station. Expedition 11 launched fromBaikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 14 April 2005 aboard a Soyuz spacecraft and docked with the ISS on 16 April 2005. Following eight days of joint operations and handover briefings, they replaced theExpedition 10 crew who returned to earth aboard Soyuz. Expedition 11 plans called for two spacewalks, the first in August from the USQuest airlock in US spacesuits, and the second, in September, in Russian spacesuits from thePirs airlock. On 16 August 2005 at 1:44 a.m. EDT he passed the record of 748 days in space held bySergei Avdeyev.[1]
Expedition 11 undocked from the ISS on 10 October 2005 at 5:49 p.m. EDT and landed in Kazakhstan on 10 October 2005 at 9:09 p.m. EDT. They were replaced byWilliam S. McArthur andValeri Tokarev, the crew ofExpedition 12.[1]
In completing his sixth space flight, Krikalev logged 803 days and 9 hours and 39 minutes in space, including eight EVAs. He is currently fourth toGennady Padalka,Oleg Kononenko andYuri Malenchenko in the record for themost time spent in space.
Krikalev's contributions to the ISS were not limited to his on-orbit time. On 15 June 2007, Krikalev was brought to the RussianMission Control center to instructExpedition 15 Flight EngineerOleg Kotov on how he and ISS CommanderFyodor Yurchikhin could jump-start the Russian segment's crippled computer systems.
On 15 February 2007, Krikalev was appointed Vice President of theS.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia (Russian: Ракетно-космическая корпорация "Энергия" им. С.П.Королева) in charge of crewed space flights.[citation needed] In that office, he was the administrator of theYuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center from 2009 to 2014.[12]
A character based on Krikalev features in the 2017 Cuban film dramaSergio and Sergei, in which a professor and amateur radio enthusiast in Havana contacts a cosmonaut named Sergei aboard theMir space station. The film draws parallels between economic hardships in Cuba at the time and the fall of the Soviet Union, which occurred as the real-life Krikalev was aboardMir.[13]
From 1999 to 2007, Krikalev was President of theRussian Gliding Federation.
On 14 February 2012, Krikalev was approved as a member of the Public Chamber of the Central Federal District and a confidant of thePrime Minister andpresidential candidateVladimir Putin,[14] and at the first plenary meeting on 14 September of the same year, he was elected Secretary of the Chamber.[15]
On 12 April 2014, Krikalev was appointed Plenipotentiary Representative of theGovernor of Sevastopol inMoscow andSt. Petersburg.[16][17]
In September 2016, Krikalev became a confidant of theUnited Russia party in theelections to the State Duma of the 7th Convocation.
Since 2017, Krikalev has been the President of the Aircraft Sports Federation of Russia. On 16 December 2017, at theBaikonur Cosmodrome, he became the Ambassador of theWorldSkills Kazan 2019 Championship.
In January 2018, Krikalev became a confidant of Vladimir Putin in the2018 Russian presidential election.[18]
Krikalev is a member of the Expert Council of the National Prize "Crystal Compass"[19] and President of the International Environmental Foundation "Clean Seas" (since 2009).[20]
He was a member of the Russian andSoviet nationalaerobatic flying teams, and was Champion ofMoscow in 1983, and Champion of theSoviet Union in 1986.
For his contributions to the Russian space program, he was the first person awarded with the title ofHero of the Russian Federation.
For his space flight experience, he was awarded:
Foreign awards:
He overtookSergei Avdeyev's previous record for the career total time spent in space (747.59 days) duringExpedition 11 to theInternational Space Station. Krikalev has logged a total of 803 days and 9 hours and 39 minutes in space.
On 23 May 2007 Sergei Krikalev was selected as anhonorary citizen ofSaint Petersburg together with conductorValery Gergiev.
Krikalev was one of five cosmonauts selected to raise the Russian flag at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.[21]
This article incorporatespublic domain material from websites or documents of theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration.
| Preceded by | ISS Expedition Commander 17 April 2005 to 10 October 2006 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
