VIKTORENKO
Alexander Stepanovich
Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR
CLASSIFICATION: 62/201.
NUMBER OF MISSIONS: 4.
SPACEFLIGHT HOURS: 489 days 01 hour 35 min. 19 sec.
EVA OPERATIONS: 6.
TOTAL EVA TIME: 17 hours 39 min.
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: March 29, 1947, the Kazakh SSR (Kazakhstan), the North Kazakh region, Sergievsky district, Olginka village.
NATIONALITY: Russian.
EDUCATION:
1954 - 1965 – finished secondary school in Sukharabovsk, the North Kazakh region;
1969 – graduated from the Orenburg Higher Air Force School named after I.S. Polbin with a first-class honours degree, qualifying as a pilot-engineer.
OCCUPATION BEFORE JOINING COSMONAUT CORPS:
August 11, 1965 – April 25, 1969 – a cadet at the Orenburg Higher Air Force School;
from June9, 1969 - a senior pilot of Detached mine-torpedo air regiment 759 of BFAD;
from October 12, 1971 – an assistant aircraft commander – a right pilot of Guard’s naval missile-carrying air regiment 240 of BFAD;
from August 13, 1973 – an aircraft commander of Detached air reconnaissance regiment 15 of BFAD.
DATE OF ENROLLMENT IN COSMONAUT CORPS (GROUP NUMBER, DATE):
May 23, 1978 – was enrolled as a student-cosmonaut in the cosmonaut corps 1 of the GCTC by the Air Force Commander-in-Chief order (group 7);
from February 24, 1982 – a test cosmonaut of the International Space Program group.
RATING: April 20, 1973 – a first-class pilot; February 17, 1979 – an instructor of the Air Force Paradrop Training (more than 130 parachute jumps, 106 of them were performed at the CTC); July 2, 1979 – a third-class test-pilot;
November 4, 1992 – a first-class cosmonaut.
BACK-UP ACTIVITY:
1983 – February 1984 –a reserve crew commander on the Visiting Mission program together with V. Sevastyanov and R. Stankyavichus, but from November 1983 – only together with V. Sevastyanov.
September 1, 1984 – August 1985 – a back-up crew commander of the Soyuz T-14 transport vehicle on the Basic Expedition program to the Salyut-7 orbital station first together with A. Alexandrov and Ye. Salei and from March 1985 – with G. Strekalov and Ye. Salei;
November 1985 – March 1986 – a back-up crew commander of the Soyuz T-15 on the BE-1 program to the Mir station together with A. Alexandrov;
January – November 11, 1988 – a back-up crew commander of BE-4 to the Mir orbital station on the Russian-French program together with A. Serebrov and M. Tognini (France);
December 5, 1990 – May 1991 – a reserve crew commander of BE-9 together with S. Avdeyev;
May 19 – June 1991 – a back-up crew commander of BE-10 together with S. Avdeyev and C. Lothaller (Austria). The crew members were changed due to the decision made to combine both Austrian and Kazakh flights;
July 17 – September 13, 1991 – a back-up crew commander on the BE-10 program together with T. Musabayev and C. Lothaller;
October 2, 1991 – a back-up man to the Soyuz TM-13 commander A. Volkov;
August – December1993 – a back-up crewmember of BE-14 together with Ye. Kondakova;
February – June 1994 – a back-up crew commander of the mission to the Mir orbital station on the BE-16 program together with Ye. Kondakova.
SPACEFLIGHTS PERFORMED:
Flight 1 – July 22-30, 1987 – a crew commander of the Visiting Mission aboard the Soyuz TM-3 space transport vehicle together with A. Alexandrov and M. Faris (Syria) and aboard the Mir orbital station together with Yu. Romanenko and A. Laveykin. Returned back aboard the Soyuz TM-2 transport vehicle together with A. Laveykin and M. Faris. Flight duration: 7 days 23 hours 04 min. 55 sec. Call sign: “Vityaz-1”.
Flight 2 – September 6, 1989 – February 19, 1990 – a crew commander of the Soyuz TM-8 transport vehicle and the Mir orbital station on the BE-5 program together with A. Serebrov. Performed his responsibilities aboard the station together with A. Solovyev and A. Balandin. During the flight he conducted 5 space walks logging 15 hours 36 min. with the task to test new “Orlan DMA” spacesuits - cosmonauts ’means of movement in outer space.
Flight duration: 166 days 06 hours 58 min. 16 sec. Call sign: “Vityaz-1”.
Flight 3 – March 17 – August 10, 1992 – a crew commander of the Soyuz TM-14 transport vehicle and the Mir orbital station on the BE-11 program together with A. Kaleri and K.-F. Flade (Germany). Performed his responsibilities aboard the Mir orbital station together with A. Volkov, S. Krikalyov, A. Solovyov and M. Tognini (France). Performed landing together with A. Kaleri and M. Tognini (France). Flight duration: 145 days, 14 hours, 10 min. 33 sec. Call sign: “Vityaz-1”.
Flight 4 – October 4, 1994 – March 22, 1995 – a crew commander of the Soyuz TM-20 transport vehicle and the Mir orbital station on the BE-17 program together with Ye. Kondakova, U. Merbold (ESA, Germany). Performed his responsibilities aboard the Mir orbital complex together with Yu. Malenchenko, T. Musabayev, V. Polyakov, V. Dezhurov, G. Strekalov, N. Thagard (USA). Returned to Earth together with Ye. Kondakova and V. Polyakov. Flight duration: 169 days, 05 hours, 21 min. 35 sec. Call sign: “Vityaz-1”.
DISCHARGE FROM COSMONAUT CORPS:
1997 – left the cosmonaut corps having reached the age limit.
AWARDS:
Medal “Gold Star” of Hero of the Soviet Union and Order of Lenin (July 30, 1987, for the first flight);
The Order of October Revolution (1990, for the second flight);
Order of Peoples Friendship (1992, for the third flight);
Order of Merit to the Country, class III (April 10, 1995, for the fourth flight);
8 commemorative medals;
Legion of Honour officer (France, 1998);
Hero of the Syrian Arab Republic (1987).
CURRENT STATUS: since 1997 – Colonel in the reserve.