Fyodor Yurchikhin

Fyodor Nikolayevich Yurchikhin (Фёдор Николаевич Юрчихин, Greek: Θεόδωρος Γιουρτσίχιν του Νικόλαου; born 3 January 1959) is a Russian cosmonaut of Greek descent, engineer and RSC Energia test-pilot who has flown on five spaceflights.

His first spaceflight was a 10-day Space Shuttle mission STS-112.

His second was a long-duration stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as a flight engineer for Expedition 15; for this mission he was launched in the Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft.

He has undertaken two further long-duration stays aboard the ISS, as a crew member of Expedition 24 / 25.

Yurchikhin was born in Batumi, Adjar ASSR, Georgian SSR (now Adjara the autonomous republic of Georgia) on 3 January 1959 to Pontic Greek parents Nikolai Fyodorovich Yurchikhin and Mikrula Sofoklevna Yurchikhina (born Heleni Grammatikopoulou) (both now reside in Sindos, Greece).

Yurchikhin is married to Larisa Anatolievna Yurchikhina (born in Shchyolkovo) and has two daughters.

His hobbies include collecting stamps and space logos, sports, history of cosmonautics, and promotion of space.

He also enjoys reading history, science fiction and the classics.

After graduation from high school in Batumi in 1976, he entered the Moscow Aviation Institute named after Sergey Ordzhonikidze.

He finished studying in 1983, and is qualified as a mechanical engineer, specializing in airspace vehicles.

After graduating from the S. Ordzhonikidze Moscow Aviation Institute, Yurchikhin worked at the Russian Space Corporation Energia from September 1983 until August 1997.

He began working as a controller in the Russian Mission Control Center, and held the positions of engineer, senior engineer, and lead engineer, eventually becoming a lead engineer for Shuttle-Mir and NASA-Mir programs.

In August 1997, he was enrolled in the RSC Energia cosmonaut detachment as a cosmonaut-candidate.

From January 1998 to November 1999, he completed his basic training course.

In November 1999, he was qualified as a test cosmonaut.

In January 2000, he started training in the test-cosmonaut group for the International Space Station (ISS) program.

Yurchikhin was a crewmember of the International Space Station assembly mission STS-112 conducted using.

During the mission the shuttle crew conducted joint operations with the Expedition 5 by delivering and installing the S1 Truss (the third piece of the station's 11-piece Integrated Truss Structure).

Three spacewalks were required to outfit and activate the new component.

The crew also transferred cargo between the two vehicles and used the shuttle's thruster jets during two maneuvers to raise the station's orbit.

STS-112 was the first shuttle mission to use a camera on the External Tank, providing a live view of the launch to flight controllers and NASA TV viewers.

The STS-112 mission was accomplished in 170 orbits, traveling 7200000 km in 10 days, 19 hours, and 58 minutes.

In 2001, he graduated from the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA) with a Ph.D. in economics.

Yurchikhin was awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation medal, the Order of Friendship medal (2003), the Order of the Phoenix (Greece), the NASA Space Flight Medal (2003), medals of the Federation of Cosmonautics and the title of Russian Federation Test-Cosmonaut (2003).

In 2007, he became a member of the Expedition 15 on the ISS.

His flight began on April 7, when he launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, aboard Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft, together with Oleg Kotov and space tourist Charles Simonyi.

Yurchikhin was aboard when Simonyi gave a live telebridge conversation on 17 April 2007.

He served as the commander of the Expedition 15 mission.

On 21 October 2007, he returned to Earth inside the Soyuz TMA-10 capsule after spending 196 days and 17 hours in space.

The Soyuz TMA-10 spacecraft undocked from the ISS at 07:14 UTC on 21 October 2007, and deorbit occurred at 09:47 UTC.

During atmospheric re-entry, the spacecraft transitioned to a ballistic reentry, resulting in it landing west of Arkalyk, approximately 340 km northwest of the intended Kazakhstan landing site.

Yurchikhin served as a flight engineer for the Expedition 24/25 long-duration missions to the ISS.

For this mission he was launched with the spacecraft Soyuz TMA-19, and he landed in November 2010, also with the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft.

He served as Soyuz commander for his fourth mission aboard Soyuz TMA-09M, as flight engineer for Expedition 36 and ISS commander for Expedition 37.

On 16 June 2010, Yurchikhin along with NASA astronauts Douglas Wheelock and Shannon Walker lifted off aboard the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

He also served as the commander of the Soyuz TMA-19 spacecraft.

During his second long stay aboard the ISS, Yurhikhin participated in two spacewalks in support of station's maintenance and staging new experiments in the exterior of the orbiting complex.

On 26 July 2010, Yurchikhin and fellow Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko performed a spacewalk outside the space station.

Yurchikhin was one of five cosmonauts selected to raise the Russian flag at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.

In April 2017, Yurchikhin launched on Soyuz MS-04 for the fifth spaceflight of his career, a six-month mission to the ISS as part of Expedition 51 and 52, for which he was the commander.