Mikhail Kornienko

His mother, Faina M. Kornienko, born in 1931 is retired.

Mikhail Borisovich Kornienko (Михаил Борисович Корниенко; born 15 April 1960) is a Russian cosmonaut who has undertaken multiple missions to the International Space Station (ISS).

His father Boris G. Kornienko, a military pilot, perished in an Mi-6 helicopter crash in October 1965.

Kornienko graduated from secondary school No. 15, Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 1977.

Upon graduation from school in 1977, he worked at a radio equipment plant in Chelyabinsk, Russia.

In May 1978, Kornienko was called to service in the Soviet Army.

He served in the Airborne Forces (VDV) in Kirovabad, Azerbaijan in the USSR.

In May 1980, he completed his military service with the rank of junior sergeant.

Kornienko worked for the Moscow Municipal Militsiya from 1980 to 1986.

At the same time he attended the evening department of the Moscow Aviation Institute.

From 1981 to 1987 he studied at the Moscow Aviation Institute named after S. Ordzhonikidze.

He resigned from the Militsiya in 1986 and entered a mechanical engineering design bureau.

During 1986 to 1991 Kornienko worked in the Baikonur Launch Facility as a launch equipment specialist.

Upon graduation in 1987 from the institute, he was qualified as a liquid propellant rocket engines mechanical engineer.

He worked for commercial companies between late 1991 to early 1995.

From October 1991 to December 1992 he was the OOO Transvostok Technical and Production Department Director.

From January 1993 to April 1995 he was the LLC ESTE General Director.

In October 1995, Kornienko started working at the Energia Rocket Space Corporation (RSC Energia) as an engineer.

He was assigned to develop technical documentation for cosmonaut primary and backup crew tests and training.

He took part in extravehicular activity (EVA) tests in simulated zero-gravity at the hydrolab and at the Selen dynamic stand.

In the process of this work he acquired experience in organizing extravehicular repair/refurbishment and assembly activities on the Mir orbital station.

He also directly participated in testing the Energia RSC production on the testing ground.

On 24 February 1998, Kornienko was selected as a test cosmonaut candidate and, in 1999, following basic training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, he was qualified as a test cosmonaut.

Since 1999, he has trained in the International Space Station group.

He served on the ISS Expedition 8 backup crew as a flight engineer.

In 2005, he was assigned to the Soyuz TMA-10 and Expedition 15 back-up crew as Flight Engineer 1.

Kornienko was aboard the space station as a Flight Engineer, being part of the Expedition 23/24 crew.

He first served as a flight engineer during Expedition 23 and 24 in 2010.

He lifted off on 2 April 2010, along with fellow Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Skvortsov and NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell-Dyson aboard Soyuz TMA-18 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Ending Expedition 24, the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft carrying Mikhail Kornienko, Alexander Skvortsov and NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell-Dyson undocked from the space station at 10:02 pm EDT on 24 September 2010.

Following a normal descent, the Soyuz crew landed at 5:23 am GMT ear Arkalyk, Kazakhstan on 25 September.

After returning to Earth and sharing his experiences to an audience, Kornienko said "The thing you miss there most of all is the Earth itself, I missed smells. I missed trees, I even dreamt of them. I even hallucinated. I thought I smelled a real fire and something being barbecued on it! I ended up putting pictures of trees on the walls to cheer up. You do miss the Earth there".

On 27 July 2010, Kornienko and fellow Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin participated in a spacewalk outside the ISS.

Kornienko was later selected for a year-long mission on the ISS that spanned from March 2015 to March 2016, covering Expedition 43 through 46.

For this mission, he collaborated with American astronaut Scott Kelly.

The mission, launched aboard Soyuz TMA-16M, aimed to study the physiological and psychological effects on humans during extended periods of spaceflight.

The collected data are intended to aid preparations for future missions requiring extended human presence in space.

Kornienko was born in Syzran, Kuybyshev Oblast, Russian SFSR.

He is married to Irina Kornienko, a doctor.

They have a grown daughter.