Yuri Gidzenko

Yuri Pavlovich Gidzenko (Юрий Павлович Гидзенко; born March 26, 1962) is a Russian cosmonaut.

He was a test cosmonaut of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (TsPK).

Gidzenko has flown into space three times and has lived on board the Mir and the International Space Station.

He has also conducted two career spacewalks.

Gidzenko was born on March 26, 1962, Elanets, Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine (then in the Soviet Union).

Gidzenko is married to Olga Vladimirovna Shapovalova.

Gidzenko graduated from the Higher Military Pilot School in Kharkiv in 1983.

Upon graduation from the pilot school in 1983, Gidzenko served as a pilot and as a senior pilot in the RAir Force units of the Odessa military district.

He was a 3rd class military pilot.

Gidzenko was trained to fly three types of aircraft and has logged a total flying time of 850 hours.

He is also a parachute-landing training instructor and has made 170 jumps.

They have two sons, Sergei, born in 1986 and Alexander, born in 1988.

His father, Pavel Vasilyevich Gidzenko, and mother, Galina Mikhailovna Gidzenko, live in Berezovka-2, Odessa area.

Gidzenko's hobbies include football, swimming, reading of literature, photography, and walks in forests.

From December 1987 to June 1989, Gidzenko attended basic space training as a test cosmonaut candidate.

Since September 1989 he attended advanced training as a test cosmonaut candidate.

Gidzenko graduated from the Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography (MIIGAiK) in 1994 specializing in geodesy and cartography.

From March to October 1994 he trained for a space flight as a back-up crew commander (17th Primary Expedition/Euro-Mir-94 Program).

From November 1994 to August 1995 he attended training for a space flight aboard the Soyuz TM transport vehicle/Mir orbital complex as the Expedition 20 Primary Crew Commander (Euro-Mir-95 Program).

Yuri Gidzenko served aboard Mir as the commander of the long duration Mir EO-20 (Euromir 95) expedition from September 3, 1995, to February 29, 1996, and logged 179 days in space.

One of the crewmembers on this mission was the ESA astronaut, Thomas Reiter.

The Soyuz TM-22 carrying Gidzenko, cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev and Reiter lifted off from the Baikonour cosmodrome on September 3, 1995, at 9:00 UTC.

After a two-day autonomous flight the Soyuz spacecraft docked automatically with the Mir space station's -X docking port on September 5.

The three member crew became the 20th Mir resident crew.

During the first week after docking, Euromir 95 crew and the resident Mir EO-19 crew of cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyev and Nikolai Budarin conducted joint work.

Gidzenko and his crewmembers used this time to get familiarize with the status of the onboard systems and experiments.

The scientific objectives of Euromir 95 were to study effects of microgravity on the human body, to experiment with the development on new materials in a space environment, to capture samples of cosmic dust and man-made particles in low Earth orbit, and to test new space equipment.

During the next months joint Russian-German research work were performed on board the Mir in the fields of life sciences (18 experiments), astrophysics (5 experiments), materials science (8 experiments) and technology (10 experiments).

The crew also performed common work with the crew of STS-74.

They cooperated in medical experiments and environmental investigations designed as part of International Space Station (ISS) Phase I research.

During Euromir 95, an unmanned cargo spacecraft, Progress M-29 visited the Mir on October 10.

Progress M-29 brought about 2.5 tons of fresh supplies and equipment for the Mir EO-20 crew.

On October 17, 1995, Russian and ESA officials decided to add another 44 days to the originally planned 135 days of the mission duration.

On December 20, Progress M-30 docked at the Kvant port of Mir.

It delivered 2300 kg of fuel, crew supplies, and research and medical equipment for use on the extended Euromir 95 mission

On February 29, 1996, Gidzenko returned to Earth on board the Soyuz TM-22 capsule which landed at 10:42 UTC, 105 km northeast of Arkalyk.

From November 2000 to March 2001, Gidzenko was part of the first permanent ISS resident crew, the Expedition 1.

Although he retired on July 15, 2001, he continued his employment by a special contract until Soyuz TM-34 concluded.

Since 2004 to May 2009, Gidzenko was the Director of the 3rd department within the TsPK.

Since May 2009 he serves as the Deputy Chief of Cosmonaut Training Center TsPK.