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Astronaut Birthdays for September


GordonD

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September 1st

 

Robert McIntosh (1927) USA

Selected 1962 (USAF Group 2)

Retirement date unknown; no flights

Died 2 December 2013

 

 


Christopher Ferguson (1961) USA

Selected 1998 (NASA Group 17)

STS-115, 9 - 21 September 2006 (11d 19h 6m) - Delivered P3/P4 Truss and a set of solar arrays to the ISS

STS-126, 15 - 30 November 2008 (12d 18h 28m) - Serviced and lubricated the Solar Alpha Rotary Joints which enable the ISS's solar arrays to track the Sun; also partial crew exchange (Magnus up; Chamitoff down)

STS-135, 8 - 21 July 2011 (12d 18h 28m) - Delivered supplies and equipment to the ISS. Final flight of Atlantis and of the Space Shuttle programme.

Total flight time 40d 10h 3m

Retired December 2011

 

 


Sergei Korsakov (1984) Russia

Selected 2012

On active status; no flights yet

 

 

 

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September 2nd

 

Claude Nicollier (1944) Switzerland

Selected 1978 (ESA Group 1)

STS-46, 31 July - 8 August 1992 (7d 23h 15m) - Deployed European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA-1) scientific pallet; also failed Tethered Satellite experiment

STS-61, 2 - 13 December 1993 (10d 19h 58m) - First Hubble Maintenance Mission; restored telescope to planned capability following manufacturing problems

STS-75, 22 February - 9 March 1996 (15d 17h 40m) - Carried US Microgravity Payload (USMP-3); also failed Tethered Satellite experiment

STS-103, 20 - 28 December 1999 (7d 23h 10m) - Third Hubble Maintenance Mission (3A) - replaced three gyroscopes and carried out other servicing tasks

Total flight time 42d 12h 3m

Retired March 2007

 

 


Christa McAuliffe (1948) USA

Selected 1985 (Teacher in Space Group)

Killed in explosion of STS-51L Challenger, 28 January 1986

 

 


Gerhard Thiele (1953) Germany

Selected 1987

STS-99, 11 - 22 February 2000 (11d 5h 38m) - Shuttle Radar Topography Mission

Retired October 2005

 

 


Guy Laliberté (1959) Canada

Founder and CEO of Cirque de Soleil

Selected as Spaceflight Participant (fare-paying passenger) 2009

Soyuz TMA-16/ISS Visiting Flight 13, 30 September - 11 October 2009 (10d 21h 17m) - Landed aboard Soyuz TMA-14

Retired October 2009

 

 

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September 3rd

 

Sherwood Spring (1944) USA

Selected 1980 (NASA Group 9)

STS-61B, 27 November - 3 December 1985 (6d 21h 4m) - Deployed three comsats (including one Mexican and one Australian)

Retired August 1988

 

 


Munir Habib (1953) Syria

Backup for Soyuz TM-3

Retired July 1987; no flights

 

 

 

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September 5th

 

Andriyan Nikolayev (1929) USSR

Selected 1960

Vostok 3, 11 - 15 August 1962 (3d 22h 22m) - First joint flight, with Vostok 4 (no rendezvous)

Soyuz 9, 1 - 19 June 1970 (17d 16h 58m) - Conducted Earth-observation studies and other experiments; last mission before the start of the Salyut programme

Total flight time 21h 15h 20m

Retired January 1982

Died 3 July 2004

 

 


Mikhail Lisun (1935) USSR

Selected 1965

Backup for Soyuz 23 and Soyuz 24

Retired September 1989; no flights

Died 31 July 2012

 

 

 

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September 6th

 

Irina Soloviyova (1937) USSR

Selected 1962

Backup for Vostok 6

Named for Voskhod 5 but programme cancelled in favour of Soyuz

Retired 1969; no flights

 

In 1988 took part in an all-female Antarctic expedition

 

 


Bryan O'Connor (1946) USA

Selected 1980 (NASA Group 9)

STS-61B, 27 November - 3 December 1985 (6d 21h 4m) - Deployed three comsats (including one Mexican and one Australian)

STS-40, 5 - 14 June 1991 (9d 2h 14m) - Carried Spacelab Life Sciences (SLS-1); conducted eighteen primary experiments on life sciences

Total flight time 15d 23h 18m

Retired July 1991

 

 


Carl Walz (1955) USA

Selected 1990 (NASA Group 13)

STS-51, 12 - 22 September 1993 (9d 20h 11m) - Deployed Advanced Communications Technology Satellite; deployed and retrieved ORFEUS-SPAS pallet

STS-65, 8 - 23 July 1994 (14d 17h 55m) - Carried International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-2)

STS-79, 16 - 26 September 1996 (10d 3h 18m) - First Shuttle docking with the completed Mir station; partial crew exchange (Blaha up; Lucid down)

STS-108/ISS Expedition 4, 5 December 2001 - 19 June 2002 (195d 19h 38m) - Landed aboard STS-111

 

 

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September 7th

 

David Griggs (1939) USA

Selected 1978 (NASA Group 8 )

STS-51D, 12 - 19 April 1985 (6d 23h 55m) - Deployed two comsats; one failed to power up and was repaired and redeployed on a later mission

Named for STS-33 but killed 17 June 1989 in crash of T-6 Texan training aircraft near Earle, Arkansas

 

 

 

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September 8th

 

Randy Odle (1951) USA

Selected 1982 (Manned Spaceflight Engineer Group 2)

Named backup for STS-62A (first launch from Vandenberg) but mission cancelled following the Challenger accident

Retired 1986; no flights

 

 


Sergei Zhukov (1956) Russia

Selected 2003

Retired April 2011; no flights

 

 

 

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September 9th

 

Lee Morin (1952) USA

Selected 1996 (NASA Group 16)

STS-110, 8 - 19 April 2002 (10d 19h 42m) - Delivered S0 Truss and other equipment to the ISS

Retired 2002

 

 


Anatoli Artsebarski (1956) USSR

Selected 1985

Soyuz TM-12/Mir Expedition 9, 18 May - 10 )ctober 1991 (144d 15h 21m)

Retired July 1994

 

 


Michael Belt (1957) USA

Selected 1988

Candidate for Terra Scout flight but mission cancelled

Retired December 1991; no flights

 

 

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September 10th

 

Yevgeni Khrunov (1933) USSR

Selected 1960

Soyuz 5, 15 – 17 January 1969 (1d 23h 45m) – First docking of two manned spacecraft; landed aboard Soyuz 4

Retired December 1980

Died 19 May 2000

 

 

 

Yevgeny Khludeyev (1940) USSR

Selected 1965

Candidate for a Buran mission but programme cancelled

Retired October 1988; no flights

Died 19 September 1995

 

 

 

Stephen Cunningham (1945) USA

Selected 1984

Engineer with Hughes Corporation

Backup for STS-61L; mission cancelled following the Challenger accident

Retired January 1986

 

 

 

Charles Simonyi (1948) USA

Selected 2006

Soyuz TMA-10, 7 – 21 April 2007 (13d 19h 0m) – Spaceflight Participant; landed aboard Soyuz TMA-9

Soyuz TMA-14, 26 March – 8 April 2009 (12d 19h 25m) – Spaceflight Participant; landed aboard Soyuz TMA-13

Total flight time 26d 14h 25m

Retired April 2009

 

Only fare-paying passenger to fly twice

 

 

 

Richard Mullane (1945) USA

Selected 1978 (NASA Group 8 )

STS-41D, 30 August – 5 September 1984 (6d 0h 57m) – Deployed two communications satellites

Named for STS-62A (first launch from Vandenberg) but mission cancelled following the Challenger accident

STS-27, 2 – 6 December 1988 (4d 9h 5m) – Classified DoD mission; deployed Lacrosse surveillance satellite

STS-36, 28 February – 4 March 1990 (4d 10h 18m) – Classified DoD mission; deployed AFP-731 reconnaissance satellite

Total flight time 14d 20h 20m

Retired August 1990

 

 

 

John Watterson (1949) USA

Selected 1979 (Manned Spaceflight Engineer Group 1)

Named for STS-62A (first launch from Vandenberg) but mission cancelled following the Challenger accident

Retired January 1986; no flights

 

 

 

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September 11th

 

Gherman Titov (1935) USSR

Selected 1960

Vostok 2, 6 - 7 August 1961 (1d 1h 18m) - First multiple-orbit flight; first person to eat and sleep in space

Retired June 1970

Died of carbon monoxide poisoning 20 September 2000

 

Holds the record as the youngest person in space (25y 329d at launch)

 

 


Robert Crippen (1937) USA

Selected 1966 (MOL Group 2); transferred to NASA as Group 7 1969

STS-1, 12- 14 April 1981 (2d 6h 20m) - First Shuttle flight

STS-7, 18 - 24 June 1983 (6d 2h 24m) - Deployed two comsats; first American flight with a female astronaut

STS-41C, 6 - 13 April 1984 (6d 23h 40m) - Deployed the Long Duration Exposure Facility; also retrieved, repaired and redeployed Solar Max satellite 

STS-41G, 5 - 13 October 1984 (8d 5h 23m) - Deployed Earth Radiation Budget Satellite; also carried Shuttle Imaging Radar and Large Format Camera

Named for STS-62A (first launch from Vandenberg) but mission cancelled following the Challenger accident

Total flight time 23d 13h 47m

Retired December 1991

 

 


Randy Bresnik (1967) USA

Selected 2004 (NASA Group 19)

STS-129, 16 - 27 November 2009 (10d 19h 16m) - Delivered two Express Logistics Carriers with spare gyroscopes and nitrogen tanks to the ISS

Soyuz MS-05/ISS Expeditions 52/53, 28 July - 14 December 2017 (138d 16h 56m)

Still on active status; total flight time to date 149d 12h 12m

 

 

 

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September 12th

 

Anousheh Ansari (1966) USA (born Iran)

Selected 2006

Soyuz TMA-9/Spaceflight Participant, 18 - 29 September 2006 (10d 21h 5m) - Landed aboard Soyuz TMA-8. Originally backup but prime candidate grounded for medical reasons

Retired September 2006

 

Co-founder with her brother-in-law of the $10m X-Prize for the first privately-funded space flight; won by SpaceShip One in 2004

 

 

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September 13th

 

No astronaut birthdays today.

 

However on this day in 1999 explosions at the lunar nuclear waste dump blasted the Moon out of Earth's orbit...

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1 hour ago, Eric Mc said:

Had n o idea that Titov died of Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Anybody know the circumstances?

Wikipedia actually says cardiac arrest in his sauna but I have heard the CO story elsewhere. I suppose one could cause the other?

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September 14th

 

Eugene Trinh (1950) USA - Born Vietnam; US citizen

Selected 1983

STS-50, 25 June - 9 July 1992 (13d 19h 30m) - Carried US Microgravity Laboratory USML-1

Retired 1992

 

 


Itzhak Mayo (1954) Israel

Selected 1997

Retired from training November 2000 for financial reasons; no flights

 

 


John Herrington (1958) USA

Selected 1996 (NASA Group 16)

STS-113, 24 November - 7 December 2002 (13d 18h 47m) - Delivered P1 Truss and other equipment and supplies to the ISS

Retired September 2005

 

 

 

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September 15th

 

Miroslaw Hermaszewski (1941) Poland

Selected 1976 (Interkosmos Group 1)

Soyuz 30/Salyut 6 Visiting Flight 2, 27 June - 5 July 1978 (7d 22h 2m)

Retired July 1978

 

 


Richard Farrimond (1947) United Kingdom

Selected 1984 (Skynet group)

Backup for STS-61H; mission cancelled following the Challenger accident

Retired January 1986; no flights

 

 


Ryoko Kikuchi (1964) Japan

Selected 1989 (Journalist in Space group)

TV reporter for Tokyo Broadcasting System

Backup for Soyuz TM-11

Retired July 1990; no flights

 

 


Faiz bin Khaleed (1980) Malaysia

Selected 2006

Backup for Soyuz TMA-11

Retired October 2007; no flights

 

 

 

Information from Spacefacts website

 

 

An unusual one today as none are American or Russian

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September 16th

 

Kevin Kregel (1956) USA

Selected 1992 (NASA Group 14)

STS-70, 13 - 22 July 1995 (8d 22h 20m) - Deployed TDRS-G communications satellite; also conducted various scientific experiments

STS-78, 20 June - 7 July 1996 (16d 21h 47m) - Carried Life and Microgravity Sciences (Spacelab LMS)

STS-87, 19 November - 5 December 1997 (15d 16h 34m) - Carried US Microgravity Payload (USMP-4); deployed and retrieved SPARTAN 201-04 pallet

STS-99, 11 - 22 February 2000 (11d 5h 38m) - Shuttle Radar Topography Mission; created a high-resolution map of the Earth between 60 deg N and 56 deg S

Total flight time 52d 18h 19m

Retired June 2002

 

 

 

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September 17th

 

Ed Mitchell (1930) USA

Selected 1966 (NASA Group 5)

Apollo 14, 31 January - 9 February 1971 (9d 0h 1m) - Third lunar landing; Sixth man on the Moon; conducted unauthorised ESP experiments in flight

Retired October 1972

Died 4 February 2016

 

 


Tom Stafford (1930) USA

Selected 1962 (on his birthday - NASA Group 2)

Gemini VI-A, 15 - 16 December 1965 (1d 1h 51m) - First orbital rendezvous (no docking) with previously-launched Gemini VII

Backup for Gemini IX; reassigned when prime crew killed

Gemini IX-A, 3 - 6 June 1966 (3d 0h 20m) - Rendezvoused with Augmented Target Docking Adapter but unable to dock as shroud failed to jettison

Apollo 10, 18 - 26 May 1969 (8d 0h 3m) - Dress Rehearsal for lunar landing; LM flew within 15.6km of the surface, the point where Powered Descent would begin

Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, 15 - 24 July 1975 (9d 1h 28m) - First joint American/Soviet mission; docked with Soyuz 19

Total flight time 21d 3h 42m

Retired November 1975

 

 


Samuel Durrance (1943) USA

Selected 1984 (ASTRO Group)

STS-35, 2 - 11 December 1990 (8d 23h 5m) - Carried ASTRO-1 Spacelab

STS-67, 2 - 18 March 1995 (16d 15h 8m) - Carried ASTRO-2 Spacelab 

Total flight time 25d 14h 13m

Retired March 1995

 

 


Pamela Melroy (1961) USA

Selected 1994 (NASA Group 15)

STS-92, 11 - 24 October 2000 (12d 21h 42m) - Delivered Z1 Truss, Pressurised Mating Adapter and other equipment to the ISS ready for the arrival of Expedition 1

STS-112, 7 - 18 October 2002 (10d 19h 58m) - Delivered S1 Truss and other equipment to the ISS

STS-120, 23 October - 7 November 2007 (15d 2h 23m) - Delivered US Harmony Module to the ISS; partial crew exchange (Tani up; Anderson down)

Total flight time 38d 20h 3m

Retired July 2009

 

When STS-92 landed it was the last time to date that no astronauts remained in orbit

 

 

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September 18th

 

Nikolai Rukavishnikov (1932) USSR

Selected 1968

Soyuz 10, 22 - 24 April 1971 (1d 23h 45m) - First docking with a space station but failed to achieve an airtight seal; station not boarded and mission abandoned

Soyuz 16, 2 - 8 December 1974 (5d 22h 23m) - Rehearsal for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project; practised rendezvous and other mission aspects

Soyuz 33, 10 - 12 April 1979 (1d 23h 1m) - Intended Taxi Flight to Salyut 6; suffered an engine failure; rendezvous not completed and mission abandoned

Total flight time 9d 21h 9m

Retired July 1987

Died 18 October 2002

 

The Soyuz 33 cosmonauts should have returned to Earth aboard Soyuz 32, leaving behind their fresher craft for the use of the Salyut 6 occupants (Expedition 3). However when docking was not achieved this left the occupants with a spacecraft nearing the end of its 'shelf life'. As a result Soyuz 34 was launched unmanned and Soyuz 32 landed empty; the Expedition 3 crew returned safely aboard Soyuz 34

 

 


Valentina Ponomaryova (1933) USSR

Selected 1962

Backup for Vostok 6

Retired October 1969; no flights

 

 


Charles Veach (1944) USA

Selected 1984 (NASA Group 10)

STS-39, 28 April - 6 May 1991 (8d 7h 22m) - First unclassified DoD mission; carried out observation studies connected with remote identification of spacecraft

STS-52, 22 October - 1 November 1992 (9d 20h 56m) - Deployed Laser Geodynamics Satellite (LAGEOS-II)

Total flight time 18d 4h 18m

Died of cancer 3 October 1995

 

 


Mary Johnston (1945) USA

Selected 1983

Backup for STS-51B (Spacelab 3)

Retired May 1985; no flights

 

 


Takao Doi (1954) Japan

Selected 1985 (Japan Group 1)

STS-87, 19 November - 5 December 1997 (15d 16h 34m) - Carried US Microgravity Payload (USMP-4); deployed and retrieved SPARTAN 201-04 pallet

STS-123, 11 - 27 March 2008 (15d 18h 11m) - Delivered Japanese Kibo Module to the ISS; partial crew exchange (Reisman up; Eyharts down)

Total flight time 31d 10h 45m

Retired September 2009 (on his birthday)

 

 


Mark Shuttleworth (1973) South Africa

Selected 2001 (Spaceflight Participant)

Soyuz TM-34/ISS Taxi Flight 3, 25 April - 5 May 2002 (9d 21h 25m) - Landed aboard Soyuz TM-33

Retired May 2002

 

 

 

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September 19th

 

Roger Crouch (1940) USA

Selected 1989 (IML Payload Specialist)

STS-83, 4 - 8 April 1997 (3d 23h 12m) - Microgravity Science Laboratory MSL-1

STS-94, 1 - 17 July 1997 (15d 16h 44m) - Microgravity Science Laboratory MSL-1 Reflight

Total flight time 19d 15h 56m

Retired July 1997

 

STS-83 was terminated early due to a problem with one of the fuel cells. However as this was relatively easily fixed, it was decided to do a standard engine changeout but omit the normal post-mission maintenance procedure and refly the mission at the next opportunity.  Flight numbers up to STS-93 had already been allocated so the same crew flew again and were able to conduct the full range of experiments originally planned. Personally I think of this as a single mission during which the crew had extended shore leave part of the way through!

 

 


Richard Linnehan (1957) USA

Selected 1992 (NASA Group 14)

STS-78, 20 June - 6 July 1996 (16d 21h 47m) - Carried Spacelab Life & Microgravity Sciences LMS-1

STS-90, 17 April - 3 May 1998 (15d 21h 50m) - Carried Neurolab, conducting research into neurological changes in space. Final flight of Spacelab

STS-109, 1 - 12 March 2002 (10d 22h 10m) - Fourth Hubble Servicing Mission (HST-SM-3B). Last successful flight of Columbia

STS-123, 11 - 27 March 2008 (15d 18h 11m) - Delivered Japanese Kibo Module to the ISS; partial crew exchange (Reisman up; Eyharts down)

Total flight time 59d 11h 58m

Retired December 2010

 

 


Sunita Williams (1965) USA

Selected 1998 (NASA Group 17)

STS-116/ISS Expeditions 14/15, 10 December 2006 - 22 June 2007 (194d 18h 2m) - Landed aboard STS-117

Soyuz TMA-05M/ISS Expeditions 32/33, 15 July - 19 November 2012 (126d 23h 13m)

Still on active status; total flight time to date 321d 17h 15m

 

 

 

Kayla Barron (1987) USA

Selected 2017 (NASA Group 22)

Still undergoing training; no flights yet

 

 

 

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September 20th

 

James Pawelczyk (1960) USA

Selected 1996 (Neurolab Payload Specialist Group)

STS-90, 17 April - 3 May 1998 (15d 21h 50m) - Carried Neurolab, conducting research into neurological changes in space. Final flight of Spacelab

Retired May 1998

 

 

 

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September 21

 

Bjarni Tryggvason (1945) Canada - Born Iceland

Selected 1983 (Canada Group 1)

STS-85, 7 - 19 August 1997 (11d 20h 26m) - Deployed and retrieved Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers & Telescopes for the Atmosphere (CRISTA-SPAS 2) pallet

Retired June 2008

 

 


Richard Hieb (1955) USA

Selected 1985 (NASA Group 11)

STS-39, 28 April - 6 May 1991 (8d 7h 22m) - First unclassified DoD mission; carried out observation studies connected with remote identification of spacecraft

STS-49, 8 - 16 May 1992 (8d 21h 17m) - Retrieved, repaired and redeployed Intelsat-VI F-3. Maiden flight of Endeavour

STS-65, 8 - 23 July 1994 (14d 17h 55m) - Carried International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-2)

Total flight time 31d 22h 34m

Retired April 1995

 

 

 

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September 22

 

Vasili Lukiyanyuk (1958) USSR

Selected 1989 (Medical group 5)

Retired February 2003; no flights

 

 


Robert Satcher (1965) USA

Selected 2004 (NASA Group 19)

STS-129, 16 - 27 November 2009 (10d 19h 16m) - Delivered two Express Logistics Carriers with spare gyroscopes and nitrogen tanks to the ISS

Retired September 2011

 

 

 

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September 23

 

Lloyd Hoover (1924) USA

Selected 1962 (USAF Group 2)

Retiral date unknown

Died July 2016

 

 


Pyotr Kolodin (1930)

Selected 1963

Assigned to five different missions (Voskhod 2, Soyuz 5, 7, 11 and 12) but grounded each time

Retired April 1983; no flights

 

 


Loren Shriver (1944) USA

Selected 1978 (NASA Group 8 )

STS-51C, 24 - 27 January 1985 (3d 1h 33m) - First classified DoD mission; deployed a secret satellite

STS-31, 24 - 29 April 1990 (5d 1h 16m) - Deployed the Hubble Space Telescope

STS-46, 31 July - 8 August 1992 (7d 23h 15m) - Deployed and retrieved EURECA-1 pallet; also the Tethered Satellite System (20km tether; jammed after 262m)

Total flight time 16d 2h 4m

Retired May 1993

 

 


William McCool (1961) USA

Selected 1996 (NASA Group 16)

STS-107, 16 January - 1 February 2003 (15d 22h 20m) - US Microgravity Lab 1. Killed when Orbiter Columbia broke up over Texas during re-entry.

Flight time shown is up until Loss of Signal

 

 


Aleksandr Misurkin (1977) Russia

Selected 2006

Soyuz TMA-08M/ISS Expeditions 35/36, 28 March - 11 September 2013 (166d 6h 15m)

Soyuz MS-06/ISS Expeditions 53/54, 12 September 2017 - 28 February 2018 (168d 5h 14m)

Still on active status; total flight time to date 334d 11h 29m

 

 

 

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