Viktor Michailowitsch Afanassjew

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Viktor Afanasiev
Viktor Afanasiev
Country: USSR / Russia
Organization: Roscosmos
selected on 2nd September 1985
Calls: 4 space flights
Start of the
first space flight: 		2nd December 1990
Landing of the
last space flight: 		October 31, 2001
Time in space: 555d 18h ​​33min
EVA inserts: 7th
EVA total duration: 38h 04min
retired on April 2006
Space flights

Viktor Michailowitsch Afanassjew ( Russian Виктор Михайлович Афанасьев ; born December 31, 1948 in Bryansk , Bryansk Oblast , Russian SFSR ) is a former Soviet and Russian cosmonaut .

education

Viktor Afanassjew graduated from the 'Katschinsk Higher Military Aviation School "Alexander F. Myasnikov" for pilots' of the Soviet Air Force in Volgograd in 1970 . He then served as a fighter pilot in the group of the Soviet armed forces in Germany . From 1976 to 1977 he was trained as a test pilot, after which he worked in this position at the state flight research center " Valeri Tschkalow " in Akhtubinsk . In 1980 he graduated from the Ordzhonikidze Aviation Institute in Moscow .

In the summer of 1985 he was selected as a test pilot for the space shuttle Buran , which, however, never came into a manned mission. Afanasyev completed his basic training as a cosmonaut from November 1985 to December 1987.

Afanassjew was then trained for long-term missions aboard the Mir space station . He would have had a chance of his first space flight in April 1989, but the planned flight of Soyuz TM-8 was canceled for technical and financial reasons.

On a later flight, Soyuz TM-10 was Afanassjew's substitute, but was not used. This flight lasted from August 1 to December 10, 1990.

Space flights

Viktor Afanasiev took off for his first space flight on December 2, 1990 as the commander of Soyuz TM-11 . Also on board were flight engineer Mussa Manarov and Japanese television journalist Toyohiro Akiyama , whose company TBS had paid $ 28 million for the flight. Akiyami returned to earth after a few days with the previous Mir crew, Gennady Manakov and Gennady Strekalov , while Afansjew and Manarov remained on board the Mir.

Afanasiev conducted four space exits in the next five months. On May 20, 1991 Soyuz TM-12 docked with cosmonauts Anatolyj Arzebarskyj , Sergei Krikaljow and the Briton Helen Sharman . While Arzebarski and Krikalev took over the space station, Afanassev and Manarov returned to Earth on May 26 with Helen Sharman on board Soyuz TM-11.

Afanassjew was again a substitute for the Soyuz TM-17 flight , which took off for Mir on July 1, 1993, this time for Vasily Ziblijew .

Its second space flight began on January 8, 1994 with the launch of Soyuz TM-18 together with Yuri Usachev and Valery Polyakov . Afanassjew and Ussachow landed with Soyuz TM-18 after six months, on July 9, 1994, while Polyakov remained on board the Mir for another nine months.

From October 1996 Afanassjew was trained for his third stay on board the Mir. At first he was substitute for Talghat Musabayev , the commander of Soyuz TM-27 , who started on January 29, 1998 for a seven-month stay on board the Mir.

Afanasiev took off on his third space flight to Mir on February 20, 1999 with Soyuz TM-29 . The other two seats on board the spaceship had been sold to other countries: Jean-Pierre Haigneré from France was on board and Slovakia provided its first spaceman , Ivan Bella . After a few days in Soyuz TM-28, Bella returned to earth with the previous Mir commander Gennady Padalka , while Afanasjew and Haigneré stayed on board the Mir with Sergei Avdejew .

This stay on board the Mir lasted about six months, during which Afanassiev made three more space exits.

Afanassjew, Haigneré and Avdejew formed the 19th and last long-term team on the Mir. After six months, on August 27, 1999, they put the Mir into automatic operation, disconnected from Soyuz TM-29, and landed on earth the following day. This ended almost ten years in which at least one spaceman was constantly in space.

At that time, Viktor Afanassjew had completed three space flights, each lasting about six months. With 546 days in space, he was third behind Sergei Avdejew (747 days) and Anatoly Solowjow (651 days).

After the Mir space station burned up in March 2001, Russian space activities focused on the International Space Station (ISS), but Afanasiev was not earmarked for a long-term occupation.

The main task of Viktor Afanassiev's fourth space flight was to deliver a new spacecraft to the ISS as a rescue facility. On October 21, 2001 Afanassjew, Konstantin Kosejew and the French Claudie Haigneré started with Soyuz TM-33 . Two days later they docked with the ISS, where they were greeted by the third long-term crew , Frank Culbertson , Vladimir Deschurow and Mikhail Tyurin . On October 30, Afanassjew, Kosejew and Haigneré went to Soyuz TM-32 , disconnected and landed on Earth the following day.

In April 2006 Afanassjew resigned from the cosmonaut corps for reasons of age. With 555 days in space, he is now number 6 in the ranking of the most experienced space travelers.

On June 16, 2010 Afanasiev was seriously injured in a car accident near Meshchovsk . During an overtaking maneuver, a driver collided head-on with Afanassev's Volga. Afanassjew suffered broken bones and brain injuries and had to undergo an operation in Kaluga .

Viktor Afanassjew is married and has two children. He has been awarded the USSR Aviation Cosmonaut and the Order of a Hero of the Soviet Union .

See also

Web links

Commons : Wiktor Afanassjew  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Состояние пострадавшего в ДТП космонавта Афанасьева стабильно тяжелое. Roscosmos, June 20, 2010, accessed June 20, 2010 (Russian).
personal data
SURNAME Afanassjew, Viktor Michailowitsch
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Афанасьев, Виктор Михайлович (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION soviet cosmonaut
DATE OF BIRTH December 31, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Bryansk , Bryansk Oblast , Russian SFSR