Sergey Volkov (cosmonaut)

Sergey Volkov
Сергей Волков
1997 TsPK Cosmonaut Group
Total EVAs	4
Total EVA time	23 hours and 20 minutes
Missions	Soyuz TMA-12 (Expedition 17), Soyuz TMA-02M (Expedition 28/29), Soyuz TMA-18M (Expedition 45/46)
Mission insignia

Sergey Aleksandrovich Volkov (Russian: Сергей Александрович Волков; born 1 April 1973) is a retired Russian cosmonaut and engineer. He was a member of three missions to the International Space Station, spending more than a year in total in space. During his missions he did four spacewalks lasting more than 23 hours in total.^[1] Volkov retired from the Cosmonaut group in February 2017.

Personal

Volkov is the first second-generation cosmonaut (and space walker), the son of

. He was born on 1 April 1973 in Chuhuiv, Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. Volkov and his wife Natalia have a son who was born in 2001. His recreational activities include tennis, windsurfing, reading, and visiting museums.

Education

Volkov graduated from Star City high school in 1990 and entered the Tambov Air Force Academy for Pilots. He graduated in 1995 with a degree of pilot/engineer.

Awards

Volkov was awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation medal and Russian Federation Armed Forces medals.

Experience

After graduating from Tambov Air Force Academy, Volkov served in the air force as an assistant aircraft commander. He has mastered the Aero L-29 and L-39, the Ilyushin Il-22, and the Tupolev Tu-134, and has also accumulated 450 flight hours. He is a Class 3 military pilot.

Cosmonaut career

From December 1997 to November 1999, Volkov underwent general cosmonaut training, and in November 1999, was qualified as a test cosmonaut. Since January 2000, he has been part of a group of test cosmonauts training for missions to the International Space Station (ISS).

From August 2001 to February 2003, Volkov trained as part of the

backup crew and Visiting Crew 10 as a Soyuz TMA Flight Engineer 2 and an ISS Visiting Crew Flight Engineer.

Expedition 17

In June 2006, he was appointed a member of the

Yi So-Yeon

blasted into space on 8 April 2008. Volkov served as the commander of the ISS expedition 17. He is the youngest ISS commander to date. His mission lasted from April to October 2008.

Volkov, Kononeko and

.

Expedition 28/29

On 7 June 2011 (UTC) Volkov returned to space aboard Soyuz TMA-02M to join the crew of Expedition 28.^[4] Expedition 28 crews worked with 111 experiments involving approximately 200 researchers across a variety of fields, including human life sciences, physical sciences and Earth observation, and conduct technology demonstrations ranging from recycling to robotics. Seventy-three of these experiments are sponsored by NASA, including 22 under the auspices of the U.S. National Laboratory program, and 38 are sponsored by international partners. More than 540 hours of research are planned. As with prior expeditions, many experiments are designed to gather information about the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the human body, which will help us understand complicated processes such as immune systems with a plan for future exploration missions. The station command changed from US astronaut

on 21 November 2011 at 23:00 UTC the Expedition 29 concluded and the new ISS Expedition 30 began. An EVA by Volkov and crewmate

Aleksandr Samokutyayev

occurred on 3 August 2011 to move a small crane, install a communications terminal and remove and inspect antennas. Other tasks included installing a materials science experiment and deploying a micro-satellite. The duration of the spacewalk was 6 hours 23 minutes.

Spacewalks

Volkov conducted his first spacewalk on 10 July 2008 when he ventured into space from the Pirs docking compartment airlock of the ISS.^[5] He and cosmonaut Kononenko inspected their Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft and retrieved a pyro bolt from it. The spacewalk lasted 6 hours and 18 minutes and Volkov served as the lead spacewalker.

On 15 July 2008 Volkov, together with Kononenko, again went outside from Pirs to conduct a spacewalk.^[6] The two spacewalking cosmonauts installed one experiment and retrieved another. They also continued to outfit the station's exterior, including the installation of a docking target on the Zvezda service module. The spacewalk was in Russian Orlan suits and Volkov, as the lead spacewalker wore the suit with red stripes. This spacewalk lasted 5 hours and 54 minutes.

An EVA by Volkov and crewmate

occurred on 3 August 2011 to move a small crane, install a communications terminal and remove and inspect antennas. Other tasks included installing a materials science experiment and deploying a micro-satellite. The duration of the spacewalk was 6 hours 23 minutes.

The fourth EVA of Volkov's career was during Expedition 46, with veteran cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko. The spacewalkers performed works with the experiment Test at two locations: they took away samples from the outer surface of the docking compartment Pirs hatch and in the area of the cover window #8 at the service module Zvezda. The goal of the experiments was to develop methods for detecting leaks and control of elements of the exterior surface of the ISS. The cosmonauts also dismantled a monoblock responsible for exposing samples of organic and biological materials in open space (experiment Expose-R) and set the unit samples #2 from an experiment for the study of space influence on the mechanical properties of materials. At the same module, they had to replace a removable cassette container, where the samples are placed on the exterior of stations in conditions of prolonged exposure, change the orientation of the pressure control unit on the module Poisk. One of the important tasks were works on an experiment with the goal to develop technologies for sticking film thermal control coating, secure package screen-vacuum thermal insulation on the surface to be repaired and transactions that require bonding film materials in space flight. For more convenient travel on the outer surface of the ISS the spacewalkers installed handrails on the soft part of the conical device of the Functional Cargo Block Zarya. Upon completion of the main tasks, the cosmonauts started a photo documentation of the external surface of the ISS Russian segment. The spacewalk concluded after 4 hours 45 minutes.

Russian EVA #28

On 3 August 2011 Volkov participated in his third spacewalk. He and cosmonaut

]

Lawsuit with the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center

In February 2012, the Russian Government excluded the

Expedition 45/46

Volkov launched for his third trip to the ISS as commander of Soyuz TMA-18M alongside Visiting Crew Members Andreas Mogensen and Aidyn Aimbetov on the 2nd September 2015. They docked to the Poisk Module 2 days later (a higher station orbit prevented the normal 6 hr rendezvous from being possible) on the 4th September. Mogensen and Aimbetov landed on Soyuz TMA-16M while Volkov remained onboard until March 2016 when he landed with Scott Kelly and

. The fourth EVA of Volkov's career was during Expedition 46, with veteran cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko. The duration was 4 hours 45 minutes. with undocking of Soyuz TMA-18M, carrying Volkov, Korniyenko and Kelly, on 2 March 2016 at 01:02:48 UTC, the Expedition 46 concluded and the new ISS Expedition 47 began. The landing of TMA-18M occurred two and half hours later, which concluded the 11-month mission of Kelly and Korniyenko.

See also

• List of Heroes of the Russian Federation

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the

.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sergey Alexandrovich Volkov.

• Volkov's Twitter page
• Spacefacts biography of Sergei Volkov
• NASA biography
• Roscosmos biography

Preceded by Peggy Whitson

ISS Expedition Commander 17 April 2008 to 24 October 2008

Succeeded by Michael Fincke