Call sign: Uran (Uranus).Official NASA Biography

NAME: Yuri Pavlovich Gidzenko (Lieutenant Colonel, Air Force Russia)

Cosmonaut of the Y.A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center

PERSONAL DATA:

Born March 26, 1962 in the village Elanets, Elanetsky district, Nikolayev region. Resides in Star City. Married to Olga Vladimirovna (Shapovalova), born December 21, 1961. They have two sons. Gidzenko enjoys team sports, swimming, tennis and football. Gidzenko's parents, Pavel Vasilievich and Galina Mikhailovna, reside in the settlement of Berezovka, Odessa region.

EDUCATION:

Graduated from Kharkov Military Aviation College of Pilots in 1983. Graduated from Moscow State University of land-surveying and cartography in 1994.

SPECIAL HONORS:

Awarded three Armed Forces medals.

EXPERIENCE:

After graduation from Aviation College in 1983, served as a pilot and senior pilot in the Air Force. 3rd class military pilot.

December 1987 through June 1989, took the course of general space training. Starting September 1989 continued training in the group of test-cosmonauts.

Instructor of paradrop training. Fulfilled 145 parachute jumps.

From March through October 1994 trained for the 17th main mission and Euromir-94 flight as a commander of the backup crew.

From September 3, 1995 through February 29, 1996, Gidzenko was the commander of the Euromir-95 mission on the Russian Space Station Mir.

Gidzenko is presently in training as the Soyuz Commander for the International Space Station assembly mission 2R, along with fellow Russian Sergei Krikalev and NASA astronaut Bill Shepherd.

• Soyuz TM-21 - - 1995 Mar 14 - Assignment: Backup Crew. Flight details: Soyuz TM-21.

  Mir Expedition EO-18. Soyuz TM-21 carried the EO-18 Mir crew and American Norman Thagard. Thagard was the first American to be launched in a Soyuz. Soyuz docked with Mir at 07:45:26 GMT on March 16 . On July 4 Soyuz TM-21 undocked and backed off to a distance of 100 m from Mir. The US space shuttle Atlantis, with the EO-18 crew aboard, then undocked and began a flyaround at a distance of 210 m, while the EO-19 crew aboard Soyuz took pictures before redocking with the station. Soyuz TM-21 again undocked with the EO-19 crew on September 11 from the Kvant rear port on Mir and landed at 50 deg 41'N 68 deg 15'E, 108 km northeast of Arkalyk in Kazakhstan, at 06:52:40 GMT .

• Soyuz TM-22 - - 1995 Sep 3 - Assignment: Prime Crew. Flight Time: 179.07 days. Flight details: Soyuz TM-22.

  Mir Expedition EO-20. Crew commander was Yuriy Pavlovich Gidzenko of the Russian Air Force. Flight engineer was Sergey Vasilyevich Avdeev of RKK Energiya, and cosmonaut-researcher was Thomas Reiter of the European Space Agency. Soyuz TM-22 docked with Mir's front (-X) port at 10:29:54 GMT on September 5 and the hatch was opened at 11:01:23. On February 29 the crew undocked from Mir in Soyuz TM-22, and at 10:42 GMT they landed in Kazakhstan.

• EVA Soyuz TM-22-2 - - 1995 Dec 8 - Assignment: EVA Crew. EVA Duration: 0.48 hours.

  Repositioned docking adapter.

• EVA Soyuz TM-22-3 - - 1996 Feb 8 - Assignment: EVA Crew. EVA Duration: 3.10 hours.

  Retrieved and installed material samples

• Soyuz TM-31 - - 2000 Oct 31 - Assignment: Prime Crew. Flight Time: 140.98 days. Flight details: Soyuz TM-31.

  Soyuz 31 delivered the Expedition One crew to the International Space Station with Gidzenko as the Soyuz crew commander with the call-sign 'Uran'. The spacecraft docked at Zvezda's rear port at 0921 GMT on November 2. The hatch to Zvezda was opened at 1023 GMT. Once aboard ISS, Shepherd became the ISS Commander, with 'Station Alpha' as the ISS callsign. Soyuz TM-31, with Shepherd, Gidzenko and Krikalyov aboard, undocked from the -Y port on Zvezda on February 24, 2001 at 1006 GMT and redocked with the -Z port on Zarya at 1037 GMT. This freed the Zvezda port for a Progress resupply ship.