Nadezhda Vasilyevna Kyzhelnaya was born on November 6th, 1962 in the village Alexevskoy, near the river Volga in the Alexvoskova region. She attended school in the Ukraine and also did parachuting and flying at a local club. She graduated in 1988 from the Moscow Aviation Institute with a major in engineering dynamics. After graduation, she started to work with NPO Energia. She had the opportunity of working at the hydro-laboratory at Star City for about 3 years. She was accepted as a cosmonaut in 1994, together with Mikhail Vladislavovich Tyurin who was also a former NPO Energia employee. Her hobbies include playing guitar and singing.