Official NASA Biography - 1994

NAME: Alexander Fedorovich Poleshchuk

Pilot-cosmonaut. Resides in Kaliningrad, Moscow region.

BIRTHPLACE AND DATE:

October 30, 1953 in Cheremkhovo, Irkutsk region, Russia.

PARENTS:

Fedor Demyanovich Poleshchuk, father, deceased in 1981. Valentina Sergeevna Poleshchuk, mother, resides in Bratsk, Irkutsk region, Russia.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:

Blonde hair; green eyes; 5 feet 9 inches; 178 pounds.

EDUCATION:

Graduated from S. Ordzhonikidze Moscow Aviation Institute in 1979 with a mechanical engineering diploma.

MARITAL STATUS:

Married to Irina Petrovna Poleshchuk (nee Chistyakova).

CHILDREN:

Daughter, Lyubov in 1979.

HONORS:

Awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.

EXPERIENCE:

A.F. Poleshchuk has worked as a test engineer at NPO "Energiya" since 1977, where he was occupied with perfecting repair and assembly techniques performed during space flights. He has extensive experience in experimental work under conditions of simulated weightlessness.

In February 1989, he was enrolled in a cosmonaut detachment as a candidate test cosmonaut. In the period from September 1989 to January 1991, he underwent the complete course of general space training and qualified as a test cosmonaut.

From February 1991 to March 1992, he trained for a flight on the Soyuz-TM transport vehicle and the Mir Station as a member of a group.

From March until July 1992, he underwent flight training to be the flight engineer of a back-up Russian-French crew comprised of G.M. Manakov, A.F. Poleshchuk, and J.P.Haigner�, of France.

He underwent a complete course of training to be the flight engineer for the Soyuz-TM transport vehicle and Mir Station for the 13th primary expedition and, in the period from January 24 to March 22, 1993, accomplished a 179-day space flight with G.M. Manakov.

During the flight, two EVAs were performed, lasting a total of 9 hours and 58 minutes. Testing of the androgynous peripheral docking subassembly of the "Kristall" module was performed.

At present, he is undergoing flight training to be the flight engineer of the stand-by Russian crew for the Mir-18 expedition as part of the Mir-Shuttle program.

• Soyuz TM-14a - - 1991 End - Assignment: Proposed Backup Crew.

  Soyuz TM-13 and TM-14 crews were reshuffled extensively due to commercial seat bookings by Austria and Germany and the necessity of flying a Kazakh-born cosmonaut as part of the Baikonur rental agreement. This was the original crew assignment. The Kazakh researchers were moved to the earlier Soyuz TM-13 flight.

• Soyuz TM-15 - - 1992 Jul 27 - Assignment: Backup Crew. Flight details: Soyuz TM-15.

  Mir Expedition EO-12. Russian astronauts Solovyov and Avdeev and French astronaut Tognini were inserted into an initial 190 x 200 km orbit inclined 51.6 deg. Later on July 27 they maneuvered to a 223 x 343 km orbit, and on July 28 docked with Mir in its 405 x 410 km orbit. Aleksandr Solovyov and Sergey Avdeev undocked from the Mir complex aboard Soyuz TM-15 on February 1 and landed the same day in Kazakhstan after six months in space at 03:58 GMT. Soyuz TM-15's flight was an in-orbit record for a Soyuz spaceship - 188 days 21 h 39 m.

• Soyuz TM-16 - - 1993 Jan 24 - Assignment: Prime Crew. Flight Time: 179.03 days. Flight details: Soyuz TM-16.

  Manned two crew. Mir Expedition EO-13. Transported to the Mir manned orbital station a crew of the thirteenth main expedition comprising the cosmonauts G M Manakov and A F Poleschuk.The Soyuz carried the APAS androgynous docking system instead of the usual probe system. Soyuz TM-16 landed at 06:42 GMT on July 22.

• EVA Soyuz TM-16-1 - - 1993 Apr 19 - Assignment: EVA Crew. EVA Duration: 5.42 hours.

  Began installation of Kvant 1 solar array drive unit.

• EVA Soyuz TM-16-2 - - 1993 Jun 18 - Assignment: EVA Crew. EVA Duration: 4.55 hours.

  Completed installation of Kvant 1 solar array drive unit.