Sunday, December 31, 2017

Happy birthday, cosmonaut Viktor Afanasyev!


Viktor Mikhailovich Afanasyev, born December 31, 1948 (same day as Donna Summer!) in Bryansk, Russia, is a cosmonaut who has visited both Mir and the International Space Station. From 1985-1987 he took space training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center and flew his first mission on Soyuz TM-11, which launched December 2, 1990.  He spent 175 days on Mir as part of the eighth manned expedition (EO-8) returning May 1991.

Afanasyev was commander of Soyuz TM-18 from January-July 1994 as part of the EO-15 crew.  This time he spent 182 days on Mir.

His third flight was as commander on Soyuz TM-29, which launched February 1999 to Mir for the EO-27 crew.  He returned to Earth in August after 188 days in space.

His fourth and last flight was on Soyuz TM-33 to the International Space Station in October 2001 as commander and returned later that month on Soyuz TM-32.

He has conducted 7 EVAs for a total of over 38 hours and has logged 545 days in space. 


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