Happy birthday, cosmonaut Valeri Tokarev!

Valeri Tokarev, born October 29, 1952 in the former Soviet Union, is a veteran of two space flights.

His first flight was aboard Discovery (STS-96) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in May-June 1999. He stayed in space for 9 days 19 hours.

His second trip was aboard Soyuz TMA-7 as commander to the International Space Station launched in October 2005. He participated in Expedition 12 while on board the ISS.  He performed two EVAs during the mission.

He has stayed in space over 199 days total.

Soyuz TMA-7 launched 2005

Gregory Olsen, Valeri Tokarev, William McArthur

Mission patch

Soyuz TMA-7, launched October 1, 2005, carried the crew of Expedition 12 to the International Space Station.  Its crew consisted of Commander Valeri Tokarev (Roscosmos) and William McArthur (NASA).  Space tourist Gregory Olsen was also on board.

Tokarev and McArthur returned to Earth in April 2006 with Brazilian astronaut Marcos Pontes.

I could not find a video of the launch. 😧

Soyuz TMA-8 (Expedition 13) launched 2006

Soyuz TMA-8 crew (L-R): Marcos Pontes, Jeffrey Williams, Pavel Vinogradov

Mission patch

Soyuz TMA-8, launched March 30, 2006, carried members of Expedition 13 to the International Space Station.  Its crew consisted of Commander Pavel Vinogradov (Roscosmos), Jeffrey Williams (NASA) and Marcos Pontes (first Brazilian astronaut).

Pontes spent about a week on the ISS and returned with the crew of Expedition 12 on Soyuz TMA-7.

Vinogradov and Williams stayed on the ISS until September 29 when they returned to Earth with space tourist Anousheh Ansari, the first Iranian in space and the first self-funded woman in space.  Ansari arrived at the ISS about a week before on Soyuz TMA-9.