Happy birthday, cosmonaut Alexander Volkov!

Alexander (Aleksandr) Volkov, born May 27, 1948 in present-day Ukraine, is a veteran of three space flights, and is the father of cosmonaut Sergey Volkov.

His first mission was aboard Soyuz T-14 launched in September 1985 to Salyut 7.  It was the ninth mission to the space station.  He returned to Earth in November 1985.

His second mission was as commander aboard Soyuz TM-7 to Mir in November 1988. He was part of expedition Mir EO-4 and conducted an EVA with French astronaut Jean-Loup Chretien.  He returned to Earth in April 1989.

His third and final mission was as commander aboard Soyuz TM-13 to Mir in October 1991 as part of expedition Mir EO-10.  He and fellow cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev were dubbed as "the last citizens of the USSR" because when they landed in March 1992, the Soviet Union had dissolved.

Soyuz Т-6 launched 1982

Soyuz T-6 (L-R): Aleksandr Ivanchenkov, Jean-Loup Chretien, Vladimir Dzhanibekov

Mission patch

Soyuz T-6, launched June 24, 1982, carried the first French astronaut into space.  Its crew consisted of Commander Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Flight Engineer Aleksandr Ivanchenkov and Jean-Loup Chretien.

They docked manually with Salyut 7 after problems with the Soyuz space capsule's automatic docking system arose. They completed experiments with the crew of Soyuz T-5, the resident crew of Salyut 7.

They returned to Earth on July 2.

Soyuz TM-7 launched 1988

Soyuz TM-7 crew (L-R):  Jean-Loup Chretien, Alexander Volkov, Sergei Krikalev

Mission patch

Soyuz TM-7, launched November 26, 1988, was the seventh manned mission to the Mir space station.  Its crew consisted of Commander Alexander Volkov, Sergei Krikalev and Jean-Loup Chretien (CNES).  Then French president Francois Mitterand viewed the launch with Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and Nick Mason. 

Chretien became the first non-American/non-Soviet person to conduct an EVA when he went outside Mir with Volkov for 6 hours to install a French experimental structure.

Chretien returned to Earth a month later on Soyuz TM-6, but Volkov and Krikalyov remained on board as part of Mir EO-4 expedition and returned in April 1989 with Valeri Polyakov. 

Atlantis (STS-86) launched 1997

Front row (L-R): Michael Bloomfield, James Wetherbee, Wendy Lawrence; 

Back row: Jean-Loup Chrétien, Scott Parazynski, Vladimir Titov, Michael Foale.

(This picture must have been taken after the flight since Wolf is not in it.)

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-86), launched September 25, 1997, was the seventh shuttle mission to Mir and the last before Atlantis was taken out of service for maintenance and upgrades.  Its crew consisted of Commander James Wetherbee, Pilot Michael Bloomfield, Vladimir Titov (Roscosmos), Scott Parazynski, Jean-Loup Chretien (National Center for Space Studies), Wendy Lawrence and David Wolf.

Wolf replaced Michael Foale as the resident U.S. astronaut on Mir, the decision made only the night before the launch by NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin.  There had been political pressure on NASA to discontinue American astronauts on Mir after problems during Foale's residence and his predecessor Jerry Linenger. 

Parazynski and Titov conducted one EVA for about 5 hours.

The crew, with Foale instead of Wolf, landed October 6.

Happy birthday, French cosmonaut Jean Loup Chretien!

Jean-Loup Chretien, born August 20, 1938, is a French cosmonaut who has flown two Soyuz missions and one Space Shuttle flight.

His first mission was aboard Soyuz T-6 in June 1982 to Salyut 7.  It was the first time a Frenchman had flown in space.  He spent about a week in space before returning to Earth in early June.

His second mission was aboard Soyuz TM-7 in November 1988 to Mir.  He conducted an EVA with fellow cosmonaut Alexander Volkov, which lasted almost 6 hours.  He is the first non-American, non-Russian to walk in space.  He returned 24 days later aboard Soyuz TM-6.

His third and final mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-86) as mission specialist to Mir in September-October 1997.

Soyuz T-5 launched 1982

Soyuz T-5 crew (L-R): Valentin Lebedev, Anatolis Berezovoy

Soyuz T-5, launched May 13, 1982, was the first mission to the new Salyut 7 space station.  Its crew consisted of Commander Anatoli Berezovoy and Flight Engineer Valentin Lebedev.  While docked with Salyut 7, Soyuz T-6 (with Jean-Loup Chretien, first French astronaut) and Soyuz T-7 (with Svetlana Savitskaya, the first female astronaut in 20 years).

Soyuz T-5 returned to Earth August 27.  The return crew consisted of Commander Leonid Popov, Flight Engineer Aleksandr Serebrov and Research Cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya.