Happy birthday, cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov!

Valeri Polyakov, born April 27, 1942 in the former Soviet Union, holds the record for the longest single stay in space for a human.  He stayed aboard Mir for 427 days, 18 hours.  His total time in space is 678 days, 16 hours.

His first mission was aboard Soyuz TM-6 to Mir in August 1988.  He participated in expeditions Mir EO-3 and Mir EO-4, returning to Earth on Soyuz TM-7 in April 1989.

His second and final flight was his record setting stay.  He went into space aboard Soyuz TM-18 in January 1994.  He participated in expeditions Mir EO-15, Mir EO-16 and Mir EO-17.  He returned to Earth on Soyuz TM-20 in March 1995, after more than 14 months.

Happy birthday, cosmonaut Vladimir Titov!

Vladimir Georgiyevich Titov, born January 1, 1947 in the former Soviet Union, is a veteran of four space flights.

His first trip into space was aboard Soyuz T-8 as commander to Salyut 7 in April 1983 but the spacecraft failed to dock and they had to return to Earth two days later.

His second mission was aboard Soyuz T-10-1, which was also a planned trip to Salyut 7 in September 1983, but the spacecraft exploded on the launch pad, and he and fellow cosmonaut Gennady Strekalov had to use the escape system.

His next attempt was successful.  He blasted off in Soyuz TM-4 as commander in December 1987 to the Mir space station, as part of Mir EO-3 expedition.  He remained aboard for a year and returned to Earth on Soyuz TM-6 in December 1988.

His third mission was aboard Discovery (STS-63) as mission specialist in February 1995 to Mir.

His fourth and final mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-86) to Mir September-October 1997 as mission specialist.  He performed an EVA with fellow astronaut Scott Parazynski for about 5 hours.

Soyuz TM-4 launched 1987

Soyuz TM-4 launch crew

Mission patch

Soyuz TM-4, launched December 21, 1987, was the fourth manned mission to the space station Mir.  Its crew at lift-off consisted of Commander Vladimir Titov, Musa Manarov and Anatoli Levenchenko.  Titov and Manarov were part of the expedition Mir EO-3 and stayed in space for a year returning to Earth.  Levchenko returned to Earth on Soyuz TM-3 a week later.

Soyuz TM-4 returned in June 1998 with crew of Mir EP-2:Commander Anatoly Solovyev, Viktor Savinykh and Aleksandr Aleksandrov.  They had arrived a week earlier on Soyuz TM-5.

Happy birthday, Musa Manarov, first Azerbaijani cosmonaut!

Musa Manarov, born March 22, 1951 in Baku, Azerbaijan, is the first citizen from his country to go into space. 

His first mission to space was as flight engineer aboard Soyuz TM-4 to Mir in December 1987.  He was part of the Mir EO-3 expedition, which lasted until the following December, spending 366 days in space.  He returned to Earth on Soyuz TM-6.

His second mission was aboard Soyuz TM-11 in December 1990 to Mir.  He was part of the Mir EO-8 expedition and returned to Earth May 1991.