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.

Discovery (STS-96) launched 1999

STS-96 crew

Front row (L-R): Kent Rominger, Ellen Ochoa, Rick Husband

Back row (L-R): Daniel Barry, Julie Payette, Valeri Tokarev, , Tamara Jernigan

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-96), launched May 27, 1999, was the second mission to the International Space Station.  Its crew consisted of Commander Kent Rominger, Pilot Rick Husband, Daniel Barry, Ellen Ochoa, Tamara Jernigan, Julie Payette (CSA), Valeri Tokarev (Roscosmos).

Jernigan and Barry conducted a spacewalk for almost 8 hours.  The crew returned to Earth on June 7.

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. 😧