14 Facts About Anton Shkaplerov

Anton Nikolaevich Shkaplerov is a former Russian cosmonaut.

Anton Shkaplerov is married to Tatyana Petrovna, and they have two daughters.

Anton Shkaplerov's parents are Nikolay Ivanovich Shkaplerov and Tamara Viktorovna Shkaplerova.

In 1989, Shkaplerov learned to fly in a Yakovlev Yak-52, and after graduating from Sevastopol High School the same year, he entered the Kachinsk Air Force Pilot School.

Anton Shkaplerov graduated in 1994 as a pilot-engineer, and then graduated from N E Zukovskiy Air Force Engineering School in 1997.

Anton Shkaplerov is a Class 2 Air Force pilot-instructor and an Instructor of General Parachute Training, having performed more than 300 parachute jumps.

In 2007, Anton Shkaplerov served as Director of Operations, Russian Space Agency, stationed at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and was assigned as the back-up commander for Expedition 22.

Anton Shkaplerov was the commander of Soyuz TMA-22 and launched with flight engineers Anatoli Ivanishin and Dan Burbank on 16 November 2011.

On 23 November 2014, Anton Shkaplerov commanded Soyuz TMA-15M alongside flight engineers Samantha Cristoforetti and Terry Virts from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

Anton Shkaplerov was launched on into space on board Soyuz MS-07 on 17 December 2017, with NASA astronaut Scott Tingle and Norishige Kanai of JAXA.

Anton Shkaplerov was the flight engineer of Expedition 54 and commander of Expedition 55.

Anton Shkaplerov flew to the ISS on board Soyuz MS-19 on 5 October 2021 with film director Klim Shipenko and actress Yulia Peresild, who were filming The Challenge, a joint project of Roscosmos, Channel One and the Yellow, Black and White studio.

Shipenko and Peresild returned to Earth on Soyuz MS-18 with Oleg Novitsky, while Anton Shkaplerov became ISS commander as part of Expedition 66.

Anton Shkaplerov landed on 30 March 2022 with Russian cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov and American astronaut Mark Vande Hei.