31 Facts About Sergei Krikalev

Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev is a Russian mechanical engineer and former cosmonaut and head of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

Sergei Krikalev retired as a cosmonaut in 2007 and was working as vice president of Space Corporation Energia.

Sergei Krikalev was born in Leningrad in the Soviet Union.

Sergei Krikalev enjoyed swimming, skiing, cycling, aerobatic flying, and amateur radio operations, particularly from space.

Sergei Krikalev tested space flight equipment, developed space operations methods, and participated in ground control operations.

Sergei Krikalev was selected as a cosmonaut in 1985, completed his basic training in 1986, and, for a time, was assigned to the Buran Shuttle program.

In December 1990, Sergei Krikalev began training for the ninth Mir mission which included training for ten EVAs.

In July 1991, Sergei Krikalev agreed to stay on Mir as flight engineer for the next crew, scheduled to arrive in October because the next two planned flights had been reduced to one.

Sergei Krikalev was in space when the Soviet Union was dissolved on 26 December 1991.

Sergei Krikalev remained in space twice as long as originally planned, spending a total of 311 days in space.

Sergei Krikalev was one of two candidates named by the Russian Space Agency for mission specialist training with the crew of STS-60.

Sergei Krikalev conducted significant portions of the Remote Manipulator System operations during the flight.

Sergei Krikalev returned to duty in Russia following his American experience on STS-60.

Sergei Krikalev flew on STS-88 Endeavour, the first International Space Station assembly mission.

Sergei Krikalev lived and worked aboard the International Space Station on a six-month tour of duty.

In completing his sixth space flight, Sergei Krikalev logged 803 days and 9 hours and 39 minutes in space, including eight EVAs.

Sergei Krikalev is currently fourth to Gennady Padalka, Oleg Kononenko and Yuri Malenchenko in the record for the most time spent in space.

On 15 June 2007, Sergei Krikalev was brought to the Russian Mission Control center to instruct Expedition 15 Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov on how he and ISS Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin could jump-start the Russian segment's crippled computer systems.

The film draws parallels between economic hardships in Cuba at the time and the fall of the Soviet Union, which occurred as the real-life Sergei Krikalev was aboard Mir.

From 1999 to 2007, Sergei Krikalev was President of the Russian Gliding Federation.

On 14 February 2012, Sergei Krikalev was approved as a member of the Public Chamber of the Central Federal District and a confidant of the Prime Minister and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin, and at the first plenary meeting on 14 September of the same year, he was elected Secretary of the Chamber.

On 12 April 2014, Sergei Krikalev was appointed Plenipotentiary Representative of the Governor of Sevastopol in Moscow and St Petersburg.

In September 2016, Sergei Krikalev became a confidant of the United Russia party in the elections to the State Duma of the 7th Convocation.

Since 2017, Sergei Krikalev has been the President of the Aircraft Sports Federation of Russia.

In January 2018, Sergei Krikalev became a confidant of Vladimir Putin in the 2018 Russian presidential election.

Sergei Krikalev is a member of the Expert Council of the National Prize "Crystal Compass" and President of the International Environmental Foundation "Clean Seas".

Sergei Krikalev was a member of the Russian and Soviet national aerobatic flying teams, and was Champion of Moscow in 1983, and Champion of the Soviet Union in 1986.

Sergei Krikalev overtook Sergei Avdeyev's previous record for the career total time spent in space during Expedition 11 to the International Space Station.

Sergei Krikalev has logged a total of 803 days and 9 hours and 39 minutes in space.

On 23 May 2007 Sergei Krikalev was selected as an honorary citizen of Saint Petersburg together with conductor Valery Gergiev.

Sergei Krikalev was one of five cosmonauts selected to raise the Russian flag at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.