Sergei Krikalev

Sergei Krikalev
Сергей Крикалёв
Krikalev in 2005
Born	(1958-08-27) 27 August 1958 (age 65) Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Status	Retired
Nationality	Soviet (1958–1991) Russian (1991-present)
Occupation	Mechanical Engineer
Awards	Hero of Russia Hero of the Soviet Union
Space career
Roscosmos cosmonaut
Time in space	803d 9h 39min[1]
Selection	1985 Cosmonaut Group
Total EVAs	8
Total EVA time	41 hours, 8 minutes
Missions	Mir EO-4 (Soyuz TM-7), Mir LD-3 (Soyuz TM-12, Soyuz TM-13), STS-60, STS-88, Expedition 1 (Soyuz TM-31, STS-102), Expedition 11 (Soyuz TMA-6)
Mission insignia

Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev (Russian: Сергей Константинович Крикалёв, also transliterated as Sergei Krikalyov; born 27 August 1958) is a Russian mechanical engineer, former cosmonaut and former head of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

As a prominent rocket scientist, he is a veteran of six space flights and ranks fourth to Gennady Padalka, Oleg Kononenko and Yuri Malenchenko for the most time spent in space: a total of 803 days, 9 hours, and 39 minutes.^[1]

Krikalev was stranded on board the Mir during the dissolution of the Soviet Union. As the country that had sent him into space no longer existed, his return was delayed and he stayed in space for 311 consecutive days, twice as long as the mission had originally called for.^[2]

He retired as a cosmonaut in 2007 and was working^[when?] as vice president of Space Corporation Energia. From 2009 to 2014, he headed the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.