He was selected for Cosmonaut training 23 August 1976 as a member of TsPK-6. Uniquely, this group was to train as pilots for the
Buran programme (Soviet "space shuttle"), and as such had to also qualify as test pilots. To do so the group first attended the 267th Centre for Testing Aviation Equipment and Training Test Pilots at
Akhtubinsk where they passed as test pilots (third class). This was followed up by a year's training to qualify as Cosmonauts. They then returned to Akhtubinsk for further training as test pilots (second class). In addition he qualified as a parachutist and diver. In January 1979 he was appointed as a Test Cosmonaut in OK CPC (aerospace vehicles) working on Buran. Delays with Buran and increased need for space station crews resulted in his transferring to training for the
Interkosmos programme in January 1982. The following year he was designated as a reserve crew commander for missions to Salyut 7, with
Aleksandr Serebrov and Nikolai Moskalenko. In 1985 he was assigned as reserve crew commander of Soyuz T-15 with
Viktor Savinykh. The following year he was assigned as back up commander of the Soyuz TM-3 mission to Mir with Savinykh and Munir Habib (Syria). He was commander for the 9-day
Mir EP-2 visiting ("lifeboat" swap) crew June 1988 launched aboard
Soyuz TM-5 and returned aboard
Soyuz TM-4. His crew were
Viktor Savinykh and
Aleksandr Aleksandrov (of Bulgaria). He thus became the 65th Soviet Cosmonaut with the personal callsign "Spring". He then served as the back up commander for
Soyuz TM-8. Commander 179 day
Soyuz TM-9/
Mir EO-6 long-duration mission February to August 1990, with
Aleksandr Balandin. This included an EVA to repair thermal blankets on Soyuz TM-9, and a second EVA when repairs to the
Kvant-2 module hatch were unsuccessfully attempted. He served as reserve crew commander with Andrei Zaytsev for Mir EO-10 but the crew was disbanded after flight programme changes. He was back up commander
Mir EO-11/
Soyuz TM-14. He was commander for the 188-day
Mir EO-12/
Soyuz TM-15 with
Sergei Avdeyev, from July 1992 until February 1993. He conducted four more EVAs during the mission. Launching only with them was
Michel Tognini of France. He served as back up commander of
Mir EO-18, and then as commander of
Mir EO-19 with
Nikolai Budarin. They launched as passengers aboard
Space Shuttle Atlantis on the
STS-71 mission in June 1995. This was at the first Orbiter docking with Mir, and the EO-19 crew undocked
Soyuz TM-21 briefly to observe and photograph the departure of
Atlantis. Solovyev also performed three EVAs. They returned to Earth aboard
Soyuz TM-21 in September after 75 days. (left) and Solovyev (right) celebrate Christmas in 1997 during
Mir EO-24 His final space mission was as commander of
Mir EO-24/
Soyuz TM-26 for 197 days from August 1997 until February 1998 with
Pavel Vinogradov. After an automatic
Kurs approach, Solovyev performed the final docking manually when he was unable to verify the accuracy of the automatic targeting. They joined NASA astronaut
Michael Foale who transferred from
EO-23 until his departure aboard
Atlantis. He was replaced by
David Wolf and then
Andrew Thomas who remained to join
EO-25. His first EVA on 22 August 1997 was an unusual "internal spacewalk" to connect power and survey damage to the depressurised Spektr module. This had been holed in the collision with
Progress M-34 on 25 June. Solovyev performed six more EVAs to set a world record total of 16, with a world record combined duration of 82 hours 21 minutes. He commented: "It just came about. I never referred to my numbers as a record, nor did I ever think about beating someone else's accomplishments before going out on a walk." He was tapped to be on the crew of the first expedition to occupy the International Space Station. However he declined to serve under an American commander for the long-duration mission, since his experience of long-duration spaceflight far exceeded that of any American astronaut. Solovyev left the Cosmonaut Detachment in 1999 having reached compulsory retirement age and became the president of "For the Good of the Fatherland", a national organisation recognising the work of Russians devoted to cultural and social development. == Family ==