From December 1997 to November 1999, Volkov underwent general cosmonaut training, and in November 1999, was qualified as a test cosmonaut. Since January 2000, he has been part of a group of test cosmonauts training for missions to the
International Space Station (ISS). From August 2001 to February 2003, Volkov trained as part of the
Expedition 7 backup crew as a
Soyuz-TMA Commander and ISS Flight Engineer. From March 2003 to December 2004, he trained as part of the
Expedition 11 primary crew for launch on the
Space Shuttle. From January 2005 to February 2006, he trained as part of a group of test cosmonauts for missions to the ISS. In February 2006, he was appointed as a member of the
Expedition 13 backup crew and Visiting Crew 10 as a Soyuz TMA Flight Engineer 2 and an ISS Visiting Crew Flight Engineer.
Expedition 17 In June 2006, he was appointed a member of the
Expedition 17 prime crew as Soyuz TMA Commander and ISS Commander. The
Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft carrying Volkov along with fellow cosmonaut
Oleg Kononenko and South Korean spaceflight participant
Yi So-Yeon blasted into space on 8 April 2008. Volkov served as the commander of the ISS expedition 17. He is the youngest ISS commander to date. His mission lasted from April to October 2008. Volkov, Kononeko and
space tourist Richard Garriott, the son of astronaut
Owen K. Garriott returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-12 on 24 October 2008. Garriott is the first second-generation American space explorer. The spacecraft landed at 03:36
GMT 55 miles north of
Arkalyk,
Kazakhstan. Later they were lifted to the Kazakhstan
Baikonur Cosmodrome by helicopter and then flown to
Zvezdny Gorodok (Star City) in
Moscow.
Expedition 28/29 On 7 June 2011 (UTC) Volkov returned to space aboard
Soyuz TMA-02M to join the crew of
Expedition 28. Expedition 28 crews worked with 111 experiments involving approximately 200 researchers across a variety of fields, including human life sciences, physical sciences and Earth observation, and conduct technology demonstrations ranging from recycling to robotics. Seventy-three of these experiments are sponsored by NASA, including 22 under the auspices of the U.S. National Laboratory program, and 38 are sponsored by international partners. More than 540 hours of research are planned. As with prior expeditions, many experiments are designed to gather information about the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the human body, which will help us understand complicated processes such as immune systems with a plan for future exploration missions. The station command changed from US astronaut
Michael Fossum to US astronaut
Daniel Burbank. With undocking of
Soyuz TMA-02M, carrying Volkov, Fossum and
Satoshi Furukawa on 21 November 2011 at 23:00 UTC the Expedition 29 concluded and the new ISS Expedition 30 began. An EVA by Volkov and crewmate
Aleksandr Samokutyayev occurred on 3 August 2011 to move a small crane, install a communications terminal and remove and inspect antennas. Other tasks included installing a materials science experiment and deploying a micro-satellite. The duration of the spacewalk was 6 hours 23 minutes.
Spacewalks Volkov conducted his first spacewalk on 10 July 2008 when he ventured into space from the
Pirs docking compartment airlock of the ISS. He and cosmonaut Kononenko inspected their Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft and retrieved a pyro bolt from it. The spacewalk lasted 6 hours and 18 minutes and Volkov served as the lead spacewalker. On 15 July 2008 Volkov, together with Kononenko, again went outside from
Pirs to conduct a spacewalk. The two spacewalking cosmonauts installed one experiment and retrieved another. They also continued to outfit the station's exterior, including the installation of a docking target on the Zvezda service module. The spacewalk was in Russian
Orlan suits and Volkov, as the lead spacewalker wore the suit with red stripes. This spacewalk lasted 5 hours and 54 minutes. An EVA by Volkov and crewmate
Aleksandr Samokutyayev occurred on 3 August 2011 to move a small crane, install a communications terminal and remove and inspect antennas. Other tasks included installing a materials science experiment and deploying a micro-satellite. The duration of the spacewalk was 6 hours 23 minutes. The fourth EVA of Volkov's career was during
Expedition 46, with veteran cosmonaut
Yuri Malenchenko. The spacewalkers performed works with the experiment Test at two locations: they took away samples from the outer surface of the docking compartment Pirs hatch and in the area of the cover window #8 at the service module Zvezda. The goal of the experiments was to develop methods for detecting leaks and control of elements of the exterior surface of the ISS. The cosmonauts also dismantled a monoblock responsible for exposing samples of organic and biological materials in open space (experiment Expose-R) and set the unit samples #2 from an experiment for the study of space influence on the mechanical properties of materials. At the same module, they had to replace a removable cassette container, where the samples are placed on the exterior of stations in conditions of prolonged exposure, change the orientation of the pressure control unit on the module Poisk. One of the important tasks were works on an experiment with the goal to develop technologies for sticking film thermal control coating, secure package screen-vacuum thermal insulation on the surface to be repaired and transactions that require bonding film materials in space flight. For more convenient travel on the outer surface of the ISS the spacewalkers installed handrails on the soft part of the conical device of the Functional Cargo Block Zarya. Upon completion of the main tasks, the cosmonauts started a photo documentation of the external surface of the ISS Russian segment. The spacewalk concluded after 4 hours 45 minutes.
Russian EVA #28 On 3 August 2011 Volkov participated in his third spacewalk. He and cosmonaut
Aleksandr Samokutyayev worked for six hours and 23 minutes performing a variety of tasks for both science and maintenance outside the Russian segment of the ISS. Outside the Zvezda service module, Volkov and Samokutyayev installed laser communications equipment. They also photographed an antenna with signs of degraded performance. After ground controllers took time to work on an antenna problem, the two cosmonauts also deployed a small satellite named Radioskaf-V which was originally planned for deployment at the beginning of the spacewalk. The satellite contained an amateur radio transmitter and a student experiment. The primary task of the spacewalk the relocation of the Strela 1 boom from the Pirs module to the Poisk module, had to be called off due to time constraints. The cosmonauts removed an antenna that helped guide the Poisk module to a docking in November 2009 and was returned to the ISS at the end of the spacewalk. They also successfully installed the materials science experiment – BIORISK on a handrail outside the Pirs module. BIORISK experiment studies the effect of microbes on spacecraft structures and whether solar activity affects microbial growth. Finally, Volkov and Samokutyayev took more photographs holding photos of the first cosmonaut
Yury Gagarin, spacecraft designer
Sergei Korolyov and Soviet astronautic theory pioneer
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky with Earth in the background before entering the Pirs module, closing the hatch and completing the Russian EVA #28.
Lawsuit with the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center In February 2012, the Russian Government excluded the
Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center from the list of organizations served by military officers. All military personnel serving as cosmonauts were forced to retire from military service and become civilian specialists at significantly lower rates of pay (the premium for military officers working as cosmonauts was between 55% and 120% of their nominal salaries). Sergey Volkov successfully sued the training center, winning back 1,382,000
Russian roubles (approximately $40,000) in lost pay.
Expedition 45/46 Volkov launched for his third trip to the ISS as commander of
Soyuz TMA-18M alongside visiting crew members
Andreas Mogensen and
Aidyn Aimbetov on 2 September 2015. They docked to the Poisk Module 2 days later (a higher station orbit prevented the normal 6 hr rendezvous from being possible) on 4 September. Mogensen and Aimbetov landed on
Soyuz TMA-16M while Volkov remained onboard until March 2016 when he landed with
Scott Kelly and
Mikhail Korniyenko. The fourth EVA of Volkov's career was during Expedition 46 with veteran cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko. The duration was 4 hours 45 minutes. With the undocking of
Soyuz TMA-18M, carrying Volkov, Korniyenko, and Kelly on 2 March 2016 at 01:02:48 UTC, Expedition 46 concluded, and
Expedition 47 began. The landing of TMA-18M occurred two and half hours later, which concluded the 11-month mission of Kelly and Korniyenko. ==See also==