1970 to 1976 served in the Air Force fighting troops as a pilot, senior pilot, and aircraft flight commander. 1976 to 1977 attended the Test Pilot Training Center. 1977 to 1988 served as a test pilot and senior test pilot at the State Research/Test Institute named after
Valery Chkalov. Viktor Afanasyev has a Class 1 military test pilot certification. He has logged over 2000 flight hours in more than 40 different aircraft.
GCTC experience 1985 to 1987 Viktor Afanasyev was taking a basic space training course at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center on a part-time training basis. He reported to the GCTC and proceeded to advanced training in 1988. From February 1989 on Afanasyev was training for a space flight aboard the
Mir orbital station as the
Mir-7 mission backup crew commander. He has logged 175 flight days during his first space flight (2 December 1990 to 26 May 1991) as the
Mir-8 mission crew commander. The mission program included a joint flight with a Japanese and British crewmember. He performed 4
EVAs totaling 20 hours and 55 minutes. 8 January to 9 July 1994, Afanasyev was participating in a space flight aboard the Soyuz-TM-18 transport vehicle and Mir orbital station as the
Mir-15 mission crew commander. October 1996 to January 1998 Afanasyev was training for the
Mir-25 mission as a backup crew commander. The mission was supposed to include NASA-7 and Pegasus (
CNES) programs. From March 1998 he underwent training as the
Mir-27 mission primary crew commander. 20 February to 28 August 1999, he was participating in a 189-day space flight aboard the Soyuz-TM transport vehicle and Mir orbital station. He has performed 3 EVAs. Colonel Afanasyev is a veteran of three long-duration missions. He has logged over 545 days in space, and 7 EVAs totaling 38.55 hours. He has a Class 1 cosmonaut certification. In 2001 Viktor Afanasyev was assigned to the ISS Taxi-1 backup crew. ==Honours and awards==