Vladimir Solovyov (cosmonaut)

Vladimir Alekseyevich Soloviyov, born November 11, 1946 in Moscow, Russian SFSR, was a USSR cosmonaut.

He was selected as a cosmonaut on December 1, 1978 and flew as Flight Engineer on Soyuz T-10 and Soyuz T-15, spending 361 days 22 hours 49 minutes in space. His first flight (Soyuz T-10) took off on February 8, 1984, to join Salyut 7. The crew spent 10 months (nearly 237 days) performing numerous medical and space manufacturing experiments. They came back down aboard Soyuz T-11 on October 2, 1984. His second (and last) flight was aboard Soyuz T-15, taking off on March 13, 1986 and coming back aboard the same craft on July 16, 1986, 125 days later. The crew transferred equipment from Salyut-7 to the new Mir space station; they were the last aboard the former and the first aboard the latter.

He then became the Mir flight director (Russian Mission Control) for several years. He retired on February 18, 1994 but came back to head the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS).

Vladimir A. Solovyov is married and has two children.

See also

• MSNBC - Witness to Mir’s beginning and end (2001)
• Pravda - Experts search for cause of spacesuit leak (2004)