Toktar Aubakirov

Infobox Astronaut
name = Toktar Ongarbayuly Aubakirov


type = Cosmonaut
status = Retired
nationality = Kazakh
date_birth = July 27, 1946
place_birth = Karaganda, Kazakhstan
occupation = Test pilot
rank = Major General
selection = 1991 Cosmonaut Group
time = 7d 22h 12m
mission = Soyuz TM-13, Soyuz TM-12
insignia = |

Toktar Ongarbayuly Aubakirov (Kazakh: Тоқтар Оңғарбайұлы Әубәкіров, born on July 27, 1946, in Karaganda, Kazakhstan) is a retired Kazakhstani Air Force officer and a former cosmonaut (Kazakh: gharyshker).

Early life

Toktar Aubakirov was born on July 27, 1946 in Karaganda, Kazakh SSR, which is now Kazakhstan. He graduated from the Air Force Institute and was a parachutist and test pilot with the rank of Major General in the Kazakh Air Force before he was selected as a cosmonaut.

paceflight experience

On October 2, 1991 he launched with Russian cosmonaut Alexander Volkov as flight commander, and the Austrian research cosmonaut Franz Viehböck in Soyuz TM-13 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome spaceport, and spent over eight days in space. He also the first Soviet citizen to go into space without being fully certified as a cosmonaut, as his flight was hurried forward — several commercial international cosmonauts were already booked, but the flight of a Kazakh cosmonaut was part of the Baikonur rental agreement between Kazakhstan and Russia.

Career

Since 1993, he has been the general director of the National Aerospace Agency of Republic of Kazakhstan. He was a member of Kazakhstan parliament. Now he is a pensioner and consultant.

Family

Toktar Aubakirov is married to Tatyana M. Malysheva. They have two children. Timur was born in 1977. Mikhail was born in 1982.

Awards and honors

* Hero of Soviet Union (1988)
* Order of Lenin (1988)
* Deserved test pilot of the USSR (1990)
* Order Sign of Honor (1987)
* 2 Orders "Golden Cross" of the Austrian Republic - in the years 1988 and 1993.
* Order of the October Revolution (1991)
* Order of Otan (1995)
* The Title "Khalyk Kakharmany".
* The very first Turkic astronaut that went to space (2001)

ee also

* List of astronauts by name

External links

* [http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/cosmonauts/english/aubakirov_toktar.htm Aubakirov at Spacefacts]
* [http://www.testpilots.narod.ru/english/lii.html Flying-Research Institute]