SERGEY ALEXANDROVICH VOLKOV (CORONEL, RUSSIAN AIR FORCE) SOYUZ TMA-M COMMANDER ISS FLIGHT ENGINEER INSTRUCTOR-test-cosmonaut OF YUA gagarin cosmonaut training center, russia 472ND WORLD SPACE EXPLORER, 101 ST cosmonaut of the russian federation.

PERSONAL DATA: Born April 1, 1973, in Chuguyev, Kharkov Region, Ukraine. Married to Natalia Volkova (Shinkarenko). They have two sons, Egor and Artem. His hobbies include sport games, tennis,  reading, museums.

EDUCATION: After graduation from Star City High School in 1990 Volkov entered the Tambov Air Force Pilot School named after M. Raskova from which he graduated in 1995 as a pilot-engineer.

AWARDS: Hero of the Russian Federation (2009), Air Force medals.

EXPERIENCE: After graduation from the pilot school he served as second commander in the Air Force. He flew L-29, L-39, IL-22,  and Tu-134 aircraft. Volkov has logged over 500 hours of flight time. He is a Class 1cosmonaut- pilot and SCUBA diver

SPACEFLIGHT TRAINING: Volkov was selected as a test-cosmonaut candidate of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center Cosmonaut Office in December of 1997. He finished basic space training in November 1999, and was qualified as a test-cosmonaut. Since January 2000 he completed advanced training with a group of cosmonauts.

From September 2001 – February 2003 Volkov completed training as a Soyuz commander and ISS pilot of the ISS 7 backup crew. From April 2004 to February 2005 he trained as ISS-11 prime crewmember for a shuttle launch (STS-121). From January 2005 to February 2006 Volkov was assigned to the ISS cosmonaut pool. From February to April 2006 Volkov trained as an ISS 13/Soyuz 10 visiting crew backup crewmember, and he backed up the space flight participant of that mission.