Talğat Amankeldıūly Mūsabaev
Talğat Amankeldıūly Mūsabaev was a Kazakh test pilot, Soviet and Russian cosmonaut, spacecraft , and public official whose career crossed the Mir and early International eras. He flew three spaceflights, performed seven , and later led Kazakhstan's national space agency.
- Born
- January 7, 1951
- Died
- August 4, 2025
- Birthplace
- Kargaly, Almaty Region,Soviet Union
Flights
1
Spacewalks
7
EVA time
41 hours, 13 minutes
In space
341 days, 9 hours, 48 minutes
Bio
Mūsabaev trained first in civil aviation engineering and then in military aviation. His test-pilot and aerobatic background led to cosmonaut selection in 1990, during the transition from the Soviet space program into post-Soviet Russian and Kazakh space activity.
His first two flights were long-duration Mir missions: Soyuz TM-19 in 1994 with Yuri Malenchenko, and Soyuz TM-27 in 1998 with Nikolai Budarin and Léopold Eyharts. Those stays included demanding external repair and maintenance work on Mir.
His third flight was Soyuz TM-32 / Soyuz TM-31 in 2001, a short ISS visiting mission with Yuri Baturin and Dennis Tito. That mission is remembered partly because Tito became the first paying orbital space tourist, while Mūsabaev commanded the Soyuz flight.