Gennady Padalka

infobox Astronaut
name =Gennady Ivanovich Padalka

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|thumb|right|150px|Gennady Padalka]
type =Cosmonaut
nationality =Russian
date_birth =birth date and age|1958|6|21
place_birth =Krasnodar, Russia
occupation =Pilot
rank =Colonel
selection =1989 Cosmonaut Group
time =386d 13h 48m
mission =Soyuz TM-28, Soyuz TMA-4, Expedition 9
insignia =|

Gennady Ivanovich Padalka ( _ru. Гeннадий Иванович Падалка) (born June 21, 1958, in Krasnodar, Russia) is a Russian cosmonaut. He is married to Irina Anatolievna Padalka (Ponomareva). They have three daughters: Yulia, Ekaterina and Sonya. Gennady enjoys the theater, parachute sport and diving. Padalka is a recipient of the Hero Star of the Russian Federation and the title of Russian Federation Test-Cosmonaut. He has logged 1500 flight hours in six types of aircraft as a First Class Pilot in the Russian Air Force. In addition, he has performed more than 300 parachute jumps as an Instructor of General Parachute Training.

Padalka graduated from Eisk Military Aviation College in 1979. After graduation, he served as a pilot and later a senior pilot in the Russian Air Force, eventually attaining the rank of colonel. He was selected as a cosmonaut candidate to start training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in 1989. From June 1989 to January 1991, he attended basic space training. In 1991, Padalka was qualified as a test-cosmonaut. He worked as an engineer-ecologist at the UNESCO International Center of Instruction Systems until 1994.

From August 28, 1996 to July 30, 1997, he trained for space flight on the Soyuz-TM transport vehicle/Mir orbital complex as a commander of the backup crew for the Mir 24/NASA-5, 6 Russian-American program of the 24th primary Expedition, Pegasus Russian–French program and Euro-Mir program. From October 1997 to August 1998, Padalka attended training for a spaceflight aboard the Soyuz-TM/Mir orbital complex as a primary crew commander (Expedition 26 Program). From August 13, 1998, to February 28, 1999, he served aboard the Soyuz TM-28/Mir orbital complex as the Expedition 26 crew commander, logging 198 days in space.

June 1999 through July 2000, Padalka attended training for a space flight on a “Soyuz-TM” transport vehicle as an ISS contingency crew commander. August 2000 to November 2001, he attended training for a space flight as the ISS-4 back-up crew commander.

In March 2002, Padalka was assigned as station commander of the ISS Expedition 9 crew. Expedition 9 was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz TMA-4 spacecraft, docking with the International Space Station on April 21, 2004. Following a week of joint operations and handover briefings, they replaced the Expedition 8 crew who returned to Earth. In a six-month tour of duty aboard the station Padalka continued ISS science operations, maintained Station systems, and performed four spacewalks. The Expedition 9 mission concluded after undocking and landing back in Kazakhstan on October 23, 2004. In completing this mission, Padalka logged an additional 187 days, 21 minutes and 17 seconds in space, and 15 hours, 45 minutes and 22 seconds of EVA time.

He has been assigned as Commander of ISS Expedition 19. [Cite web| url=http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/feb/HQ_08052_Crew_Announcements.html|title=NASA Assigns Crews for STS-127 and Expedition 19 Missions |accessyear=2008|accessmonthday=February 11| publisher=NASA| year=2008| author=NASA]

References

* [http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/padalka.html NASA bio]
* [http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/cosmonauts/english/padalka_gennady.htm Spacefacts biography of Gennady Padalka]