Vladimir Nikolayevich Dezhurov (Russian: Влади́мир Никола́евич Дежу́ров; born July 30, 1962) is a Russian former cosmonaut who resides in Star City, Moscow. He is a veteran of two spaceflights, to the Mir and International Space Stations. During his career, Dezhurov also conducted nine spacewalks before his retirement on July 12, 2004.
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Personal
Dezhurov was born on July 30, 1962, in the settlement of Yavas, Zubovo-Polyansky District, Mordovia, Russia. He is married to Elena Valentinovna Dezhurova (née Suprina). They have two daughters, Anna, born in 1983, and Svetlana, born in 1987. His father, Nikolai Serafimovich Dezhurov and mother, Anna Vasilevna Dezhurova reside in Yavas settlement, Zubovo-Polyansk district, Mordovia, Russia.
Education
Dezhurov attended and graduated from the S.I. Gritsevits Kharkov Higher Military Aviation School in 1983 with a pilot engineer's diploma.
Experience
After graduating, Dezhurov served as a pilot and senior pilot in the Russian Air Force.
Awards
Dezhurov was awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation medal and the Pilot/Cosmonaut title by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation. He has been also awarded three Air Force medals during his career.
Cosmonaut career
In 1987, he was assigned to the Cosmonaut Training Center. From December 1987 to June 1989, he underwent a course of general space training. Since September 1989, he has continued training as a member of a group of test cosmonauts. Since 1991, he has been a correspondence student at the Yuri A. Gagarin Air Force Academy.
Mir EO-18
In March 1994, Dezhurov began flight training as commander of the prime crew of the Mir-18 mission. The crew was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 14, 1995, aboard the Soyuz TM-21 spacecraft. Following a two-day solo flight, the Soyuz spacecraft docked with the Mir on March 16. Dezhurov served as the Mir E-18 commander. There were several technical problems during this mission. The crew also performed life science experiments. Following a 115-day flight, the mission concluded with landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on July 7, 1995.
Expedition 3
Dezhurov lived and worked aboard the International Space Station where he served as a member of the Expedition 3 crew. Space Shuttle Discovery carrying Dezhurov and six other crewmembers on STS-105 mission blasted off to space from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on August 10, 2001. The shuttle docked with the ISS on 12 August at 18:41 UTC. Dezhurov spent approximately 4 months aboard the station as a flight engineer. During the long-duration mission the Expedition 3 crew enjoyed a unique view of the 2001 Leonid meteor storm. At the end of the stay Expedition 3 crewmembers, Dezhurov, NASA astronaut Frank Culbertson and cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin returned to Earth on board Space Shuttle Endeavour. Endeavour's STS-108 mission delivered the Expedition 4 crew to the ISS and landed at KSC on December 17, 2001.
Spacewalks
During his cosmonaut career, Dezhurov has performed nine spacewalks. During Mir EO-18 long-duration mission Dezhurov together with cosmonaut Gennady Strekalov conducted five spacewalks. As of June 2010, his nine spacewalks totalling 37 hours and 2 minutes has placed him in the 25th position in the list of astronauts who have the most extra-vehicular activity (EVA) time.
On 12 May 1995, Dezhurov conducted his first career spacewalk. The spacewalk started 04:20:44 UTC and ended at 10:35:16 UTC. He and Strekalov prepared for the arrival of the Spektr module and prepared to move Kristall's solar panel. They also practiced work at the Kristall module. The spacewalk lasted 6 hours and 14 minutes.
Dezhurov performed his second career spacewalk on May 17. They moved the solar array to the Kvant-1 module. The spacewalk lasted six hours and 52 minutes.
On May 22, Dezhurov and Strekalov installed the solar array on Kvant-1 and stowed Kristall's another solar array. The excursion out of the Mir Space Station marked Dezhurov's third career spacewalk. The spacewalk started at 00:10:20 UTC and was completed at 05:25:11 UTC. The spacewalk lasted 5 hours and 14 minutes.
On 28 May and June 1, 1995, Dezhurov and Strekolov conducted two spacewalks to prepare Mir to move Kristall and Spektr modules. Dezhurov's fourth and fifth career spacewalks lasted 21 and 23 minutes respectively.
Dezhurov conducted another four spacewalks during the Expedition 3 mission to the ISS. On October 8, 2001, Dezhurov and Tyurin ventured outside the ISS to mark the 100th spacewalk to be carried out by Russian cosmonauts. The main objective of the spacewalk was to outfit the Pirs Docking Compartment and make connections between that newly arrived compartment and the Zvezda module. The spacewalkers installed a cable that allows space walk radio communications between the two station sections. They also installed handrails on the new compartment and an exterior ladder that will be used to help spacewalkers leave Pirs' hatch. Dezhurov and Tyurin also installed a Strela cargo crane onto the station. The spacewalk lasted 4 hours and 58 minutes ending at 19:21 UTC.