Russia has sent into space a fourth woman astronaut – BBC Russian

• September 26, 2014

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38-year-old Elena Serova spend 170 days in space, becoming the fourth woman astronaut in history Soviet-Russian space exploration

Flight Engineer Elena Serova was the fourth went for the Earth’s orbit woman in the history of Soviet and Russian space programs – after Valentina Tereshkova in 1963, Svetlana Savitskaya in 1982 and 1984, and Elena Kondakova in 1994 and 1997.

On Friday, early in the morning Moscow time a manned spacecraft “Soyuz TMA-14M” successfully docked with the International Space Station.

In addition to the ISS went Serovoj crew commander Russia’s Alexander Samokutyayev and another American flight engineer Barry Wilmore.

Launch vehicle “Soyuz-FG” was successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, but after reaching orbit in the spacecraft have problems – for some unknown reason, was not revealed until one of the solar panels, “the Union”.

In spite of this docking with the ISS was held in the normal automatic mode.

The head of Roscosmos Oleg Ostapenko reported that the jammed solar panel opened after a successful docking to the station.

The crew will stay on the ISS 170 days. During space missions of its members to be done in orbit about 50 scientific experiments.

The crew of the “Union” before starting: Captain Alexander Samokutyayev and bortinzhinery Elena Serova and Barry Wilmore

Elena Serova 38 years old, she was born in the village of Vozdvizhyenka Primorye. Serov graduated from the Aerospace Department of the Moscow Aviation Institute in 2003, received a second degree from the Moscow State Academy of Instrument Engineering and Information.

In 2006, was enrolled in the cosmonaut corps and in 2011 became a test cosmonaut.

Elena Serova married – her husband Mark Serov was also at one time a test-cosmonaut into space but never once flew. They have a daughter.

The commander of the ship “Union” Alexander Samokutyaevu 44 years old, his first space flight he made in 2011.

The American Barry Wilmore oldest in the crew – he was 51 year, he was a pilot, a veteran of the war in Iraq. In NASA astronaut was enrolled in 2000 and in 2009 flew into space on the space shuttle “Atlantis” as the pilot of the ship.

Before Elena Serova in space have already visited 57 women, mostly American, from the Soviet Union and Russia – Tereshkova, Savitskaya and Kondakova, two Chinese women, Japanese women and Canadians, as well as Korean, is British and French.

Valentina Tereshkova is the first and only woman to solo flight to Earth orbit.

Absolute record holder for space flights is American Shannon Lucid, in one of his missions has worked 188 days in orbit. Total she flew into space five times (this achievement after it was repeated five more women astronauts).