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Gennady Ivanovich PADALKA

Crew Commander of the Soyuz TM-34 Spacecraft,
Colonel of the Russian Federation Air Force
Test Cosmonaut-Instructor of Yu. A. Gagarin
Cosmonaut Training Center, Russia

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: June 21, 1958, Krasnodar, RSFSR (Russia).
Father: Ivan Vasilievich Padalka, born in 1931.
Mother: Valentina Mefodievna Padalka (Melenchenko), born in 1931.

EDUCATION: In 1979 he graduated from Eisk Higher Military Pilot School after V.M. Komarov. In 1994 after training at the International Center of Training Systems, UNESCO, he got a qualification of engineer-ecologist and a degree of Master of ecological monitoring.

FAMILY STATUS: Married.
Wife: Irina Anatolievna Padalka (Ponomareva), born in 1959.
Daughters: Yulia, born in 1979, Ekaterina, born in 1985 and Sofia, born in 2000.

AWARDS AND RANKS:
Hero of the Russian Federation, Pilot-Cosmonaut of the Russian Federation.
He is decorated with Gold Star Medal of the Hero of the Russian Federation and Medals of the Russian Federation and also Medal of the International Fund of Cosmonautics support for Service to Cosmonautics. He is the Russian Federation Government Prize Winner of 2001 in the fields of science and technology.

HOBBY: sports games, diving, running, badminton, parachute-jumping, theatre.

WORK EXPERIENCE:
In 1979-1984 he served as a pilot, master pilot in guards fighter bomber regiments of the Soviet Forces Group in Germany and from 1984 to 1989 he served in Air Force units of Far-Eastern military region. He is the 1-st class military pilot.
In 1989 he was enlisted in the cosmonaut detachment.
From June 1989 to January 1991 he passed a course of general space training at Yu. A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.
On February 1, 1991 a qualification of a test cosmonaut was conferred on him by decision of the Interdepartmental Qualification Committee.
In 1991-1996 he passed training in the group under the program of flights to the Mir Station.
From September 1996 to July 1997 he passed training as the backup crew commander under PC-24 program on the Mir Station together with S. Avdeev and Jean-Pierre Haignere (France).
In 1997 he was a backup of A. Soloviev, commander of the Soyuz TM-26 spacecraft.
In October 1997 - July 1998 he passed training as the prime crew commander of the Soyuz TM-28 spacecraft for flight under PC-26 program together with S. Avdeev and Yu. Baturin.
From August 13, 1998 to February 28, 1999 he performed the first space flight as the commander of the Soyuz TM-28 spacecraft and Mir Orbital Complex under PC-26 program together with S. Avdeev and Yu. Baturin. He made a landing together with I. Bella (Slovakia). During the flight he made one egress into open space and one transfer to the Spektr depressurized module; the total duration of these operations was 6 hr. 26 min.
On February 3, 1999 he was appointed as commander of the backup crew under PC-29 program together with S. Treschev by RSA Board decision. However, on June 1, 1999 General Designers' Review adopted a decision on the Mir Orbital Complex transfer to the unmanned flight mode since August 1999 and the crew including G. Padalka - S. Treschev was broken up.
From June 15, 1999 to July 6, 2000 he passed training as the first crew commander under ISS-1R program for flight to the Zvezda Service Module (in case of failure of automatic docking to the ISS) together with N. Budarin.
Since November 2000 he has passed training for flight under ISS-4 program together with E. Fink and S. Robbins as the backup crew commander.
Since December 19, 2001 he has passed training for space flight as the backup crew commander of the Soyuz -TM transport vehicle (the ISS third visiting crew).

April 2002.
Based on materials from Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center