Vladimir Titov

Astronaut Russia. Colonel of the Air Forces of Russia. Born January 1, 1947 in the city Sretensk, Chita region. He is married to native of Ivanovo region Alexandra Kozlova. They have two children. He is fond of tennis, hunting, loves spending time with his family. His mother, Vera Titova, lives in Star City. His father Georgy Titov died in 1961.

In 1965 he graduated from high school in 1970 graduated from the Chernigov Higher Military Aviation School in 1987 he graduated from the Air Force Academy named after NE. A. Gagarin.

In 1966, Vladimir Titov entered the Chernigov Higher Military Aviation School and graduated with honors in 1970. Until 1974, he served as an instructor in the college, responsible for the preparation of twelve cadets. Later he served as flight commander in the regiment, in which the astronauts were flying practice. He mastered 10 types of aircraft, spent hours in the air in 1400, has qualified "Military Pilot grade 1" and "test pilot class 3".

In 1976, Vladimir Titov was selected as a cosmonaut in 1981, was prepared with Ghenadie Strekalova. They were the backup crew Soyuz T-5 in 1982 and Soyuz T-9 in 1983. Member of three space flights, Titov was the commander of the Soyuz T-8, Soyuz T-10 in 1983 and Soyuz TM-4 in 1987. Spent 13 hours 47 minutes in open space, in space flights spent 367 days, 23 hours, 2 minutes and 18 seconds (including emergency flight on Soyuz T-10).

In his first space flight Titov went on Apr. 20, 1983, as commander of the Soyuz T-8. He and Strekalov were specially trained to repair a malfunctioning solar station Salyut-7. The ship was to dock with the station, but after the ship entering orbit rendezvous system antenna is not fully unfolded. There have been several abrupt maneuvers, but the mast did not develop. Later, post-flight investigation revealed that the antenna was cut off when separating the fairing. With the permission of Mission Control Center crew tried to dock using data from ground-based radars and directly observing station. During the final convergence, which took place in darkness, Titov showed that the rate of convergence is too large. So he made a braking maneuver, but noticed that the ship and the station is still sbizhayutsya too fast. To avoid accidents, he stopped docking. Most attempts are not made, and three men returned to Earth, following a flight 2 days 17 minutes 48 seconds.

September 27, 1983 Titov and Strekalov were supposed to fly to the ship, which should be Soyuz T-10. But 90 seconds before the start did not close the valve in the fuel line, a minute before the start of this caused a fire in the bottom of the rocket-Timelapse. The flames quickly enveloped the rocket, automatic recovery system did not work, because the electrical wires of the system burned. Two members of the starting staff stopped running, sending a trigger command post via radio. This happened twelve seconds after the onset of flame. The descent module of Soyuz was abruptly taken away by emergency rescue system, and after pergruzok in the 15-18 g crew landed safely at a distance of 4 km from the rocket, which exploded a few seconds after the separation of the spacecraft. Medical testing showed that two crew members during the short flight, which lasted 5 minutes 30 seconds, no injured.

Later Titov was appointed commander of the Soyuz TM-2. He and Flight Engineer Alexander Serebrov were made the first long flight to the station Mir. But six days before the start, they were replaced by the backup crew, because of doubts about the health Serebrova. Titov continued to prepare for a long flight and in April 1987 was introduced into the carriage with Musa Manarov. Later that same year, continuing the work in the Cosmonaut Training Center, he graduated from the Air Force Academy named after Yuri Gagarin.

His next appointment was the commander Soyuz TM-4, which was launched on December 21, 1987. However, Musa Manarov and Anatoly Levchenko, he met with station Mir and its crew. After a brief period of joint work Romanenko, Alexandrov, and Levchenko, passing the station Titov and Manarov, returned to Earth. They started a large program of scientific experiments and observations, and taking visiting, which arrived aboard Soyuz TM-5 and Soyuz TM-6. After the Soyuz TM-6, a member of its crew, Doctor Valery Polyakov, remained at the station with Titov and Manarov.

February 26, two cosmonauts carried out in the open space lasting 4 hours and 25 minutes, during which they removed a section of solar panels and install another. They also checked the cargo ship Progress 34, installed some new equipment for scientific experiments and removed samples of the materials that were in open space.

June 30, 1988, they attempted to repair the X-ray telescope X-ray ". The telescope was not designed to be repaired or replaced, so the work in the open kosmoste were difficult. To open a defective block X-ray detector, . it was necessary to remove the insulating coating layer 20, . while the astronauts were forced to stop several times and rest, . because they could not fix myself and had to hold fast to each one, . not to move,
. Their big gloves underwent surgery to eject the small bolts very difficult, it took 90 minutes instead of 20. When a special key, which they used, suddenly broke down, the work was stopped, and the astronauts returned to the station. The time spent in the open space was 5 hours 10 minutes.

October 20, 1988 repairs were successfully completed, and X-ray telescope reopened. Before returning to the station, the astronauts installed the attachment points, . were intended for use in the joint Soviet-French EVA, . found shortwave antenna and took samples of the film, . which formed one of the windows,
. Output in EVA lasted 4 hours and 12 minutes. After that, the astronauts continued implementing a program of experiments and observations. In November 1988, they took the crew of a joint Soviet-French expedition. After three weeks of joint work Titov and Manarov together with French astronaut Jean-Loup Chrц?tien returned to Earth. Titov and Manarov returned to Earth after a flight lasting 365 days 22 hours 39 minutes setting a new record for the first time after having been in space for over a year.

28 October NASA announced that astronaut who has experience of space flight, will fly aboard shuttle flight STS-60. Titov was one of two candidates selected Rossiyskim Space Agency to train at the Johnson Space Center. In April 1993 he was appointed to understudy Sergei Krikalev, who flew in flight STS-60, the first joint US-Soviet flight on the shuttle (3-11 February 1994). In September 1993, Titov was selected to fly on STS-63, and Krikalev was assigned to understudy.

2.11 February 1995 Titov took part in the flight STS-63 on the ship Discovery, the first flight on a new joint Russo-American program. Among the objectives of the flight were: closer to the station Mir, work in the module Spacelab, launch and return vehicle Spartan 204. During this flight, Titov spent in space 198 hours, 29 minutes.

Colonel Titov involved in flight STS-86, the seventh shuttle flight to dock with Russia's Mir Space Station. Start held September 25, 1997.

Titov was awarded the title "Hero of the Soviet Union", was awarded two Orders of Lenin (in 1983 and 1988). In 1988 France awarded him the title of Commander of the Legion of Fame, and in 1990 Musa Manarov and he was awarded the Medal US. Harmon Prize, the first Soviet citizens have received such an award, in recognition of their world record for the duration of the flight.