Background
Yuri Gidzenko was born on March 26, 1962, Elanets, Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine (then in the Soviet Union).
Yuri Gidzenko was born on March 26, 1962, Elanets, Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine (then in the Soviet Union).
In 1979 he finished 10 grades of school № 59 in Chisinau, Moldova
Since October 15, 1983 he had been working at the disposal of the commander of the Odessa Air Force. On December 5, 1983 he became а pilot and since November 30, 1984 he had been working as the senior pilot of Odessa VO in Tiraspol, Moldova. On March 26, 1987 by decision of the State Interdepartmental Committee he was recommended for enlistment in the cosmonaut detachment of AF CTC. Since October 6, 1987 he has been a candidate for test cosmonauts of the 6th group.
On August 30, 1989 he became a test cosmonaut of the 1st group.
From July to October 1994 he passed training under PC-17 and Euromir-94 programs as the backup crew commander together with S. Avdeev and P. Duke (Spain, ESA).
On October 4, 1994 Yuri Gidzenko backup of the commander of the Soyuz TM-20 spacecraft A. Viktorenko
From September 3, 1995 to February 29, 1996 he performed the 1-st space flight as the commander of the Soyuz TM-22 spacecraft and Mir Orbital Complex under PC-20/Euromir-95 programs together with S. Avdeev and T. Raiter (FRG, ESA). He worked aboard the station with the following crews; namely PC-19 (A. Soloviev and N. Budarin) and PC-21 (Yu. Onufrienko and Yu. Usachev) and also with the Atlantis Orbiter crew (STS-74). During this flight he performed two spacewalks (the total duration was 3 hours 35 min).
The flight duration was 179 days 01 hour 41 min 46 s. Callsign: "Uranus-1";
From October 31, 2000 to March 21, 2001 he performed the 2-nd space flight as the Soyuz TM-31 spacecraft commander and ISS pilot under ISS-1 program together with S. Krikalev and W. Shapperd (USA).
The flight duration was 140 days 23 hours 38 min 55s.
From April 25, 2002 to May 5, 2002 he performed his 3d flight as a commander of the Expedition visiting the ISS on the Soyuz TM-34 transport vehicle together with Vittori Roberto (flight engineer, Italy, ESA) and Mark Shuttleworth (flight participant , South Africa). The flight duration was 9 days. 21 hours 25 min.