Background
Yury Valentinovich Lonchakov was born on 4th March 1965, in Balkhash, Qaraghandy, Kazakhstan. Lonchokov's parents, Lonchakov Valentin Gavrilovich and Galina Vasilyevna were geologists.
Юрий Лончаков
Yury Valentinovich Lonchakov was born on 4th March 1965, in Balkhash, Qaraghandy, Kazakhstan. Lonchokov's parents, Lonchakov Valentin Gavrilovich and Galina Vasilyevna were geologists.
Following graduation from high school in 1982, Lonchakov entered the Orenburg Air Force Pilot School, graduating with honors in 1986 as pilot-engineer. In 1995, Lonchakov entered the Zhukovski Air Force Academy from which he graduated with honors in 1998 as pilot-engineer-researcher.
After graduation from pilot school, Lonchakov served as a second crew commander, crew commander, squadron senior pilot, and aviation brigade commander in the Russian Navy. Lonchakov has logged over 1400 hours of flight time, is a Class 1 Air Force pilot, and a paratroop training instructor with 526 jumps.
Lonchakov was selected as a test-cosmonaut candidate of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center Cosmonaut Office in December 1997. In July 2004 he took part in the training for survival in extreme situations at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Together with his wife they have one son, Kirill, born in 1990.