Biographical Data

NAME: Vladimir Nikolaevich Dezhurov
Lieutenant Colonel, test cosmonaut. Resides in Star City

PERSONAL DATA: Born July 30, 1962, Yavas settlement, Zubovo-Polyansk district, Mordovia, Russia. Married to Elena Valentinovna Dezhurova (nee Suprina). Two daughters. Nikolai Serafimovich Dezhurov, father, and Anna Vasilevna Dezhurova, mother, reside in Yavas settlement, Zubovo-Polyansk district, Mordovia, Russia.

EDUCATION: Graduated from the S.I. Gritsevits Kharkov Higher Military Aviation School in 1983 with a pilot-engineer�s diploma.

HONORS: Awarded three Armed Forces medals.

EXPERIENCE: After graduating from the aviation military school in 1983, he served as a pilot and senior pilot in the Air Force.

In 1987, he was assigned to the Cosmonaut Training Center. From December 1987 to June 1989, he underwent a course of general space training. Since September 1989, he has continued training as a member of a group of test cosmonauts. Since 1991, he has been a correspondence student at the Yuri A. Gagarin Air Force Academy.

In March 1994, Dezhurov began flight training as commander of the prime crew of the Mir-18 mission. The crew launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakstan on March 14, 1995 aboard a Soyuz-TM-21 transport vehicle. Following a 115 day flight the mission concluded with landing at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on July 7, 1995. Dezhurov is currently living and working aboard the International Space Station where he serves as a member of the Expedition-3 crew. The crew is scheduled to spend approximately 4 months aboard the station. They will return to Earth on the Shuttle flight delivering the fourth Expedition crew.