Biographical Data

NAME: Valery Grigorievich Korzun (Colonel, Russian Air Force)
Cosmonaut of Yu.A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center

PERSONAL DATA: Born March 5, 1953, in Krasny Sulin. Korzun and his wife Elana have one son, Nikita. His father is Korzun Grigori Andreevich, and his mother, Korzun Maria Arsentievna.

EDUCATION: 1974 graduate of the Kachin Military Aviation College; Commander Department of the Gagarin Air Force Academy, 1987.

SPECIAL HONORS: Awarded six Air Force Medals.

EXPERIENCE: After graduation from the Military College in 1974, he served as pilot, senior pilot, flight section leader, and ultimately Commander of a Russian Air Force squadron. In 1987, after a successful tour as Commander of the Gagarin Military Air-Force Academy, he was selected as a cosmonaut for training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

In December 1987 he began Cosmonaut training and was certified as a Test-Cosmonaut in June 1989.

From September 1989 through September 1992, he trained for space flight as part of the test-cosmonauts group and from October 1992 to March 1994 he underwent extensive training as Commander of the "Soyuz TM" rescue spacecraft. He also trained as a group member for flight onboard the orbital complex "MIR" from March 1994 to June 1995.

Korzun also served as deputy Director of the 27KC crew flight training complex as crew communication supervisor from March 1994 to January 1995.

Korzun is a 1st class military pilot and has logged 1473 hours, primarily in 4 aircraft types. He is also an Instructor of Parachute Training, and has completed 377 parachute jumps.

In August 1996 Korzun completed training as Commander for the MIR-22/ NASA-3 and "Cassiopia" (sponsored by CNES) programs.

On March 2, 1997 Korzun returned to earth after completing a 197-day flight onboard the MIR space station. The program included joint flights with NASA/MIR 2, 3 and 4 astronauts, as well as astronauts from France and Germany. During the mission, Korzun performed 2 space walks totaling 12 hours and 33 minutes.

Since June 7, 2002, Korzun has served as International Space Station (ISS) Increment 5 Commander. The Expedition-Five crew (two Russian cosmonauts and one American astronaut) will stay on the station for approximately 5 months.

JUNE 2002