NII TsPK picture

Gennady Ivanovich PADALKA

ISS Commander,
Soyuz TMA TS Commander,
Colonel, RF Air Force
Test Cosmonaut-Instructor of Yu.A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, Russia

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: June 21, 1958, Krasnodar, RSFSR (Russia).
Father: Ivan Vasilievich Padalka, born in 1931.
Mother: Valentina Mefodievna Padalka (Melenchenko), born in 1931.

EDUCATION: In 1979 he graduated from Eisk Higher Military Pilot School after V.M. Komarov. In 1994 after training at the International Center of Training Systems he got a qualification of engineer-ecologist and a degree of Master of ecological monitoring.

FAMILY STATUS: Married.
Wife: Irina Anatolievna Padalka (Ponomareva), born in 1959.
Daughters: Yulia, born in 1979, Ekaterina, born in 1985 and Sofia, born in 2000.

AWARDS AND RANKS:
Hero of the Russian Federation, Pilot-Cosmonaut of the Russian Federation.
He is decorated with Gold Star Medal of the Hero of the Russian Federation, Fatherland Service Medal fourth class, Medals of the Russian Federation and also Medal of the International Fund of Cosmonautics support for Service to Cosmonautics.
Prize winner of the Russian Federation Government in the field of science and technology.

HOBBY:
He is keen on theatre, sport games, running, swimming, skiing, badminton and parachute sport. In April 2005 he rided in air balloon Holy Russia over the North Pole.

WORK EXPERIENCE:
In 1979-1984 he served as a pilot, master pilot in guards fighter bomber regiments of the Soviet Forces Group in Germany and from 1984 to 1989 he served in Air Force units of Far-Eastern military region.
He is the 1-st class military pilot. By the time of enlistment in the cosmonaut detachment he mastered aircraft L-29, MiG-15UTI, MiG-17, Su-7B, Su-7U, Su-7BM, Su-24. He logged more than 1200 hours, made more than 300 parachute jumps.
In 1989 he was enlisted in the cosmonaut detachment.
From June 1989 to January 1991 he passed a course of general space training at Yu. A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.
On February 1, 1991 a qualification of a test-cosmonaut was conferred on him by decision of the Interdepartmental Qualification Committee.
In 1991-1996 he passed training in the group under the program of flights to the Mir Station.
From September 1996 to July 1997 he passed training as the backup crew commander under PC-24 program on the Mir Station together with S. Avdeev and Jean-Pierre Haignere (France).
In 1997 he was a backup of A. Soloviev, commander of the Soyuz TM-26 spacecraft.
In October 1997 - July 1998 he passed training as the prime crew commander of the Soyuz TM-28 spacecraft for flight under PC-26 program together with S. Avdeev and Yu. Baturin.
From August 13, 1998 to February 28, 1999 he performed the first space flight as the commander of the Soyuz TM-28 spacecraft and Mir Orbital Complex under PC-26 program together with S. Avdeev and Yu. Baturin. He made a landing together with I. Bella (Slovakia). During the flight he made one egress into open space and one transfer to the Spektr depressurized module; the total duration of these operations was 6 hr. 26 min.
On February 3, 1999 he was appointed as commander of the backup crew under PC-29 program together with S. Treschev by decision RSA Board. However, on June 1, 1999 General Designers' Review adopted a decision on the Mir Orbital Complex shift to the unmanned flight mode since August 1999 and the crew including G. Padalka - S. Treschev was broken up.
From June 15, 1999 to July 6, 2000 he passed training as the first crew commander under ISS-1R program for flight to the Zvezda Service Module (in case of failure of automatic docking to the ISS) together with N. Budarin.
From November 2000 he passed training for flight under ISS-4 program together with E. Fink and S. Robbins as the backup crew commander.
He performed the second space flight from April 19 to October 24, 2004 under the ISS Expedition-9 program as the ISS commander, Soyuz TMA-4 spacecraft commander. The ISS-9 crew received and unloaded the Progress M-49 and M-50 cargo transport vehicles, provided four ascents of the ISS orbit, restored CMG-2 power, repaired EMU and Electron-VM oxygen generation system, made scientific experiments and research under the Russian, U.S. and European programs. The Station was handed over to the crew for Expedition-10. During the flight he made four spacewalks of the total duration of 15 hours 44 min. The mission duration was 187 days 21 hours 16 min.
In May 2008 Padalka together with Michael Barrat (USA) began training as the ISS-18 back-up crew commander.
On September 18-19, 2008 he passed preflight tests with an excellent mark together with Michael Barrat, NASA astronaut at Yu.A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.
On October 12, 2008 during the Soyuz TMA-13 spacecraft launch Padalka was the spacecraft commander backup.

March 2009.
By the data presented by Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center,
reference book The Soviet and Russian Cosmonauts, 1960-2000
and site www.astronaut.ru.