Padalka Gennady Ivanovich is the 89th Russian cosmonaut. It occupies 384th place in the world ranking. Gennady Ivanovich is the commander of the Soyuz TM-28 spacecraft and the international scientific space complex ISS. Honored Pilot-Cosmonaut of Russia. He was awarded many medals and orders. Laureate of the RF Prize in the field of technology and science. Member of the Board of Directors of the "Association of Space Explorers" and the Board of Trustees of the university (VSAU) in the city of Voronezh.
Where and when was Padalka born?
Gennady Padalka, whose biography is closely connected with space flights, was born on the twenty-first of June 1958 in the Kuban, in the city of Krasnodar. In an ordinary working family. His father, Ivan Vasilyevich Padalka (b. 1931), worked as a tractor driver. And her mother, Valentina Methodievna (born in 1931, nee Melenchenko), worked as a cashier in a regular store.
Education of an astronaut
Gennady Padalka studied in Krasnodar, at secondary school No. 57. He graduated from 10 classes in 1975. Then he entered the military aviation school (briefly VVAUL) named after Komarov in the city of Yeisk. Graduatedhim in 1979.
Then Gennady Ivanovich decided to continue his studies and entered the Faculty of Aerospace Ecology of the State Academy of Gas and Oil. Upon graduation in 1994, Padalka became an environmental engineer and received a master's degree.
After some time, Gennady Ivanovich entered the Russian State Academy under the President of the Russian Federation. He graduated successfully in 2007.
Military career
Since 1975, Gennady Padalka served in the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union. Since 1979, he was a pilot of the 559th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment, 105th Division, 61st Guards Air Corps of the 16th Air Army of the Soviet Forces stationed in Germany.
In 1980, Gennady Ivanovich was transferred as a pilot to the 116th Guards Aviation Regiment of the same division. On April 10, 1982, he was promoted to senior pilot. From 1984 to 1989 he served in the 277th Bomber Aviation Regiment, 83rd Division of the Far Eastern District.
During his military career, Padalka mastered many aircraft models (L-29, MiGs and Su). In total, he flew from 1200 to 1300 hours and made more than 300 parachute jumps. In 1989, Gennady was already in the rank of major. Over the following years, he rose to the rank of colonel.
Preparing for space flights
In 1989, Padalka became a candidate test cosmonaut at the Gagarin Russian State Research Training Center. He completed general training from 1989 to 1991. After that, he began training under the flight program at the Mir orbital station.
In 1996, Padalka became the commander of the 2ndbackup crew. He also commanded the main staff. From 1996 to 1997 was trained for space flights on Soyuz-TM and Mir as the leader of the 2nd crew under the Expedition 24 program.
Debut flight into space
Gennady Padalka made his debut flight on August 13, 1998. He was in space until February 28, 1999. During this period he was appointed commander of the expedition. The start was made together with S. Avdeev and Yu. Baturin. Landing took place in tandem with Ivan Bella. Gennady's call sign is "Altair-1".
During the flight, Gennady went out into open space once (duration - five hours 54 minutes) and “closed” (work in the Spektr module for half an hour). The entire flight lasted 198 days 16 hours 31 minutes and 20 seconds.
In 1999, Gennady, together with Sergei Treshchev, was appointed commander of the second crew of the twenty-ninth expedition to the Mir. But after the transfer of the orbital station to unmanned mode, the working trains were disbanded.
In the same year, Gennady Padalka, whose photo can be seen in this article, began training at the TsPK im. Gagarin as commander of the main crew together with N. Budarin. The goal of their subsequent work was to fly into orbit to conduct manual docking if there was a failure in the automation. Crew training lasted until 2000. But thanks to the successful automatic docking, the astronauts did not need help.
In 1999 he was appointed commander of the backup crew of the fourthexpeditions to the International Space Station. Since 2000, Gennady began training as the commander of the ISS-4D. Worked with Americans M. Fink and S. Robinson.
Over the following years, Padalka was appointed commander of backup and main teams several times. Participated in many trainings together with astronauts from other countries.
Second flight
Gennady Padalka, an excellently trained cosmonaut, made his second flight in 2004, being at that time the commander of the ISS Expedition 9 crew and the Soyuz TMA-4 spacecraft. Gennady's callsign remained the same.
During the flight, he made four spacewalks. Duration:
- 13 minutes;
- 5hrs 40mins;
- 4hrs 30mins;
- 5h 21m
The total duration of the flight was 187 days 21 hours 16 minutes. and 9 p.
After the second flight into open space, Padalka was appointed several times on a provisional basis as the commander of the backup and main crews of various expeditions. Many times Gennady worked together with the American astronaut Michael Barratt. In 2008 he was included in the main crew of Soyuz TMA-14. At the training center, he passed the pre-flight exams for several years with excellent marks.
And again into space
The third flight of Gennady Padalka, an astronaut whose biography is closely connected with space, made in March 2009. Then he was appointed commander of the Soyuz TMA-14 and two main expeditions. On March 28 of the same year, a successfuldocking with the ISS.
During the flight, Gennady twice went into outer space. The first time - for 4 hours 54 minutes. Antennas were installed at this exit on the Zvezda SM. The second - for 12 minutes to perform work on dismantling the flat cover of the docking unit and installing a docking cone on it. Total flight duration - 198 days, 16 hours, 42 minutes
In 2009, Gennady transferred his powers to the Belgian astronaut Frank de Winne. Landed on October 11 of the same year, along with M. Bratt and tourist Guy Laliberte, who participated in the flight.
Over the next few years, Padalka was appointed commander of the backup and main crews of several expeditions. The interdepartmental commission received certification as a cosmonaut of the FGBU detachment at the Gagarin Research Institute.
In 2011, the commission recognized Gennady as fit to fly and allowed him to continue flying. And he was sent to the Training Center along with Revin and Akaba. Gennady successfully passed all the exam training tasks and was appointed as an understudy for the commander of the spacecraft. The following year, he became the head of the main team.
Fourth flight
For the fourth time, Padalka flew into space on May 15, 2012 and stayed there until September 17, 2012. Gennady was appointed commander of the Soyuz TMA-04M, part-time flight engineer of the 31st main expedition and leader of the 32nd. On May 17, docking to the Poisk module of the international space station took place.
During the flight, Gennady Padalka went out into the openspace with Yuri Malenchenko at 5 hours 51 minutes. At this time, the Pirs cargo boom was transferred to the Zarya hermetic adapter, the Sfera-53 satellite was launched manually, and five additional panels and two struts were installed. The container and some equipment were dismantled. Total flight duration - 124 days, 23 hours, 51 minutes and 30 seconds
Fifth time into space
Padalka made his fifth flight in the spring of 2015. He was appointed commander of the Soyuz TMA-16M spacecraft and a member of the 43rd and 44th expeditions. Together with M. Kornienko and S. Kelly. On March 28, the spacecraft successfully docked with the Poisk research module. On June 10, Gennady was given command of the station by American astronaut Terry Wertz.
Padalka during the expedition went into outer space for 5 hours 34 minutes. At this time, soft handrails were installed on the Zvezda module, some equipment was dismantled, and several planned installations of devices for station systems were completed. On September 5, 2015, Padalka handed over command to American Scott Kelly. The spacecraft landed on September 12, 2015 near the city of Dzhezkazgan. Total flight time - 168 days, 5 hours. 8 min. and 37 sec.
Personal life and family of an astronaut
The future famous cosmonaut Gennady Padalka grew up with his parents. Their family is big. He has two siblings. Olga (b. 1961) - signalman of the radio club. Tatyana (b. 1969) is a graduate of the technical school of light industry. Many are interested in this question:Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka where does he live? All in the same place where he was born: in the Kuban, in the city of Krasnodar.
Gennady married Irina Anatolyevna Ponomareva, born in 1959 She works as a deputy director of an insurance company. The family brings up three daughters: Yulia (b. 1979), Ekaterina (b. 1985) and Sofya (b. 2000).
