a Russian cosmonaut of Greek descent
Yurchikhin was born in Batumi, Adjar ASSR, Georgian SSR (now Adjara the autonomous republic of Georgia) on 3 January 1959 to Pontic Greek parents Nikolai Fyodorovich Yurchikhin and Mikrula Sofoklevna Yurchikhina, both now reside in Sindos, Greece. Yurchikhin is married to Larisa Anatolievna Yurchikhina and has two daughters.
He graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute. He is qualified as a mechanical engineer, specializing in airspace vehicles. In 2001, he graduated from the Moscow Service State University with a Ph.D. in economics.
At first Yurchikhin worked at the Russian Space Corporation Energia. In August 1997, he was enrolled in the RSC Energia cosmonaut detachment as a cosmonaut-candidate. From January 1998 to November 1999, he completed his basic training course. In November 1999, he was qualified as a test cosmonaut. In January 2000, he started training in the test-cosmonaut group for the International Space Station (ISS) program. Yurchikhin was a crewmember of the International Space Station assembly mission STS-112 conducted using Space Shuttle Atlantis.
His Astronaut Career Spacewalks Awards
Yurchikhin has participated in four expeditions. The first one was for the assembly of the International Space Station, STS-112. His next missions were:
Expedition 15 on the ISS. He served as a commander. He returned to Earth after spending 196 days and 17 hours in space.
Expedition 24/25. He served as a flight engineer. He returned to Earth after spending 163 days aboard the ISS.
TMA-09M Expedition 36/37. He served as Flight Engineer for Expedition 36, and as ISS Commander for Expedition 37.
He will participate in Expedition 52/53 in 2017.
Spacewalks
During his stays on ISS he has performed 8 spacewalks
Awards
Yurchikhin was awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation medal, the Order of Friendship medal (2003), NASA Space Flight Medal (2003), medals of the Federation of Cosmonautics and the title of Russian Federation Test-Cosmonaut (2003).
Yurchikhin was one of five cosmonauts selected to raise the Russian flag at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.
