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Talgat Musabayev

TALGAT  MUSABAYEV

PROFILE

 

 

Full Name:

Talgat Amangeldyevich MUSABAYEV.

Rank:

Lt. General, Republic of Kazakhstan Aviation (Deceased).

Cosmonaut Call Sign:

Kristall (Crystal).

Born:

7 January 1951, in Kargaly, Dzhambud'skiy Raion, Kazakhstan (then part of the Soviet Union).

Died:

4 August 2025, aged 74.

Education:

1968: Graduated Alma Ata School No. 58.

 

1974: Graduated from the Red Banner School for Civil Aeronautics Engineers, Riga, Latvia (Soviet Union), with a speciality in electronic radio equipment; (6 Mar) Reserve Lieutenant.

 

1983: Graduated from the Higher Military Aviation School, Akhtubinsk, with an engineering diploma.

Career Highlights:

1974-75: Engineer in radio equipment at Burundai Air Centre, Alma Ata.

 

1976-79: Instructor, then senior instructor in the department of politics and education at Kazakh civil aviation; (29 Jun) Senior Lt. in Reserves.

 

1979-90: Served as a commercial co-pilot flying AN-2 and Tu-134 aircraft.

 

1986: (Spring) Passed the Medical Commission for special training for the flight of a Kazakh citizen, but the programme did not develop further at this time.

 

 

COSMONAUT ASSIGNMENTS

1990:

(11 May) Selected as a representative of Kazakhstan SSR for cosmonaut training; (Oct) arrived at TsPK, Moscow for training; basic cosmonaut researcher training.

1991:

Basic cosmonaut researcher training; (6 Mar) called up by Russian Ministry of Defence for military service; (  ) appointed Major, Russian Air Force and enrolled as a candidate for cosmonaut-researchers (11th AF selection); basic cosmonaut training; (13 Sep) awarded qualification as "test cosmonaut"; (  ) assigned to international crew training; originally assigned as BUp Cosmonaut Researcher (CR) on Soyuz TM-14 (Austromir-91) but missions changed due to funding; Kazakh and Austrian missions combined; (2 Oct) BUp CR Soyuz TM-13; (22 Oct) appointed test-cosmonaut, Russian cosmonaut detachment; Mir training.

1992:

Mir training.

1993:

Mir training; (11 Aug) promoted to Lt. Colonel; (26 Aug) assigned BUp FE (with Cdr Yuri Malenchenko) Soyuz TM-18/Mir EO-15; Mir expedition training.

1994:

(8 Jan) BUp FE Soyuz TM-18; Mir expedition training; (1 Jul - 4 Nov) flew as FE Soyuz TM-19/Mir EO-16, call sign Agat-2; (9 Sep) EVA 5 hrs 6 min; (13 Sep) EVA 6 hrs 1 min; (4 Nov) landed after 125 days 22 hrs 53 min 36 sec; (24 Nov) Hero of the Russian Federation; (  ) Pilot Cosmonaut #7 of the Russian Federation (79th cosmonaut overall); (  ) Pilot Cosmonaut #2 of the Kazakhstan Republic.

1995:

Post-flight debriefing; (10 Feb) Cosmonaut 2nd Class; (4 Mar) Instructor cosmonaut-researcher; (17 Dec) promoted to Colonel.

1996:

(Mar) assigned as BUp Cdr Soyuz TM-25/Mir EO-23, with Nikolai Budarin and German astronaut Hans Schlegel; Mir expedition training.

1997:

Mir expedition training; (10 Feb) BUp Cdr Soyuz TM-25/Mir EO-23; Mir expedition training; (28 Jul) identified as Cdr Soyuz TM Taxi/Crew Rescue Vehicle (CRV), with Nadezdha Kuzhelnaya, to fly a replacement Soyuz on a short mission to ISS, but no training was completed until after he returned from his 1998 mission; Mir expedition training.

1998:

Mir expedition training; (29 Jan - 25 Aug) flew as Cdr Soyuz TM-27/Mir EO-25 (with FE Nikolai Budarin and CNES astronaut Leopold Eyharts - Pegasus programme) until 19 Feb; also worked with 'NASA Board 7' astronaut Andy Thomas until 8 Jun; Call sign Kristall-1; (3 Mar) EVA 1 hr 15 min - aborted because the hatch could not be opened; (1 Apr) EVA 6 hrs 40 min; (6 Apr) EVA 4 hrs 15 min; (11 Apr) EVA 6 hrs 25 min; (17 Apr) EVA 6 hrs 33 min; (22 Apr) EVA 6 hrs 21 min; (25 Aug) landed after 207 days 12 hrs 51 min 2 sec; post-flght debrief and recovery; NASA Spaceflight Medal.

1999:

(15 Apr 1999 - 2001) ISS visiting mission (Taxi) training.

2000:

ISS visiting mission (Taxi) training; (May) passed training as prime Cdr 1st Russian visiting crew ISS; (12 Jun) assigned as BUp Cdr Mir EO-29; Mir training; (28 Dec) re-assigned to Cdr 1st visiting crew ISS with Yuri Baturin and Dennis Tito.

2001:

ISS visiting crew training; (3 Apr) Cosmonaut 1st Class; (28 Apr - 6 May) flew as Cdr Soyuz TM-32, 1st Russian visiting crew to ISS; call sign Kristall-1; first 'space flight participant' mission (Dennis Tito); (6 May) landed in Soyuz TM-31 after 7 days 22 hrs 4 min 8 sec; post-flight debrief.

2002:

 

2003:

(9 Jun) Discharged from the cosmonaut team due to transfer to new position.

 

 

POST-COSMONAUT EXPERIENCE

2003:

(Aug) Appointed Chief of Combat Training of the Army (helicopter) Aviation Directorate; (8 Sep) promoted to Major General; (Nov) Appointed Deputy Chief of the Air Force Academy named for Zhukovsky.

2004:

Deputy Chief AF Academy.

2005:

Deputy Chief AF Academy; (30 May) General Director of joint Kazakh-Russian venture Baiterek JSC (a space rocket complex based on the Angara launch vehicle).

2007:

(10 Feb) Chariman of the Aerospace Committee of the Ministry of Education and Science of Kazakhstan; (11 Apr 2007 - 20 Jan 2016) headed the National Space Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Kazcosmos); (5 Jul) Lt. General of Aviation, Republic of Kazakhstan.

2016:

(20 Jan) Appointed Advisor to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

2017:

(13 Jul) Relieved of his post as Advisor to the President and appointed Deputy of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan; (13 Jul 2017 - 24 Jan 2023) Deputy of the Senate of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

2023 - 2025:

In retirement.

2025:

(4 Aug) Died at the age of 74.

 

 

Talgat MUSABAYEV Space Flight Missions

Mission

Vehicle

Position

Dates

DD/MM/YY

Duration

DD:HH:MM:SS

EVAs

Mir EO-16

Soyuz TM-19

Flight Engineer

01/07/1994-04/11/1994

125:22:53:36

(2) 11 hrs 5 min

Mir EO-25

Soyuz TM-27

Commander

29/01/1998-25/08/1998

207:12:51:02

(6) 31 hrs 29 min*

ISS EP-1

Soyuz TM-32/31

Commander

28/04/2001-06/05/2001

007:22:04:08

0

 

 

 

 

 

 

Missions Flown:

3

Total Flight Time:

341:09:48:46

(8) 42 hrs 34 min

*Includes 1 hr 15 min aborted EVA
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This profile is copyright Astro Info Service Ltd 2025

All images are courtesy of NASA unless otherwise stated.
Portrait of Kazakh cosmonaut Talgat Musabayev.

Image courtesy of spacefacts.de
Soyuz TM-19 FE Musabayev wears the Chibis Lower Body Negative Pressure (LBNP) 'suit' as a study of countermeasures to bodily fluid shifts in space.

Image courtesy of spacefacts.de
Musabayev (bottom right) floats past his two colleagues in a cluttered Mir module. By this point the station had been in orbit for over eight years.
Talgat Musabayev and Nikolai Budarin on EVA outside Mir during their Mir-25 mission, one of seven spacewalks Musabayev completed on his two visits to the station.
The STS-91 and Mir-25 crews pose for a photograph in the Mir core module. L to r: Valery Ryumin, Wendy Lawrence, Charles Precourt, Andy Thomas, Talgat Musabayev, Janet Kavandi, Dom Gorie, Nikolai Budarin and Franklin Chang Díaz.
Musabayev commanded the Soyuz TM-32 mission to ISS, which was flown to exchange the Soyuz craft attached to the station. This crew (l to r, Dennis Tito, Musabayev and Yuri Baturin) would return to Earth in Soyuz TM-31. It was also the controversial first flight of a 'Space Flight Participant' (Tito), a fare-paying passenger making a trip to a station that was still under construction.