Portal:Spaceflight/Selected biography/August 2009

Vladimir Georgiyevich Titov (Russian: Владимир Георгиевич Титов), Colonel, Russian Air Force, Ret., and former Russian cosmonaut was born 1 January 1947, in Sretensk, in the Chita Region of Russia. He is married to the former Alexandra Kozlova of the Ivanovo Region, Russia. They have two children.

In 1966, Titov enrolled at the Higher Air Force College in Chernihiv in Ukraine, graduating in 1970. Until 1974, he served at the College as a pilot-instructor and was responsible for the graduation of twelve student pilots. He later served as a flight commander with the air regiment where the cosmonauts carry out flying practice. He has flown 10 different types of aircraft, has logged more than 1,400 hours flying time, and holds the qualifications of Military Pilot, 1st Class, and Test Pilot, 3rd Class.

Titov was selected as a cosmonaut in 1976, and in September 1981 was paired with Gennady Strekalov. The two men served as the back-up crew for Soyuz T-5 in 1982 and Soyuz T-9 in 1983. A veteran of five missions, Titov served as commander on Soyuz T-8 and an aborted mission which would have become Soyuz T-10 had it of reached orbit in 1983, and Soyuz TM-4 in 1987. He subsequently flew two missions aboard the Space Shuttle as a mission specialist; STS-63 in 1995 and STS-86 in 1997. (more...)