National Aeronautics and Space Administration Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Houston, Texas 77058
Biographical Data

SAMOKUTYAEV ALEXANDER MIKHAILOVICH
(LIEUTENANT-COLONEL, RUSSIAN AIR FORCE)
TEST-COSMONAUT OF YU.A. GAGARIN COSMONAUT TRAINING CENTER

PERSONAL DATA: Born March 13, 1970, in Penza, Russia. Married to Samokutyaeva (nee Zosimova) Oksana Nikolaevna. They have one daughter, Anastasia, born in 1995. His parents, Maikhail Nikolaevich and Maria Alexandrovna Samokutyaev, reside in Penza. Hobbies include ice hockey, traveling

EDUCATION: Graduated from the Chernigov Air Force Pilot School as pilot-engineer in 1992, and in 2000 from the Gagarin Air Force Academy.

AWARDS: Recipient of various Russian Armed Force medals.

EXPERIENCE: Samokutyaev flew Vilga-35A,-L-13 Blanik, L-39, SU-24? aircraft as pilot, senior pilot and deputy commander of air squadron. Samokutyaev has logged 680 hours of flight time and performed 250 parachute jumps. He is a Class 3 Air Force pilot and a qualified diver. After graduation from the Academy he was appointed as GCTC 2nd division department chief.

SPACE FLIGHT TRAINING: Samokutyaev was selected as a GCTC cosmonaut-candidate in 2003. From June 2003 to June 2005 he completed basic spaceflight training and passed the exams with excellent grades. In July, 2005 Samokutyaev received the qualification of a test-cosmonaut. Starting August 2005 till November 2008 he was in ISS advanced training. Since December 2008 he has trained as an ISS 23/24 backup crewmember - Soyuz commander, ISS 23/24 flight engineer.

MARCH 2010