Valery Tokarev has an unusual set of mastered professions - he is a famous Russian cosmonaut, who later became a manager. He is sure that space is alive and filled with energy, and all astronauts return from flights a little philosophers.
Biography
Valery was born in 1952 into an ordinary family. The place of his birth is recorded in a military town at the Kapustin Yar training ground. His father, who was a military man, served here. Then the family lived in the village of Osenevo (Yaroslavl region). Valery's father, Ivan Pavlovich, headed the collective farm for a long time, and his mother, Lydia Nikolaevna, worked in the library. In this village Valera received his school education. He studied well, he constantly appeared in the rural library. The boy was most interested in books about military pilots - and this is how the dream of the sky appeared. Another childhood hobby was horses - he spent a lot of time at the stables.
At that time, in the outback, it was possible to complete the program from grades 1 to 8. To finish grades 9 and 10, Valery had to move to the city. His grandmother lived in Rostov the Great, and here he graduated from high school. The cosmonaut considers this city his small homeland.
In 1969, Tokarev became a cadet at an aviation school in Stavropol, where pilots and navigators were trained. After that, his flying career begins. Starting in 1973 as an ordinary pilot, he was the commander of an air link and even deputy squadron commander.
The professional education of pilots never ends. In 1981-82, Valery Tokarev passed the tests in the city of Akhtubinsk excellently, and received the title of test pilot.
Service as a tester began. The list of equipment mastered by Tokarev includes more than 50 types of aircraft and helicopters. Among them are carrier-based aircraft, bombers, vertical takeoff vehicles and many others.
Space training
In 1987, Tokarev entered the Buran test program, which involves the training of cosmonauts. Already in the rank of colonel since 1989, Valery Ivanovich undergoes the entire range of preparatory measures provided for test cosmonauts at the V. I. Yuri Gagarin. The service took place at that time in Crimea, which after the collapse of the USSR went to Ukraine. Valery Tokarev refused to swear allegiance to the Ukrainian command, so he was removed from all work and removed from the staff.
However, a specialist of this level did not remain without work. He was admitted to the Research Institute in Akhtubinsk, where he continued to work as a test cosmonaut. In parallel, he studied in absentia at the Academy. Yuri Gagarin in Monino.
Since 1997 Tokarev has been directly involved in the cosmonaut training program for the ISS. At first he was the commander of the backup crew, then the commander of the main team. Therefore, his training took place not only in Russian centers, but also abroad - in the Cosmocenter. Johnson.
Valery Tokarev's first flight into orbit happened in May-June 1999. Then he was a flight specialist for the shuttle Discovery, and became the second Russian cosmonaut who managed to visit the ISS. This flight lasted 9 days 19 hours 14 minutes. Callsign Valery Tokarev - "Dawn".
After the return and recovery, intensive preparations began for the flight on the Russian Soyuz TM vehicle.
Tokarev's second flight became much more impressive in duration. From October 2005 to April 2006, he was on board the ISS as a flight engineer for the 12th crew. His colleague was W. MacArthur (USA), the space tourist G. Olsen flew with them. During the expedition, the astronauts even managed to observe a total solar eclipse, which took place at the end of March 2006. In addition, Tokarev twice went into open space to complete the assigned tasks. The total time of his stay outside the station was 11 hours 5 minutes.
Public activities of Valery Tokarev
After returning to earth and before leaving the cosmonaut corps, Tokarev was listed in the ISS-1 training group.
In 2008, Valery Tokarev was elected head of the Rostov region (in the Yaroslavl region), so he was dismissed from the cosmonaut corps by order of the Ministry of Defense. But the very next year, he again returned to the squadron as an instructor-test cosmonaut. And at the same time he does not leave his post as the head of the district.
Valery Ivanovich will make an attempt to become a member of the acting cosmonaut corps in 2009 and will even undergo special training. But the commission will still not allow him to fly for health reasons.
Tokarev was the head of the Rostov region until 2012 and left the post after the expiration of his term of office. In 2013, he headed the administration of Star City near Moscow, first as an interim, then as a result of the elections.
A family
Valery Tokarev's mother worked as a librarian all her life. After retirement, she worked in trade for some time. My father died back in 1972 in a car accident.
Valery met his wife Irina Gavrilova in Rostov the Great. Here they also signed. Wife Irina Tokareva worked as a tour guide, then quit her job. The Tokarevs have a daughter, Olga, and a son, Ivan.
Tokarev has many state awards, including the Medal for Merit in Space Exploration and the Order for Merit to the Fatherland. The famous cosmonaut bears the title of Hero of the Russian Federation, an honorary citizen of the cities of Rostov and Kirzhach.
