ALEXANDER ALEXANDROVICH VOLKOV (COSMONAUT)

:''For other people named Alexander Volkov, see Alexander Volkov.''
'Alexander Alexandrovich Volkov' () (born May 27, 1948) is a Russian cosmonaut.
At the age of 13, Volkov witnessed Yuri Gagarin become the first man in space and this inspired him to become a cosmonoaut. He joined the Russian space programme and became a test pilot before realising his dream.
Onboard the Mir space station, he controlled the docking procedures among other things.
The Soviet Union broke up in 1991. At the time Volkov was orbiting Earth on Mir with Sergei K. Krikalev,"the last Citizen of the USSR ". Having gone into orbit as Soviet citizens, they returned to Earth as Russian citizens.
As part of national Science and Engineering week, he and Dr. Alex Martynov were invited to Ousedale Secondary School to give talk about his time in space. The talk was translated by his counterpart Dr. Martynov, who also gave a talk about the Russian space mission to Mars.
Alexander Volkov was awarded the the rank of Hero of the Soviet Union and Space Pilot of the USSR, Order of Lenin, Order of October Revolution and the Gold Star medal for the courage and heroisim shown during his flights. He worked as Commander of the Cosmonauts Team at the Cosmonauts Training Centre from January 1991 until August 1998. His work was to prepare Russian and foreign cosmonauts for future flights to space stations to Mir and the International Space Station.
He is the father of Sergey Volkov.