Usachyov Credit - www.spacefacts.de

Personal: Male, Married, One child. Born in Donetsk, Rostov, Russia. Korolev Design Bureau Civilian Engineer, Energia NPO

Astronaut Career

Astronaut Group: Energia Engineer Group 10 - 1989. Inactive Entered space service: 25 January 1989. Left space service: 5 April 2004. Number of Flights: 4.00. Total Time: 552.93 days. Number of EVAs: 7.00. Total EVA Time: 1.31 days.

After retirement as an active cosmonaut in April 2004, Usachyov began work in Section 291 of RKK Energia. He became part of a small group of cosmonaut veterans, tasked with transferring their experience to future cosmonaut-trainees. Official NASA Biography - 1997

A pilot-cosmonaut of Russia and reserve First Lieutenant, he lives in the city of Kaliningrad, Moscow region.

Position: Test-cosmonaut of the Energia Rocket-Space Corporation.

Date and place of birth: October 9, 1957, city of Donetsk, Rostov Region, Russia.

Parents: Father Vladimir Andreyevich USACHEV, born 1930.

Mother: Anna Grigoreyevna USACHEVA, (ESIPENKO), born 1930.

They live in the city of Donetsk.

Education: Moscow Aviation Institute in 1985.

Family status: Married, wife Vera Sergeyevna USACHEVA (NAZAROVA), BORN 1961.

Daughter: Yevgeniya, born 1988.

Interests: Sports, hiking.

Honors: Hero of Russian Federation.

Work experience: Since 1985 he has worked at the RSC Energia. He joined the cosmonauts of RSC Energia in 1989. From September 1989 to January 1991 he attended the general space training course at the Yu.A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

From April 1991 to August 1992 he trained for space flight as a member of the test-cosmonaut group in the Mir station program.

In 1992 and 1993 he trained for flight on the Mir complex in the Mir-13 program as flight engineer of the backup crew.

From February to June 1993 he trained for flight on the Mir complex in the programs Mir-14 and "Altaire" (France) as flight engineer of the backup crew.

Soyuz TM-18 Polyakov, Afanasyev, Usachev aboard Mir.... Credit- RKK Energia

From August 1993 to January 1994 he trained in the Mir-15 program as flight engineer of the main crew.

From January to July 1994 he flew on the Mir orbital complex for 182 days.

From April to June 1995 he trained for flight on the Mir station as flight engineer of the backup crew in the Mir -19 and "Mir-Shuttle" programs.

At present he is training for space flight on the Soyuz TM transport vehicle and the Mir station as flight engineer of the main crew in the Mir-21 and "Mir-NASA" programs.

• 8 January 1994 Flight: Mir EO-15. Flight Up: Soyuz TM-18. Flight Back: Soyuz TM-18. Flight Time: 182.02 days.

• 21 February 1996 Flight: Mir EO-21. Flight Up: Soyuz TM-23. Flight Back: Soyuz TM-23. Flight Time: 193.80 days.

• 19 May 2000 Flight: STS-101. Flight Up: STS-101. Flight Back: STS-101. Flight Time: 9.84 days.

• 8 March 2001 Flight: ISS EO-2. Flight Up: STS-102. Flight Back: STS-105. Flight Time: 167.28 days.

25 January 1989 - Energia Engineer Cosmonaut Training Group 10 selected..

Soyuz TM-18 Usachev with Penguin suit aboard Mir.... Credit- RKK Energia

On May 22 mission specialists Jeff Williams and James carried out external maintenance work on the ISS.

On May 23 at 00:03 GMT the Atlantis crew opened the first hatch to PMA-2 and entered the Station. The crew replaced a set of batteries in Zarya, installed fans and ducting to improve airflow, and delivered supplies and equipment. Three hour-long orbit raising burns on May 24 and 25 by the RCS engines on Atlantis raised the station to a 372 x 380 km x 51.6 deg orbit.

The STS-101 crew left the station on May 26, closing the PMA-2 hatch at 08:08 GMT and undocking at 23:03 GMT. Atlantis performed a 180 degree flyaround of the station and departed the vicinity around 23:44 GMT.

Atlantis closed its payload bay doors around 02:30 GMT on May 29 and fired the OMS engines for deorbit at 05:12 GMT. The vehicle landed on RW15 at Kennedy Space Center at 06:20 GMT. Atlantis was to be turned around for the next ISS shuttle flight, STS-106.

Left in orbit was the renovated International Space Station, equipped with an upgraded electrical system, new fans, filters, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and communications gear.

Discovery was launched on mission STS-102 (Space Station flight 5A.1) into an initial 60 x 222 km x 51.6 deg orbit. The mission was delivery of supplies and equipment, and changeout of the Expedition One and Expedition Two station crews. STS-102 carried the Leonardo Multi Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM), built by Alenia Spazio (Torino), to the International Space Station. The 6.4 m x 4.6 m cylindrical MPLM was a descendant of the Spacelab long modules. Also carried was a Spacehab/Energia unpressurized Integrated Cargo Carrier with LCA/MTSAS-A, RU, and PFCS. A sidewall adapter beam with two GAS canisters (G-783 and WSVFM) was also on board. WSVFM measured vibration during launch. Another adapter beam, probably at the rear of the payload bay, carried SEM-9. SEM-9 and G-783 contained high school microgravity experiments.

Leonardo carried 16 'racks' of equipment, including the Human Research Facility Rack (Rack 13) which allowed the astronauts to do extensive medical experiments, the CHeCS Rack (28), the DDCU-1 and DDCU-2 racks (7 and 9), the Avionics-3 (Rack 6), and the MSS Avionics/Lab (Rack 11) and Avionics/Cupola (Rack 12) racks for a total of 7 equipment racks to be installed on Destiny. Three Resupply Stowage Racks (50, 51, 52) and four Resupply Stowage Platforms (180, 181, 182 and 188) remained installed on Leonardo, with their equipment bags being individually transferred to the Station. System Racks 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8 were already on Destiny together with stowage racks 110 through 117. Each rack had a mass of 150-300 kg.

The orbiter fired its OMS engines at 1221 GMT to raise the orbit to 185 x 219 km. Discovery docked with the PMA-2 port on the Station at 0639 GMT on March 10. The LCA (Lab Cradle Assembly) was attached to Destiny's +Z side during an EVA. It was to be used on the next mission to temporarily place a Spacelab pallet on Destiny during installation of the Station's robot arm. Later, it would be the site for the main Station truss, beginning with segment S0.

The PMA-3, on Unity at the -Z nadir position, had to be moved to the port position to make room for Leonardo. An external stowage platform was attached to Destiny and the External Stowage Platform and the PFCS Pump Flow Control System were added to the port aft trunnion on Destiny. A rigid umbilical (RU) was connected to the PDGF grapple fixture on Destiny to support the Station's future robot arm. Leonardo was docked to Unity at -Z for a while so that its cargo could be transferred to the station easily; it was then be returned to the payload bay and brought back to earth.

At 0232 GMT on March 19 command of ISS was transferred to Expedition 2 and the hatches were closed. Discovery undocked at 0432 GMT and flew once around the station before departing at 0548 GMT. ISS mass after undocking was 115527 kg. The OMS engines fired for the deorbit burn at 0625 GMT on March 21, and Discovery touched down on runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center at 0731 GMT.