Alexander Misurkin

Alexander Misurkin is a Russian Cosmonaut who was the Commander of the International Space Station between September 2017 and February 2018. On this mission, Alexander had spent 168 days, 5 hours and 14 minutes in Space.  Previously in 2013 he was the youngest person ever on board the Station.

Space Tourism:

In December of 2021 Alexander returned to the Space Station. This time he was with two Japanese space tourists, billionaire entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa and his assistant, Yozo Hirano. The trip was arranged by the space tourism company Space Adventures. This company had already successfully planned and achieved seven space tourism missions to the Space Station.

Alexander’s mission was on board a SoyuzMS20 spacecraft. It had been specially adapted to be flown by one Cosmonaut, Comander Misurkin who is also now recognised as the first TASS (Russian News Agency) correspondent in space, reporting on the space station’s routines on a daily basis.

Early Days:

Alexander Misurkin started his career in 1999 when he served as a pilot instructor, commander of the aviation unit in the Krasnodar Military Aviation Institute. In 2006 he enlisted in the Cosmonaut Corp where he qualified as a test-cosmonaut.

Alexander took his first spaceflight on the 29th of March 2013, onboard the “SOYUZ TMA 08M” spacecraft together with Pavel Vinogradov and Christopher Cassidy.  He was the flight engineer on the craft’s mission to the International Space Station where he spent the next six months.

In this flight for the first time in recent history a short scheme of the rendezvous and docking with the Space Station had been worked out.

During the flight together with Fedor Yurchihin they performed 3 extra vehicular activities, 20 hours 2 minutes total, the second one being a record at that time, lasting 7 hours 29 minutes.

ISS Commander:

In September of 2017 Alexander Misurkin started his second space flight, now as commander of the “Soyuz MS-06” spacecraft and on another mission to the International Space Station as the ISS Comander. He arrived back on Earth on the 28th February 2018, having completed another six months misson on the Station.

On the 2nd February 2018 Alexander Misurkin and Anton Shkaplerov spent more than eight hours outside the International Space Station, installing a new electronic component. Alexander and Anton now hold a new record for the longest Russian space walk, which Aleaxander originally made in 2013.

During his education Alexander received Gold Medals at the Armavir Military Aviation Institute. He is also a Pilot-instructor (1st class).

Amongst his many awards and recognitions, he is a HERO OF RUSSIA. He was presented this honour by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on the 22nd Sep. 2016 during a ceremony at the Kremlin.

Alexander Misurkin is available for live and virtual keynote talks and Q&A. Alexander’s English is excellent, there is no need for a translator. His main topics are: Being successful and Space laws.

Based in Moscow, Alexander is happy to travel to the UK, Europe and Worlwide. He is also available to speak virtually from his home in Moscow. Call SpeakOut! on +44 (0) 20 8914 8966 for details.