Space Business Solutions

Colonel Vladimir Titov Cosmonaut, General Director, Russian Operations Colonel Vladimir Titov, Russian Air Force (retired) is a hugely experi- enced cosmonaut who set a record for spending more than a year in space for the rst time. Selected to join the cosmonaut team in 1976, he went on to y four missions and spend a total of 387 days in space. Colonel Titov also trained for missions using the Almaz spacecraft, and is intimately familiar with its hardware and systems. He made his rst space ight as commander of Soyuz T-8, which was due to rendezvous with Salyut 7 but docking was aborted once in orbit after the rendezvous radar antenna failed to properly deploy. Colonel Titov was then scheduled to y on Soyuz T-10, but a re shortly before launch saw the mission dramatically aborted with the crew escaping after the descent module was pulled clear by the launch escape system. Colonel Titov went on to set a world record for the length of time spent in space with a mission to Mir that lasted close to 366 days. Two space shuttle missions later took Colonel Titov back to Mir, the rst during which he practiced Shuttle-Mir rendezvous maneuvers and another that saw him perform a spacewalk with his American crewmate. Having retired from the Air Force and the Russian Space Agency in 1998, he served as Director of Space and Communications for the Boeing Company in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. In this role he was responsible for Boeing's space and com- munications resources throughout the region and for providing support for all space related activities. Colonel Titov has been awarded honors including the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, the Order of Lenin twice, the Commandeur de la Legion d'Honneur, the Bulgarian Order of Stara Planina and the U.S. Harmon Prize. He graduated from the Higher Air Force College in Chernigov in Ukraine and the Yuri Gagarin Air Force Academy, and holds an MBA degree from the International University in Moscow.