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The Cosmonaut Corps ( ‹See Tfd› Russian : Отряд космонавтов) is a unit of the Russia's Roscosmos state corporation that selects, trains, and provides cosmonauts as crew members for the Russian Federation and international space missions. It is part of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, based at Star City in Moscow Oblast, Russia.
The development of Soviet science and technology made it possible, by the end of the 1950s, to consider the issues of crewed space flight. At the beginning of 1959, the President of the USSR Academy of Sciences Mstislav Keldysh held a meeting at which questions about crewed space flight were discussed specifically, right down to "who should fly?". The decision on the selection and training of astronauts for the first space flight on the spacecraft "Vostok" was made in the Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 22-10 "On the medical selection of candidates for astronauts", dated January 5, 1959, and in the Resolution Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 569-264 "On the preparation of man for space flights", May 22, 1959.
The selection of candidates for cosmonauts corps was entrusted to the command of the Air Force of the Armed Forces, military doctors and medical flight commissions, which monitored the health of pilots in units and formations, and the training of future cosmonauts was entrusted to the Air Force of the Armed Forces of the USSR. Later, the selection was directly entrusted to a group of specialists from the Central Military Research Aviation Hospital (TsVNIAH).
The cosmonaut corps was formed on January 11, 1960, by the order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of the USSR, dated March 7, 1960, the first 12 pilots who passed the initial selection were appointed to the post of listener-cosmonauts of the Air Force; The first cosmonaut corps, which included the future first cosmonaut of Yuri Gagarin, consisted of twenty people. On March 23, 1961, Yuri Gagarin was appointed as the commander of the cosmonaut corps.
The first Cosmonauts Corps was military unit No. 26266, which formed with the task of training cosmonauts, and a little later it was transformed into the Cosmonaut Training Center of the Air Force of the Armed Forces.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Corps became partly civilian and was managed by the Russian Space and Aviation Agency (RKA).
The Cosmonaut Corps is based at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, although members may be assigned to other locations based on mission requirements.
The Chief of the Cosmonaut Office is the most senior leadership position for active cosmonauts in the Corps. The Chief serves as head of the Corps and is the principal adviser to the Roscosmos Director-General on cosmonaut training and operations. The first Chief Astronaut was Yuri Gagarin, appointed in 1960. The current Chief is Maksim Kharlamov.
In order to enter the cosmonaut corps, a candidate for the role of a space pilot must pass medical and psychological tests (in the Central Research Aviation Hospital), as well as undergo a face-to-face interview. During the Soviet era, in addition, membership in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was also a prerequisite for joining the cosmonaut corps. [1]
The main current requirements for joining the cosmonaut corps are to be with Russian citizenship, age up to 35 years, have higher education, have knowledge of English, successfully pass medical and psychological tests, and have body weight up to 90 kilograms (200 lb).
As of September 2024 [update] , the corps has 24 "active" cosmonauts consisting of 1 woman and 23 men. [2] All of the current members of the cosmonaut corps were selected in 1996 or later.
Missions underlined are in progress. Missions in italics are scheduled and subject to change.
Soyuz TM-11, 
Soyuz TM-18, Soyuz TM-29, Soyuz TM-33/32 Soyuz 22, Soyuz T-2 Soyuz T-9, Soyuz TM-3 Expelled from Vostok program; no flights. Soyuz TM-12 Soyuz 14 Soyuz T-10/11 Soyuz TM-13/12 Soyuz TM-15, Soyuz TM-22 No flights. Soyuz TM-9 Soyuz TM-28/27, Soyuz TM-32/31 Voskhod 2 Soyuz 3 Soyuz T-5/7 No flights. Soyuz TMA-21 STS-71/Soyuz TM-21, Soyuz TM-27, STS-113/Soyuz TMA-1 Vostok 5, Soyuz 22, Soyuz 31/29 Soyuz TM-21/STS-71 Soyuz 11 Soyuz 15 Soyuz 27/26, Soyuz 39, Soyuz T-12, Soyuz T-13 Voskhod 1 Expelled from Vostok program; no flights. Soyuz 7, Soyuz 16 Vostok 1 Soyuz TM-22, Soyuz TM-31/STS-102, Soyuz TM-34/Soyuz TM-33 Soyuz 24 Soyuz 7, Soyuz 24, Soyuz 37/36 Soyuz 17, Soyuz 26/27, Soyuz T-14/13 Soyuz 17, Soyuz 28 Soyuz TM-14, Soyuz TM-24, Soyuz TM-30, Soyuz TMA-3, Soyuz TMA-01M Soyuz 5/4 Soyuz T-3, Soyuz T-10/11, Soyuz T-15 Soyuz 13, Soyuz 18, Soyuz 30 Voskhod 1, Soyuz 1 
— Soyuz TM-20/STS-84 Soyuz TMA-20 Soyuz TMA-18, Soyuz TMA-16M Soyuz TM-24, STS-111/113 Soyuz TMA-10, Soyuz TMA-17, Soyuz TMA-10M Soyuz 25, Soyuz 29/31, Soyuz T-4 Soyuz TM-33/32 Soyuz TM-7, Soyuz TM-12/ Soyuz TM-13, STS-60, STS-88, Soyuz TM-31/STS-102, Soyuz TMA-6 Soyuz 6, Soyuz 19, Soyuz 36/35 Soyuz TM-2 Soyuz 12, Soyuz 18a Soyuz TM-25 Soyuz 13, Soyuz T-5/7 Voskhod 2 (first walk in space), Soyuz 19 Soyuz TM-4/3 STS-100, Soyuz TMA-1/TM-34, Soyuz TMA-13 Soyuz 32/34, Soyuz T-9, Soyuz TM-6/5 Soyuz 12, Soyuz 18a, Soyuz 27/26, Soyuz T-3 Soyuz TM-19, STS-106, Soyuz TMA-2, Soyuz TMA-11, Soyuz TMA-05M, Soyuz TMA-19M, Soyuz T-2, Soyuz T-11/10 Soyuz TM-10, Soyuz TM-16 Soyuz MS-21 Soyuz TM-4/6, Soyuz TM-11 Soyuz TMA-08M, Soyuz MS-06, Soyuz MS-20 STS-106 Soyuz TM-19, Soyuz TM-27, Soyuz TM-32/31 Expelled from Vostok program, no flights. Vostok 3, Soyuz 9 Soyuz TM-28, Soyuz TMA-4, Soyuz TMA-14, Soyuz TMA-04M, Soyuz TMA-16M Soyuz 11 Soyuz TM-16 Soyuz TM-6/7, Soyuz TM-18/20 Soyuz 35/37, Soyuz 40, Soyuz T-7/5 Vostok 4, Soyuz 14 Soyuz TMA-04M Soyuz TMA-15, Soyuz TMA-07M Soyuz 26/27, Soyuz 38, Soyuz TM-2/3 Soyuz 23 Soyuz 10, Soyuz 16, Soyuz 33 Soyuz TMA-10M, Soyuz MS-05 Soyuz 25, Soyuz 32/34, Soyuz 35/37, STS-91 Soyuz TMA-21, Soyuz TMA-14M Soyuz 15 Soyuz T-4, Soyuz T-13/14, Soyuz TM-3, — Soyuz T-7/5, Soyuz T-12 Soyuz T-7/5, Soyuz T-8, Soyuz TM-8, Soyuz TM-17 — Soyuz TMA-14M Soyuz 9, Soyuz 18 Soyuz TMA-5/4 STS-89, Soyuz TMA-5 Soyuz 4, Soyuz 8, Soyuz 10 Soyuz TMA-22, Soyuz TMA-15M, Soyuz MS-07, Soyuz MS-19 Soyuz 6 Soyuz TMA-01M, Soyuz TMA-20M, Soyuz MS-15 Soyuz TMA-18, Soyuz MS-13 Soyuz TM-5/4, Soyuz TM-9, Soyuz TM-15, STS-71/Soyuz TM-21, Soyuz TM-26 Soyuz T-10/11, Soyuz T-15 Soyuz T-3, Soyuz T-8, Soyuz T-11/10, Soyuz TM-10, Soyuz TM-21/STS-71 Soyuz TMA-16, Soyuz TMA-13M Soyuz TMA-06M , First woman in space. — Vostok 6 Vostok 2 Soyuz T-8, Soyuz TM-4/6, STS-63, STS-86 STS-96, Soyuz TMA-7 STS-111/113 Soyuz TM-17, Soyuz TM-25 STS-105/108, Soyuz TMA-9, Soyuz TMA-11M Soyuz T-14 Soyuz TM-3/2, Soyuz TM-8, Soyuz TM-14, Soyuz TM-20 Soyuz TM-26, Soyuz TMA-8, Soyuz TMA-08M Soyuz T-12 Soyuz T-14, Soyuz TM-7, Soyuz TM-13, Soyuz TM-13 Soyuz TMA-12, Soyuz TMA-02M Soyuz 7, Soyuz 11 Soyuz 5, Soyuz 21 No flights. Voskhod 1 Soyuz 5/4, Soyuz 8, Soyuz 10 STS-112, Soyuz TMA-10, Soyuz TMA-19, Soyuz TMA-09M, Soyuz MS-04 No flights. Soyuz TM-30, Soyuz TMA-1/TM-34 Soyuz 21 Soyuz 23 All of the locations below were part of the former U.S.S.R. at the time of the cosmonauts' birth.
The Soyuz programme is a human spaceflight programme initiated by the Soviet Union in the early 1960s. The Soyuz spacecraft was originally part of a Moon landing project intended to put a Soviet cosmonaut on the Moon. It was the third Soviet human spaceflight programme after the Vostok (1961–1963) and Voskhod (1964–1965) programmes.
Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov was a Soviet test pilot, aerospace engineer, and cosmonaut. In October 1964, he commanded Voskhod 1, the first spaceflight to carry more than one crew member. He became the first Soviet cosmonaut to fly in space twice when he was selected as the solo pilot of Soyuz 1, its first crewed test flight. A parachute failure caused his Soyuz capsule to crash into the ground after re-entry on 24 April 1967, making him the first human to die in a space flight.
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Sergey Nikolayevich Ryzhikov, lieutenant colonel of Russian Air Force, is a Russian cosmonaut, selected in 2006. He is a veteran of two long duration space flights to the ISS.
Sergey Aleksandrovich Volkov is a retired Russian cosmonaut and engineer. He was a member of three missions to the International Space Station, spending more than a year in total in space. During his missions he did four spacewalks lasting more than 23 hours in total. Volkov retired from the Cosmonaut group in February 2017.
Aleksandr Mikhailovich Samokutyaev is a Russian politician and former cosmonaut. Samokutyaev served as a Flight Engineer for the International Space Station (ISS) long duration Expedition 27/28 missions. He also served as the Soyuz TMA-21 commander. He most recently served on the Soyuz TMA-14M Expedition 41/42 crew aboard the ISS. He was hired as a cosmonaut in the summer of 2003.
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Salyut 7 is a 2017 Russian disaster film directed by Klim Shipenko and written by Aleksey Samolyotov, the film stars Vladimir Vdovichenkov and Pavel Derevyanko. The story is based on the Soyuz T-13 mission in 1985, part of the Soviet Salyut programme; it was the first time in history that a 'dead' space station was docked with, and brought back into service.
Media related to Roscosmos Cosmonaut Corps at Wikimedia Commons
