Quick Facts
Biography
Aleksey Nikolayevich Ovchinin (Russian: Алексей Николаевич Овчинин) born 28 September 1971 in Rybinsk, Yaroslavl Oblast, Russian SFSR is a Russian Air Force major and cosmonaut, selected in 2006. Ovchinin's first spaceflight has taken place on Soyuz TMA-20M which launched on March 18, 2016 21:26 UTC as part of Expedition 47/Expedition 48. Ovchinin flew as the commander of the spacecraft which docked with the ISS after the now standard 4 orbits.
Education
He graduated from high school No. 2 in the city of Rybinsk.
From August 1988 to September 1990 he was a cadet of Borisoglebsk Higher Military Pilot School and, from September 1990 to August 1992, a student of the Yeisk Higher Military Pilot School where he qualified as a pilot-engineer.
Experience
From August 1992 to February 1998 he served as an pilot instructor in the Training Aviation Regiment (TAR) at Yeisk Higher Military Pilot School. From February 1998 to September 2003 he was a pilot instructor, then commander of the aviation section of Krasnodar Military Aviation Institute (MAI) in Kotelnikovo (Volgograd region). From September 2003, until his enrollment as a cosmonaut, he served as a commander of an aviation unit of the 70th Separate Test Training Aviation Regiment of Special Purpose (OITAPON). He has over 1300 hours flying time in Yak-52 and L-39 aircraft. Ovchinin is qualified as a Pilot Instructor Second Class.
By order of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation in 2012 he was dismissed from the Armed Forces into reserve.
Preparations for space flight
On October 11, 2006 - at the meeting of the Interdepartmental Commission for the selection of cosmonauts - he was recommended as a cosmonaut candidate at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.
From 16 to 22 June 2008 in Sevastopol (Ukraine) he participated in descent vehicle training along with Robert Thirsk (Canada) and Richard Garriott (USA). The training was specifically for landing on water.
On June 9, 2009 he qualified as a "test cosmonaut" and was presented with Cosmonaut Certificate No. 205.
On August 1, 2009 he was appointed as a test cosmonaut of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.
In October 2009, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, he participated in training in the Mini Research Module (MRM).
In April 26, 2010 he was certified as a cosmonaut of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center NII FGBU detachment.
In September 2013, he took part in the CAVES (Cooperative Adventure from Valuing and Exercising human behaviour and performance Skills) mission in the Sa Grutta caves on the island of Sardinia (Italy). During the mission, five astronauts and cosmonauts (Michael Barratt, Jack Fisher, Jeremy Hansen, Paolo Nespoli and Satoshi Furukawa) from different space agencies worked in a multicultural and multi-ethnic team in extreme conditions underground.
He trained as a part of the backup crew for Soyuz TMA-16M, the launch of which took place on 27 March 2015.
In the autumn of 2015, Ovchinin and cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka tasted 160 culinary dishes, designed for astronauts on board the ISS, over an 8-day period. Food was evaluated on a 9-point scale.
Expedition 47\48
Ovchinin launched to space on Soyuz TMA-20M which launched on March 18, 2016 21:26 UTC as part of Expedition 47\48.
Family life
He has a wife, Svetlana, and a daughter, Yana (born 2007). His hobbies include hunting, fishing and music.