Mukhtar Aymakhanov

Mukhtar Rabatuly Aymakhanov (Kazakh: Мұхтар Рабатұлы Аймаханов, Muhtar Rabatuly Aımahanov; born January 1, 1967 in Zhosaly, Kazakhstan) is a Russian cosmonaut; he was originally a Kazakhstani cosmonaut.[1][2]

Kazakh cosmonaut career

Aimakhanov and Aidyn Aimbetov were selected as the first class of Kazakh cosmonauts in 2002, for the Kazakhstan National Space Agency, KazCosmos. They trained at Star City as cosmonauts from 2003 to 2009, until the world financial crisis indefinitely postponed the prospective Kazakhstan mission[3][4][2].

The Kazakh mission finally took place in September 2015 aboard Soyuz TMA-18M after prospective Space tourist Sarah Brightman pulled out from the flight. Aimbetov flew with Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopiev as his backup since Aymakhanov had already left KazCosmos and joined Roscosmos by the time of the flight[2].

Russian cosmonaut career

In 2012, to pursue his cosmonaut dreams, Aymakhanov became a Russian citizen,[2] and gave up his Kazakhstani citizenship.[5]

References
  1. "Mukhtar Rabatovich". Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  2. Anatoly Zak (22 June 2015). "Kazakh cosmonaut to replace Brightman on space station trip". Sen.
  3. Jeff Foust (22 June 2015). "Kazakh Cosmonaut To Take Brightman's Place On Soyuz Flight". Space News.
  4. "Aidyn Aimbetov: Flying into the Space is not Buying a Theater Ticket". Akimat of Astana. 13 April 2015. Archived from the original on 27 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  5. Interfax (23 January 2014). "Israeli astronaut may go to ISS by Russia's Soyuz spacecraft". The Voice of Russia.
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