Cosmonaut Aleksandr Samokutyaev, 56, is first former ISS crew member to die

Aleksandr Samokutyaev, Expedition 28 flight engineer, in the International Space Station’s Zvezda service module with a view of space shuttle Atlantis outside the window during the STS-135 mission on July 12, 2011.

Credit: NASA

On July 10, 2011, the US space shuttle Atlantis arrived at the space station, and for nine days, the four STS-135 astronauts joined Samokutyaev and his Expedition 28 colleagues aboard the orbiting laboratory. Not only was it the last time that a shuttle would visit the ISS, but it was the final mission of the 30-year program.

On August 3, 2011, Samokutyaev performed his first spacewalk, venturing outside of the ISS with Volkov to relocate equipment, install a materials science experiment, and hand-deploy a micro-satellite.

After 164 days in Earth orbit, Samokutyaev returned to Earth on Soyuz TMA-21 with Borisenko and Garan, landing safely on the steppe of Kazakhstan.

Cosmonaut Aleksandr Samokutyaev on his first spacewalk outside of the International Space Station on Aug. 3, 2011.

Credit: Roscosmos

Samokutyaev returned to the ISS three years later, this time with Elena Serova—one of only two female cosmonauts in Roscosmos’ corps at the time and only the fourth to fly into space—and NASA astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore on board Soyuz TMA-14M. Samokutyaev spent about two months as an Expedition 41 flight engineer, sharing the space station with cosmonaut Max Surayev, NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman (later of Artemis II fame), and ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst from Germany.

On Oct. 22, 2014, Samokutyaev went outside for his second career spacewalk, working with Surayev to jettison unneeded equipment and conduct a detailed photographic survey of the station’s Russian segment exterior. In total, Samokutyaev logged 10 hours and one minute on his two spacewalks.

Samokutyaev then transferred with Serova and Wilmore onto the Expedition 42 crew, working with his 2003 cosmonaut classmate Anton Shkaplerov, as well as NASA astronaut Terry Virts and ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti from Italy. The three returned to Earth on March 11, 2015, adding 167 days to Samokutyaev’s time in space for a total of 331 days, 11 hours, and 23 minutes.