Valeri Tokarev

Tokarev flew on STS-96, on May 27, 1999. STS-96 was a mission flown by Space Shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station (ISS). It was first shuttle flight to dock with the ISS. Tokarev served as a Mission Specialist. During the 10-day mission, the crew of Discovery delivered four tons of logistics and supplies to the ISS in preparation for the arrival of the first crew to live on the station. On flight day 2, Tokarev temporarily stowed some logistics transfer items stored on the shuttle's middeck, in the Spacehab module to provide more room for the spacesuit checkout activities. On May 29, Tokarev and NASA astronaut Ellen Ochoa temporarily stowed docking targets and lights and checked hatch seals in the narrow passageway inside the Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA 2). The next day, he and Canadian astronaut Julie Payette traveled to the Zarya module and began maintenance activities on the storage batteries located under the floorboard.[4] He and Payette replaced battery recharge controllers.[5] To reduce noise levels in the Zarya module, Tokarev also installed acoustic insulation around some fans. He was also involved with the transfer of logistics items by documenting and stowing items aboard the ISS. On June 1, Tokarev took time out to answer questions regarding the progress of the mission from Russian reporters.

At the end of the mission on June 6, Discovery landed at the Kennedy Space Center runway 15 at 2:02:43 a.m. EDT. The mission was accomplished in 153 Earth orbits, traveling 4 million miles in 235 hours and 13 minutes.[6]

Valery Tokarev exercises on the Treadmill Vibration Isolation System (TVIS) in the Zvezda Service Module of the ISS.

Tokarev was the flight engineer for the Expedition 12 crew on the ISS,[7] arriving at the station aboard the Soyuz TMA-7 spacecraft on October 3, 2005. The Soyuz TMA-7 carrying Tokarev, NASA astronaut William McArthur and U.S spaceflight participant Gregory Olsen lifted off from the Baikonour cosmodrome at 03:55 UTC on October 1. After two days of autonomous flight Soyuz TMA-7 docked with the Pirs Docking Compartment Module on the ISS at 05:27 UTC.

Torakev performed the Russian part of science experiments that included more than 30 experiments on board. He was involved with biological, microbiological, genetic and physics experiments.[8] One of the experiments named Plants allowed to obtain peas grown on the station and also grow greens. Medical experiments he performed aimed at finding the effects of extreme space conditions on humans and blood cells. His physics research included investigating the upper layers of the atmosphere. The objective of the research was to improve the understanding of how the space vehicles affect the upper levels of the atmosphere. During Expedition 12, one cargo flight, Progress M-55 docked with the ISS on December 23, 2005. The resupply ship transported scientific equipment and supplies to the station.

Torakev departed the ISS on April 6, 2006. Tokarev, McArthur and Brazilian spaceflight participant Marcos Pontes returned to Earth inside the Soyuz TMA-7 capsule on April 8, 2006 at 23:48 UTC. The spacecraft landed at the assigned site near the town of Arkalyk in Kazakhstan.[9] Torakev spent 189 days, 19 hours and 53 minutes in space on board the Soyuz spacecraft and the ISS.

Tokarev has performed two spacewalks during the course of his cosmonaut career totaling 11 hours and 5 minutes.

Valery Tokarev participates in the second spacewalk of Expedition 12.

On November 7, 2005 Torakev performed his first career spacewalk.[10] The beginning of the spacewalk was delayed about an hour to repressurize the Quest airlock's crew compartment. During the 5 hours, 22 minutes spacewalk, He and NASA astronaut William McArthur installed a new camera assembly and jettisoned the Floating Potential Probe. They also completed two get-ahead tasks. Tokarev wore an all-white suit for the spacewalk. Their first primary task was the camera assembly installation on the Port 1 Truss. The two spacewalkers spent about 2 hours, 10 minutes on the installation. In order to have daylight for the Floating Potential Probe (FPP) jettison, they moved on to the retrieval of a failed remote joint motor controller. Once it was completed, the pair with MacArthur in the lead then moved up the P6 truss to the FPP. The dysfunctional FPP had been designed to measure the space station's electrical potential and compare it to the surrounding plasma. Tokarev and McArthur released and stowed a grounding wire, then released the FPP housing from its stanchion. They checked its condition and McArthur carefully jettisoned the FPP. The FFP removal and jettisoning took an hour to complete. The two spacealkers next removed and replaced a remote power controller module on the mobile transporter. After completing all the tasks the pair returned to the Quest airlock at 3:54 EST.

On February 3, 2006, Torakev performed his second career spacewalk. He and McArthur donned in red-striped Orlan suits, ventured outside the ISS at 5:44 p.m. EST from the Pirs docking comapartment airlock to begin the spacewalk.[11] During the spacewalk, Tokarev and McArthur relocated a boom adapter for the Strela, a Russian hand-operated crane, from the Zarya module to Pressurized Mating Adapter 3. They also retrieved experiments and inspected and photographed parts of the station's exterior. The two spacewalkers also jettisoned an old Russian Orlan spacesuit equipped with a radio for broadcasts to students around the world. The suit, dubbed SuitSat-1[12] had reached the end of its operational life for spacewalks in August 2004. It was outfitted by the crew with three batteries, internal sensors and a radio transmitter for this experiment. The SuitSat-1 had recorded greetings in six languages to ham radio operators for about two orbits of the Earth before it stopped transmitting The suit was expected to enter the atmosphere and burn up in a few weeks after the spacewalk. The spacewalk ended when the two re-entered the Pirs airlock and closed its hatch at 11:27 p.m. EST. The spacewalk lasted 5 hours and 43 minutes.