Toktar Aubakirov

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**Toktar Ongarbayuly Aubakirov**
Gharyshker

Nationality	Kazakh
Born	July 27, 1946 Karaganda, Kazakhstan
Occupation¹	Test pilot
Rank	Major General
Space time	7d 22h 12m
Selection	1991 cosmonaut Group
Mission(s)	Soyuz TM-13
¹ previous or current

Toktar Ongarbayuly Aubakirov (Kazakh: Тоқтар Онғарбайұлы Әубәкиров, born on July 27, 1946, in Karaganda, Kazakhstan) is a Kazakhstani gharyshker (cosmonaut).

1 Biography
2 Awards
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Toktar Aubakirov was born on July 27, 1946 in Karaganda, Kazakh SSR, which is now Kazakhstan. He graduated from the Air Force Institute and was a parachutist and test pilot with the rank of Major General in the Kazakh Air Force before he was selected as a cosmonaut.

[edit] Space Expedition

On October 2, 1991 he started together with the Russian cosmonaut Alexander Volkov as flight commander, and the Austrian research cosmonaut Franz Viehböck in Soyuz TM-13 from the Baikonur cosmodrome spaceport, and spent over eight days in space. He was also the first Soviet citizen to go into space without being fully certified as a cosmonaut, as his flight was hurried forward — several commercial international cosmonauts were already booked, but the flight of a Kazakh cosmonaut was part of the Baikonur rental agreement between Kazakhstan and Russia.

[edit] Recently

Since 1993, he has been the general director of the National Aerospace Agency of Republic of Kazakhstan. He was a member of Kazakhstan parliament. Now he is a pensioner and consultant.