About

At a glance

1. Pilot-Cosmonaut of the Russian Federation and Hero of the Russian Federation (26 August 2016). Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 4th class (1 April 2019).
2. Russia's 116th cosmonaut and the 531st person to fly in space. Call sign: Altair.
3. Honorary Citizen of Oryol (28 December 2013).

Background

1. Born 23 September 1977 in the village of Yershichi, Smolensk region; grew up in Oryol.
2. Late 1991: decided to become a cosmonaut.
3. 1999: graduated with a gold medal from the Armavir Military Aviation Institute. 1999–2006: instructor pilot and flight commander.
4. January 2007: began training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

Spaceflights

1. Soyuz TMA‑08M, 29 March – 11 September 2013: flight engineer, ISS Expedition 35/36, 166 days. The first Soyuz flight to the ISS on the short six-hour rendezvous profile instead of the two-day one.
2. Soyuz MS‑06, 13 September 2017 – 28 February 2018: Soyuz commander, ISS Expedition 53/54, commander of Expedition 54, 168 days.
3. Soyuz MS‑20, 8–20 December 2021: Soyuz commander, 12 days. The first Soyuz mission to the ISS with two space tourists aboard, fully funded by the customer and flown by Roscosmos. No flight engineer on board.
4. 346 days in space in total.

Spacewalks

1. Four spacewalks, 28 hours 14 minutes in total; three of them on the 2013 flight alone, 20 hours 02 minutes.
2. Twice set the Russian record for the longest spacewalk: 7 h 29 min on 16 August 2013 with Fyodor Yurchikhin, and 8 h 12 min on 2 February 2018 with Anton Shkaplerov. The 2018 record still stands.

Badminton

1. Since 2017: President of the Oryol Region Badminton Federation.
2. 1 January 2018: the first team-sport match ever played in space: a badminton game aboard the ISS.
3. 23 June 2018, Oryol: played badminton for 24 hours non-stop against all comers, the regional governor among them. It was the Federation's first event — and how the region learned it had a new sport.

Today

1. 31 March 2022: retired from the cosmonaut corps.
2. Keynote speaker: 500+ talks for companies over 12 years.
3. Founder and Director of the non-profit ANO "B‑612" (est. 2025); creator and host of the popular-science video series Space Calling (since 2020, formerly Space Doesn't Wait).
4. Author and head of the "Human Spaceflight in the 21st Century: The Beginning" project; the book is due out in April 2027.

Alexander Misurkin is a pilot-cosmonaut, Hero of Russia, and commander of ISS Expedition 54. He decided to become a cosmonaut at 14, at the end of 1991, and spent 21 years getting to his first launch: a military aviation institute, from which he graduated with a gold medal; seven years in military aviation as a flight leader and Class 1 instructor pilot; then the cosmonaut corps. In 2013, at 35, he arrived at the ISS as one of the youngest of the nearly two hundred professionals who had worked on the station before him. Three spaceflights, 346 days in space, four spacewalks. His spacewalk of 8 hours 12 minutes remains the Russian national record.

In December 2021 he commanded the first flight to the ISS on a fully commercial basis: two space tourists on board, and the commander flying the spacecraft single-handed at every stage. He replaced the assignment—deliver them and bring them back—with a goal beyond it: that the client, once home, would recommend Roscosmos specifically. To reach it he set a large system in motion, from food tastings for the tourists to an unscheduled scientific experiment that later became part of the station’s regular science program. A month after landing, the client became interested in the possibility of a second flight, this time with a spacewalk, and again asked for Misurkin as commander.

After retiring from his cosmonaut career in 2022, Alexander actively developed a philosophical concept of overcoming humanity's global challenges through personal transformation of each individual. It is based on the conviction that the key to solving global problems lies in increasing the number of people who, having found their calling and fulfilling it, naturally become creators.

To realize this mission, he founded the non-profit ANO "B‑612" — an organization using astronautics as a universal tool for inspiration and consciousness transformation. The name was chosen deliberately: the Little Prince's asteroid is a metaphor for each person's unique path.

Special attention is given to working with youth through innovative tools. This website features AI-powered digital assistants ready to conduct engaging dialogues about space and help teenagers find answers to questions of self-determination.

How do you recognize a teacher who has found their calling? Very simple: in their presentation, any subject becomes very interesting. Afanasyeva Natalya Vladimirovna is exactly such a Teacher. It was in her class that I understood I needed to choose a profession. I understood what my heart was drawn to, but didn't know how to achieve my goal, and then she created a plan for me. My deepest respects to you, Natalya Vladimirovna, and through you — to all teachers following their calling!

Everything I lived for and strived toward in the early 2000s was the goal of becoming a first-class instructor pilot. Having achieved it, I matured for the next step: joining the cosmonaut corps.

From January 2007, we began general space training. An endless number of lectures and exams alternated with parachute jumps, underwater immersions, flight training, and survival exercises. And all this happened in a special atmosphere, among special, open, responsive, kind, and brave people. Our group became a single entity, a team, which has always been and remains one of the most important values for me.

I felt as if I had entered another, parallel world, in which my horizons expanded many times over. I was happy to live in it, happy to understand that all this gave me the opportunity to develop and move forward.

And on March 29, 2013, I embarked on the long-awaited flight. Who would have thought that the "How to Become a Cosmonaut" plan, devised more than two decades ago by my school teacher, would work!

Besides unforgettable impressions, the space experience gave me the opportunity to understand: people often explain as luck what is actually the result of systematic work. It became a revelation to me that being friends and being a team are two completely different stories. But I understood what it takes to become a team, realized the value and role of qualities such as trust and responsibility. And in general, awareness began to play a significantly greater role in my life. I am convinced: cosmonauts are not born, they are made. And many are capable of this, and the main obstacle is stereotypes that prevent expanding horizons in people's consciousness.

Observing our planet from space provides the most unforgettable impressions, connected with the sense of magic in the process of creation. This contemplation not only filled me with energy, but also prompted reflections about our place in the Universe, whether we will find other worlds similar to ours, why we need space at all, what awaits our civilization in the future. I came to the conviction that by understanding the surrounding world, we better understand ourselves. And self-knowledge is the only way to preserve civilization and life on our planet.

The challenge-goal of the first part of life has been achieved, but new tasks appear on the horizon. Today my mission is to help those who care find their calling and their path from consumption to creation. At ANO "B‑612" we are creating a support ecosystem for those seeking their calling. Through my AI assistants and speeches, I share not just space stories, but tools for transforming thinking. And through the book, we transfer systematized knowledge about manned spaceflight to those ready to deeply immerse themselves in this topic and perhaps connect their lives with it.

I'm often asked: "And what now, after the flights?" My answer: "As long as you see meaning — the flight continues." That's how I feel and live.