Space Ninja Heads to Orbit Next Month

Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kodratiev practices karate. (Credit: Roscosmos)

ROSCOSMOS PRESS RELEASE

Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kodratiev, who is scheduled for the space mission to the International Space Station on Dec. 15, will maintain his physical state by karate exercises in 0-gravity.

Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kodratiev. (Credit: Roscosmos)

Kondratiev will fly aboard Soyuz TMA-20 with NASA’s Catherine Calleman and ESA’s Paolo Nespoli.

Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kodratiev with his elder son, 5-year-old Vladik. (Credit: Roscosmos)

“I will try karate in the ISS, though I can’t say for sure if it would be successful in 0-g but I will try”, Dmitry said questioned by Roscosmos PAO.  Kondatiev has a brown belt in karate.

Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondatiev with his elder son, 5-year-old Vladik.

Biographical Information From NASA

Dmitry Yurievich Kondratiev (Colonel, Russian Air Force)
Test-cosmonaut of Yuri. A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center
COSMONAUT GROUP COMMANDER

PERSONAL DATA: Born May 25, 1969, in Irkutsk. His parents, Yuri Semyonovich Kondratyev and Valentina Dmitrievna, reside in Alma-Aty, Kazakhstan. Dmitry is married to Dinara, and they have a son named Vladislav. His hobbies include computers, karate, economics and fishing.

Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondatiev with his elder son, 5-year-old Vladik. (Credit: Roscosmos)

EDUCATION: Kondratyev completed Yak-52 flight training at the Alma-Aty Aviation Club in 1986. After graduation from Alma-Aty High School in 1986, he entered the Kachinsk Air Force Pilot School graduating in 1990 as a pilot-engineer. In 2000, he graduated from the Moscow State University for Economy, Statistics and Computer Science at the Economic Information Systems Department as an economist. He graduated from the Yuri A. Gagarin Air Force Academy in 2004.

Credit: Roscosmos

EXPERIENCE: After graduation from pilot school he served as a pilot and a senior pilot in the Air Force. He flew different types of Russian fighter aircraft: MiG-21, MiG-29, Su-27. He is a Class 1 Air Force pilot. He is an Instructor of General Parachute Training, and has performed more than 150 parachute jumps.

Kondratyev was selected as a test-cosmonaut candidate of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center Cosmonaut Office in December of 1997. January 1998 to March 2000 he attended basic space training. In 2000 Kondratyev was qualified as a test-cosmonaut. He was assigned to the ISS 5 Backup crew as Soyuz Commander and ISS Flight Engineer and successfully completed that training in 2003. Kondratyev was then assigned to the ISS 13 Prime crew and trained as ISS Flight Engineer and Soyuz Commander for one and a half year until the crew reassignment named an ESA astronaut to this long duration mission. He was assigned to the ISS 20 Backup crew as Soyuz Commander and ISS Flight Engineer and successfully completed that training.
From May 2, 2006 through April 9, 2007, Kondratyev served as Director of Operations, Russian Space Agency, stationed at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Like father, like son: Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondatiev strikes a pose as his elder son, 5-year-old Vladik, does the same. (Credit: Roscosmos)

In March 2007 Kondratyev received his U.S. FAA Private Pilot License. In March 2009 he received his U.S. FAA Airline Transport Pilot Licence.

Kondratyev is currently assigned to the ISS 26/27 Prime crew as Soyuz Commander and ISS 27 Commander.