PERSONAL DATA: February 6, 1961 in Ryasnoe, Zolochev district, Kharkov region, Ukraine. Married to Valentina Mikhailovna Onufrienko (nee Ryabovol). Two sons and one daughter. His parents are deceased. He has two older brothers. He enjoys tennis, cooking, fishing, chess, and flying.

EDUCATION: Graduated from the V.M. Komarov Eisk Higher Military Aviation School for Pilots in 1982 with a pilot-engineer's diploma. Graduated from Moscow State University in 1994 with a degree in cartography.

HONORS: Hero of Russia. Awarded two Armed Forces medals. He was also named a Chevalier in the French Honor Legion

EXPERIENCE: Upon graduation from aviation school, he served as a pilot and senior pilot in the Air Force. In 1989, he was appointed to the position of cosmonaut candidate at the Cosmonaut Training Center. From September 1989 to January 1991, he underwent a course of general space training. Starting April 1991, he underwent training as a member of a group of test cosmonauts. Starting March 1994, he entered flight training to be the commander of the stand-by crew of the Mir-18 expedition aboard the Soyuz-TM-21 transport vehicle and the Mir Station as part of the Mir-Shuttle program.

He has over 800 flight hours and has flown the L-29, SU-7, SU-17 (M1-4), and L-39.

From February 21 to September 2, 1996, he served as Commander on Mir-21. One month later, he and Yuri Usachev were joined by NASA's Shannon Lucid. During Mir-21 he performed numerous research experiments, an participated in six EVAs. He and Yuri Usachev were joined by French cosmonaut Claudie Andre-Deshays after the departure of Shannon Lucid. Altogether, he has logged 193 days in space. Currently, he is in training for the fourth ISS mission with Carl Walz and Dan Bursch.