Aleksandr Aleksandrov … in orbit

Aleksandr Aleksandrov … in orbit

Aleksandr Aleksandrov pictured in 2013

Aleksandr Aleksandrov was born on December 1, 1951.

He is a retired Bulgarian cosmonaut and the second Bulgarian to have flown into space. He graduated from the Bulgarian Air Force Academy in 1974 and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Bulgarian Air Force.

Aleksandrov was selected as a Research Cosmonaut in 1978. He was eventually assigned to the prime crew of the Soyuz TM-5 mission to the Mir space station in 1988 and spent 10 days in space before returning to Earth in Soyuz TM-4.

Soyuz TM-5 docked with the Mir space station (1988)

Aleksandrov later became Deputy Director of the Institute of Space Research, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and currently works as a research scientist.

His spacesuit