Valeri Vladimirovich Polyakov

Valeri Vladimirovich Polyakov was born Valeri Ivanovich Korshunov in Tula, Soviet Union. He graduated from the I. M. Sechenov First Moscow Medical Institute in 1965, specializing in astronautics medicine at the Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP) in Moscow, and was selected as a physician-cosmonaut in 1972.

Polyakov's mission was to test the psychological and physical endurance of the human body for future crewed interplanetary flights to Mars. After spending 240 days aboard the Mir space station in 1988–1989, he launched aboard Soyuz TM-18 on January 8, 1994. He remained in microgravity aboard Mir for an astounding 437 days, 17 hours, and 58 minutes, orbiting the Earth 7,075 times over 186 million miles before landing on March 22, 1995. Upon landing, Polyakov chose to walk from the capsule to prove that humans can remain physically functional after prolonged space travel. He was awarded Hero of the Soviet Union, Hero of the Russian Federation, and the Prince of Asturias Award.