Mukhtar Aymakhanov

Mukhtar Rabatovich Aymakhanov (born 1 January 1967) is a Russian cosmonaut; he was originally a Kazakhstan cosmonaut.

The Kazakh mission finally took place in September 2015 aboard Soyuz TMA-18M after prospective Space tourist Sarah Brightman pulled out from the flight. Aimbetov flew with Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev as his backup since Aymakhanov had already left KazCosmos and joined Roscosmos by the time of the flight.

On December 28, 2022, he left the position of a test cosmonaut in the Roscosmos cosmonaut squad after the decision of the Main Medical Commission. He will continue to work at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center as a leading specialist in cosmonaut training.

Russian cosmonaut career In 2012, to pursue his cosmonaut dreams, Aymakhanov became a Russian citizen, and gave up his Kazakhstan citizenship.