PERSONAL DATA: Born Dec. 22, 1961, in Svetlovodsk, Kirovograd Region, Ukraine. He has one son, Dmitri. His mother, Nina Ivanovna, father, Ivan Karpovich, and brother, Sergei Ivanovich live in Svetlovodsk.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Svetlovodsk public schools. In 1983, he graduated from S.I. Gritsevets Kharkov Higher Military Aviation School with a pilot-engineer's diploma. In 1993, he graduated from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.

HONORS: Awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation medal, and the National Hero of Kazakhstan medal.

EXPERIENCE: After graduating from Military Aviation School, he served as pilot, senior pilot, and multi-ship flight lead. In 1987, he was assigned to the Cosmonaut Training Center.

From December, 1987 to June 1989, he underwent a course of general space training. Since September, he has continued training as a member of a group of test cosmonauts. He was the Commander of the back-up crew for Mir 15.

From July 1 to November 4, 1994, he served as Commander of Mir 16 with Musabayev, Polyakov, Kondakova, Victorenko, and Ulf Merbold. He has logged 126 days in space, including 2 EVA's totaling 12 hours. During this flight also, he controlled the first manual docking of Progress.

He is assigned to the crew of STS-106, scheduled for launch in mid 2000.