Aleksandr Panayotov Aleksandrov

Aleksandrov was born in Omurtag, Bulgaria on December 1, 1951. He graduated from the Bulgarian Air Force Academy in 1974 and obtained a degree in technical sciences in 1983. In the Bulgarian Air Force, Aleksandrov rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. On June 7, 1988, Aleksandrov launched aboard TM-5 as a Research Cosmonaut along with mission commander Anatoly Solovyev and Viktor Savinykh. Upon arriving at Mir, Aleksandrov became the first Bulgarian to reach a Soviet space station, as the Soyuz 33 mission carrying Georgi Ivanov failed to reach the Salyut 6 space station. On June 17, Aleksandrov returned aboard Soyuz TM-4 along with his fellow crew members. He, along with his crew-mates, spent just under 10 days in space.