Musa Manarov

MUSA MANAROV – MUSLIM ASTRONAUT WITH THE LONGEST STAY IN SPACE (541 Days)

Musa Khiramanovich Manarov (Azerbaijani: Musa Manarov) was born in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR on March 22, 1951.

He was a colonel at the Soviet Air Force and graduated from Moscow Aviation Institute with an engineering diploma in 1974. Musa was selected as a cosmonaut on December 1, 1978. He is currently married with two children.

From December 21, 1987 – December 21, 1988 he flew as flight engineer on Soyuz TM-4. The duration was 365 days 22 hours 38 minutes. From December 2, 1990 – May 26, 1991 he flew again as a flight engineer on Soyuz TM-11. The duration was 175 days 1 hour 50 minutes, the longest continuous time spent in space by anyone at that time. During his 176-day stay, Manarov observed the Earth and worked in space manufacturing. He also performed 20 hours of spacewalks.

Manarov logged a total of 541 days in space.