Kondakova, Yelena

Yelena Kondakova, in full Yelena Vladimirovna Kondakova, (born March 30, 1957, Mytishchi, Russia, U.S.S.R.), Russian cosmonaut who was the first woman to make a long-duration spaceflight.

Kondakova graduated from the Bauman Moscow Higher Technical School in 1980 and then worked for the aerospace manufacturer Energia as an engineer. In 1985 she married cosmonaut Valery Ryumin. She was selected for the cosmonaut program in 1989.

On Oct. 4, 1994, Kondakova made her first spaceflight, as flight engineer on board Soyuz TM-20, which flew to the Russian space station Mir. She spent about 169 days in space, during which she and her crewmates had to contend with power failures and mechanical problems aboard the aging space station. It was during this flight that the American space shuttle first rendezvoused with Mir; however, no docking was made.

On her second spaceflight Kondakova was a mission specialist on the STS-84 mission on board the American space shuttle Atlantis, which launched on May 15, 1997. Kondakova and the crew of Atlantis transferred equipment and supplies to Mir. Atlantis landed on May 24 after having spent nine days in space.

In 1999 Kondakova left the cosmonaut program and was elected to the Russian legislative body the Duma as a deputy for the Fatherland–All Russia party (after 2001, the United Russia party).