President of Kyrgyzstan Sooronbai Jeenbekov met with pilot-cosmonaut, Hero of the Kyrgyz Republic Salizhan Sharipov. Press service of the head of state reported.
The head of state warmly greeted Salizhan Sharipov, who arrived in Kyrgyzstan to visit his small homeland. He stressed that the Kyrgyz Republic was always ready to happily meet their famous compatriot, who conquered the space.
Salizhan Sharipov thanked for the warm welcome and outlined the willingness to provide every possible assistance to the comprehensive development of Kyrgyzstan.
Salizhan Sharipov was born on August 24, 1964 in Uzgen city of Osh region. In 1990, he was selected to a team of Soviet cosmonauts. He completed a full flight training course as a ship commander. In January 1998, Salizhan Sharipov made his first flight on Endeavor spacecraft with a duration of 8 days 19 hours 46 minutes 54 seconds. During the flight, the docking with the Russian orbital complex «Mir» was carried out. The astronaut was 34 years old then.
He made the second space flight in 2004 as the commander of Soyuz TMA-5 spacecraft and a flight engineer at the International Space Station. He made two spacewalks during this expedition.
