Poliakov, Valeri Vladimirovich (1942– )

Soviet cosmonaut and physician. He was launched aboard Soyuz TM-18 in January 1994, to join the Russian space station Mir. He stayed 478 days, the longest single mission flight time. Having made an earlier space flight to Mir in 1988, Poliakov accumulated 678 days of space experience. He was selected as a cosmonaut in 1972.