On September 2, 2015, at 10:37 a.m. Astana time, the Soyuz TMA-18M spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Onboard was Aidyn Aimbetov, the third cosmonaut of Kazakhstan.
The international crew also included Russian cosmonaut Sergey Volkov, Flight Engineer No. 1, and astronaut Andreas Mogensen from the Kingdom of Denmark.
Initially,Aidyn Aimbetov was scheduled to fly as a spaceflight participant. However, shortly before the mission, his status was changed in accordance with his qualifications to “Flight Engineer-2.”
The crew returned to Earth on September 12, after spending 9 days, 20 hours, 13 minutes, and 51 seconds in space. Aidyn Aimbetov became the first citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan to fly into space.
During the mission, which lasted nearly 10 days,Aidyn Aimbetov carried out the 5th National Space Research Program. The overall research program consisted of 10 scientific experiments, including environmental monitoring of the Aral and Caspian Seas, as well as studying the beneficial properties of national food products in space under the project called “Dastarkhan-6.”
Aidyn Aimbetov is a Major General of the Kazakhstan Air Force and a Hero of Kazakhstan. He was born on July 27, 1972, in the village of Ötenay, in today’s Jetisu District.
