Salizhan Sharipov Status: Retired 8/24/1964 – Nationality: Kyrgyzstan Type: Government Agency: Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) Salizhan Shakirovich Sharipov (Russian: Салижан Шакирович Шарипов) (born 24 August 1964) is a Kyrgyzstani cosmonaut. Sharipov is a co-author and investigator for the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity project. He has been to space twice (launched from the U.S. as an astronaut in 1998 and from Russia as a cosmonaut in 2004) and has conducted two spacewalks. Sharipov retired on 18 July 2008.