Vasily Tsibliyev Status: Retired 2/20/1954 – Nationality: Russian Type: Government Agency: Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) Vasily Vasiliyevich Tsibliyev (Russian: Василий Василиевич Циблиев); born on February 20, 1954) is a Russian cosmonaut. He was selected as a cosmonaut on March 26, 1987. Tsibliyev flew as Commander on Soyuz TM-17 from July 1, 1993 to January 14, 1994 and on Soyuz TM-25 from February 2, 1997 to August 14 of the same year. He retired on June 19, 1998. Tsibliyev is currently Chief of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center at Star City, Russia. Tsibliyev was the commander in charge of Mir when it was hit by a Progress spacecraft in 1997.