Vasily Tsibliyev Status: Retired 2/20/1954 – Nationality: Russian Type: Government First Flight: 7/1/1993 Last Flight: 2/10/1997 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. Launches Soyuz-U2 | Soyuz TM-17 Soyuz-U | Soyuz TM-25 Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) Type: Government Abbreviation: RFSA Administration: Administrator: Dmitry Rogozin Founded: 1992 Launchers: Soyuz Spacecraft: Soyuz Country: RUS The Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities, commonly known as Roscosmos, is the governmental body responsible for the space science program of the Russian Federation and general aerospace research. Soyuz has many launch locations the Russian sites are Baikonur, Plesetsk and Vostochny however Ariane also purchases the vehicle and launches it from French Guiana.