Club de Voleibol Las Mesas Gidzenko was born on March 26, 1962, Elanets, Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine (then in the Soviet Union).

From November 1994 to August 1995 he attended training for a space flight aboard the Soyuz TM transport vehicle/Mir orbital complex as the Expedition 20 Primary Crew Commander (Euro-Mir-95 Program).

The Soyuz TM-22 carrying Gidzenko, cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev and Reiter lifted off from the Baikonour cosmodrome on September 3, 1995, at 9:00 UTC.

The scientific objectives of Euromir 95 were to study effects of microgravity on the human body, to experiment with the development on new materials in a space environment, to capture samples of cosmic dust and man-made particles in low Earth orbit, and to test new space equipment.

They cooperated in medical experiments and environmental investigations designed as part of International Space Station (ISS) Phase I research.

It delivered 2300 kg of fuel, crew supplies, and research and medical equipment for use on the extended Euromir 95 mission On February 29, 1996, Gidzenko returned to Earth on board the Soyuz TM-22 capsule which landed at 10:42 UTC, 105 km northeast of Arkalyk.

He along with cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and NASA astronaut William Shepherd was launched into space on board the Soyuz TM-31 spacecraft which lifted off from the Baikonour cosmodrome on October 31, 2000, at 07:52:47 UTC.

After two days of solo flight, on November 2, the Soyuz spacecraft docked with the aft port the Zvezda Service Module at 09:21 UTC.

In their first weeks on board, Gidzenko, Shepherd and Krikalev activated critical life support systems and unpacked Station components, clothing, laptop computers, office equipment, cables and electrical gear left behind for them by previous Shuttle crews which conducted logistic supply flights to the new complex over the past two years.

Soyuz TM-33 undocked from the Pirs Docking Compartment and landed 26 km south east of Arkalyk at 03:51:53 UTC.

The two spacewalkers reconfigured the docking unit at the front of the Mir base block to prepare it for arrival of the Priroda module.

At the beginning, they moved a maneuvering unit stored inside the Kvant 2 airlock and attached it to the exterior of the module.

The spacewalkers then climbed out the Kvant 2 hatch and again used the Strela boom to maneuver to the forward end of Spektr, where they retrieved the two cassettes they had deployed in October 1995.

This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.