Sergey Kud-Sverchkov

Engineer from Karaganda, born in what was then Soviet Kazakhstan, the rare commander whose first profession was launch-vehicle ground systems. He spent eight years at Energia before being picked for the cosmonaut corps. Second flight, first time in command — he flew the long Expedition 64 stay back in 2020. Speaks fluent English, runs the Sunday-evening movie nights in the Russian segment.