APersonIndependent states
Toktar Aubakirov
Test pilot and the first Kazakh cosmonaut (b. 1946), who flew to space on Soyuz TM-13 in 1991.
Toktar Aubakirov was born in Karaganda Region, graduated from military flying school and became a test pilot with the MiG design bureau.
In 1989 he became the first Soviet pilot to land a MiG-29K on, and take off from, the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov.
On 2 October 1991 he flew from Baikonur aboard Soyuz TM-13 and spent more than a week on the Mir station, becoming the first Kazakh cosmonaut. He was made a Hero of the Soviet Union.
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Updated: October 2, 2026