PENZA — Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Samokutyaev died on Wednesday at the age of 56. The cause of his death was not announced.

Samokutyaev became the first former International Space Station long-duration resident to die since the station began hosting expedition crews 26 years ago. He joined the Russian cosmonaut corps in 2003 and qualified for spaceflight assignments in 2005 after completing basic training.

He served as a pilot, senior pilot, and deputy squadron commander in the Russian Air Force before his cosmonaut training, having graduated from the Yuri Gagarin Air Force Academy in 2000. He was born on March 13, 1970, in Penza, Russia.

Samokutyaev launched aboard Soyuz TMA-21 on April 4, 2011, as commander alongside flight engineers Andrey Borisenko and Ron Garan. This spacecraft, named Gagarin, marked the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's spaceflight from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. He served as a flight engineer on the International Space Station's 27th and 28th expedition crews, working with international crewmates during his initial mission. On August 3, 2011, he conducted a spacewalk with Sergey Volkov to relocate equipment, install a materials science experiment, and deploy a micro-satellite. He returned to Earth on Soyuz TMA-21 after 164 days in orbit, landing in the steppe of Kazakhstan.

Three years later, he launched on Soyuz TMA-14M with cosmonaut Elena Serova and NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore. He served as a flight engineer on Expedition 41 with cosmonaut Max Surayev, NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, and ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst. On October 22, 2014, he performed a second spacewalk with Max Surayev to jettison unneeded equipment and photograph the exterior of the station's Russian segment. Samokutyaev logged a total of 10 hours and one minute across his two spacewalks. He transferred to the Expedition 42 crew alongside Anton Shkaplerov, Terry Virts, and Samantha Cristoforetti. He returned to Earth on March 11, 2015, after an additional 167 days in space. His total time in space across two missions was 331 days, 11 hours, and 23 minutes.

In 2017, an interdepartmental commission recommended his removal from instructor and deputy commander roles within the cosmonaut corps due to medical concerns. He graduated with honors from the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration in 2019. In 2021, he was elected as a deputy to the State Duma of the Russian Federation.

He was awarded the title Hero of the Russian Federation and received the Gold Star medal, as well as the honorary title Pilot-Cosmonaut of the Russian Federation. He also received the Order For Merit to the Fatherland (4th Class), medals from the Russian Ministry of Defense, and departmental awards from Roscosmos. The Penza regional government published an obituary recognizing his work for the region and its residents. He is survived by his wife Oksana Nikolaevna and daughter Anastasia Aleksandrovna.