Oleg Yur'yevich At'kov (Russian: Оле́г Ю́рьевич Атько́в; born 9 May 1949) is a Russian cardiologist and former Soviet cosmonaut. With a doctorate from the Russian Academy of Medical Science, Atkov was chosen to be the health specialist on board Soyuz T-10 and Soyuz T-11. After Atkov's rather long time in space, he returned to work at the Myasnikov Institute of Clinical Cardiology to continue his research on the adaptation of weightlessness and cardiology. With his published research and time in space, Atkov holds two of the USSR's highest honors; the Order of Lenin and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Atkov is a professor of medicine at the Russian National Research Medical University and currently serves as the vice president of Russian Railways. Early life Oleg Yur'yevich Atkov was born May 9, 1949, in Khvorostyanka, the former USSR. In 1973, Atkov graduated from I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University. After his studies at the University, he worked on postgraduate training and received from the Russian Academy of Medical sciences his doctorate in cardiology. Upon receiving his doctorate, Atkov started as a research fellow at the Myasnikov Institute of Clinical Cardiology of the Academy of Sciences and soon became the senior research fellow. He gained some fame in his field when he discovered a method to diagnose cardiovascular diseases using ultrasound. Cosmonaut career Atkov is notable for his lengthy time in orbit, with a total flight time of 236 days, 22 hours, and 49 minutes. As a cardiologist, it was his duty to monitor the health of the other cosmonauts on board and to research the long term effects of zero gravity on the human body. In 1977, Oleg Atkov joined the training group of the Soviet cosmonauts. On September 3, 1983 Dr. Atkov was selected to be part of the AMN selection group along with Ural Sultanov and Magomed Tolboyev. On February 8, 1984 Atkov made a spaceward flight as a cosmonaut-researcher at the spaceship "Soyuz T-10V". In 1984, a space flight was performed on board the orbital complex Salyut-7-Soyuz-T. The crew consisted of Oleg Atkov (Cosmonaut Researcher), member Leonid Kizim (the commander), and Vladimir Solovyov (the Flight-Engineer). As the cardiologist, Atkov brought with him his own invention—a portable ultrasound cardiograph—which he would use to oversee the crew's health throughout their time in space. The initiative for this team was to continue a major medical task that