Aleksandr Valentinovich Golovko (, ; born 29 January 1964) is a Russian

colonel general Colonel general is a military rank used in some armies. It is particularly associated with Germany, where historically General officer#Old European system, general officer ranks were one grade lower than in the Commonwealth and the United States, ...

in the

Russian military The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. They are organized into three service branches—the Ground Forces, Navy, and Aerospace Forces—two independent comba ...

and

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

of the

Russian Space Forces The Russian Space Forces () is the space force branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces. It was reestablished following the August 1, 2015 merger between the Russian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces, after the independent arm of s ...

since 1 August 2015. Between 24 December 2012 until 31 July 2015 he was the Commander of the Aerospace Defence Forces.

Early life and education

Golovko is of Ukrainian descent and was born in the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

in 1964. He joined the Soviet military and graduated from Marshal Leonid Govorov Air Defence and Radio Engineering Academy in 1986. After graduation he served in the

Titov Main Test and Space Systems Control Centre The Titov Main Test and Space Systems Control Centre () (also referenced as the Titov Space Control Centre and Titov Space Centre) is the main Russian military and commercial satellite control centre. It is run by the Russian Space Forces of the ...

in the Soviet and

Career

In 2003 he became Deputy Chief of Staff of the Russian Space Forces and then returned to the

as Chief of Staff from 2004 to 2007, and Commander from 2007 to 2011. From June 2011 to December 2012 he was the commander of

Plesetsk Cosmodrome Plesetsk Cosmodrome () is a Russian spaceport located in Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, near the town of Plesetsk, from which it takes its name. Until 2025 and the commissioning of the Andøya Space, Andøya base in Norway, it was the only operati ...

and was then appointed as head of the Aerospace Defence Forces, replacing

Oleg Ostapenko Oleg Nikolayevich Ostapenko (, , born 3 May 1957) is the former director of Roscosmos, the federal space agency, retired Colonel General in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, former Deputy Minister of Defence, and former commander of t ...

, who had been promoted to Deputy Defence Minister. He commanded the

Russian Aerospace Defense Forces The Russian Aerospace Defence Forces (VVKO) () was a branch of the Russian Armed Forces responsible for aerospace defence, operation of Russian military satellites and the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. It was established on 1 December 2011 and dissolved ...

from 2012 until August 2015 before he was appointed as commander of the reestablished

on the same day.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Golovko, Aleksandr 1964 births Recipients of the Order of Military Merit (Russia) Russian lieutenant generals Living people Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia alumni Space force commanders