who was the first Romanian citizen in space. Born in Brasov, Romania, earned an Aerospace Engineering degree from the Politehnica University of Bucharest, trained as a Romanian Air Force officer, and was selected for cosmonaut training in 1978, where he graduated at the top of his class. Prunaiu made his first and only mission to space aboard Soyuz 40, which docked with the International Space Station, where he spent seven days in space conducting biological experiments. In the late 1990s and early 2000s he served as president of the Romanian Space Agency, where he still works as a space technology expert.