She was the first female cosmonaut to visit the International Space Station (ISS) and the fourth to conduct a space flight. Born in Vozdvizhenka in far-eastern Russia, Serova graduated from the Aerospace Faculty of Moscow Aviation Institute, after which she worked at the Russian Mission Control Center as an aeronautical engineer in mission operations related to the ISS and Soyuz programmes. She was selected as a cosmonaut in 2006 and flew to the ISS as part of Expedition 41; between September 2014 and March 2015, Serova spent 167 days in space, where she completed medical and biophysical experiments.

Yelena Serova (foreground), the first female cosmonaut to visit the International Space Station and the fourth to conduct a space flight, is pictured with ISS crew instructor Josh Matthew, participating in a familiarization training session in the Space Station Training Facility at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

Credit: NASA