He was a mission specialist on NASA's space shuttle Endeavour flight in January 1998, the eighth shuttle docking with the Russian space station Mir. The mission delivered scientific equipment and carried out the last exchange of an astronaut. He also flew to the International Space Station in October 2004 as a flight engineer, spending over 192 days in space. During his stay, Sharipov conducted several science and human-life-sciences experiments for the Russian Space Program, including using stem cells for possible development of a vaccination for HIV/AIDS treatment. Sharipov was selected as a cosmonaut in 1990 and retired in 2008. He logged over 422 hours in space, including nearly 10 hours of EVA.