His first flight was aboard the space shuttle Endeavour in April 2001. The mission carried the second resident crew to the International Space Station (ISS), as well as the robotic arm, Canadarm 2. In 2002 he was delivered to the ISS on a Soyuz taxi flight. He returned to the ISS in 2008. Lonchakov was selected as a cosmonaut in 1997. To date he has logged more than 200 hours in space and made two space walks.