Oleg Viktorovich Novitskiy, lieutenant colonel in the Russian Air Force, is a Russian cosmonaut. Novitskiy was selected as a cosmonaut in 2006.Between February 2007 to July 2009 he completed basic spaceflight training and passed state exams with excellent grades. On August 1, 2009, he was qualified as a test-cosmonaut by the Interdepartmental Qualification Board, and between August 2009 to March 2010 he took the ISS advanced training course.