On June 7, 1988, "Soyuz TM-5" was launched with the second Bulgarian cosmonaut, Alexander Alexandrov.
The commander of the flight was Anatoly Yakovlevich Solovyov. The mission lasted until June 17.
During the flight, he performed over 50 successful scientific experiments, including testing Bulgarian food for cosmonauts.
During the flight, a teleconference of the cosmonauts with the then leader of the state, Todor Zhivkov, was carried out, broadcast live on Bulgarian National Television.
Alexander Alexandrov graduated from the Air Force School as a pilot-engineer in 1974. By 1978 served in the 22nd Fighter-Bomber Regiment in Bezmer, Yambol Region.
In 1977, Alexandrov was selected as a cosmonaut in the second group of the “Intercosmos” program together with Georgi Ivanov. On March 1, 1978, he arrived at the Cosmonaut Training Center to undergo general space training. He prepared for the space flight in 1979, during which he was Georgi Ivanov's backup.
In 1983, he completed postgraduate studies at the Institute for Space Research of the Academy of Sciences of the former USSR in Moscow. He received the degree of “Candidate of Technical Sciences” (now Doctor).
Aleksandrov is a first-class military pilot, an honored pilot, and a pilot-cosmonaut of the Republic of Bulgaria. In 2002 was awarded the military rank of brigadier general, awarded the Order of the “Stara Planina”. In Alexandrov's shadow forever remained his double cosmonaut-researcher Krasimir Stoyanov. He left the army in 2008 as a colonel in the Air Force headquarters.