In 1966, he completed his schooling at Secondary School No. 1 in Polotnyany Zavod, Kaluga Oblast, Russian SFSR, USSR.
On September 01, 1966, he joined the Soviet Armed Forces and completed his pilot training in June 1970 as a cadet at the Aleksandr F. Myasnikov Higher Military Aviation Pilot School in Volgograd.
From 1970 onwards, he served as an instructor pilot and flight commander with the 704th Training Squadron of the Aleksandr F. Myasnikov Higher Military Aviation Pilot School in Volgograd.
On June 29, 1977, he completed his test pilot training at the Air Force Test Pilot School at the Valeri P. Chkalov Air Force Flight Test Center at the Akhtubinsk military airfield.
In 1981, he completed his studies at the "Vzlyot" branch of the Sergo Ordzhonikidze Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) at the Akhtubinsk military airfield.
During his time as a test pilot, he flew aircraft such as the Sukhoi Su-24, Su-17, Su-27, Su-35, and Su-30, as well as the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 and MiG-23, with various test squadrons. at the Valeri P. Chkalov State Flight Test Center of the Air Force at the Akhtubinsk military airfield.
On May 11, 1990, three candidates were selected for the Buran program; Aleksandr S. Puchkov was nominated for the GNII VVS cosmonaut group.
From May 1989 to April 5, 1991, this group underwent basic cosmonaut training (OKP) at the Yuri A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (1st NII TsPK "Yuri A. Gagarin") in Star City, Shchyolkovo, Moscow Oblast.
He qualified as a test cosmonaut on April 05, 1991, and received test cosmonaut certificate number 137 from the Interdepartmental Examination Commission (MVKK).
Following this, he returned to the Valeri P. Chkalov State Scientific Research Institute of the Air Force at the Akhtubinsk military airfield.
The GNII cosmonaut group was disbanded on September 30, 1996.
He left active military service on April 19, 1997.
Aleksandr S. Puchkov passed away on December 07, 2023, at the age of 75.