ROMANENKO
Yuri Viktorovich
Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR
CLASSIFICATION: 42/85.
NUMBER OF MISSIONS: 3.
SPACEFLIGHT HOURS: 430 days 18 hours
21 min. 30 sec.
EVA OPERATIONS: 4.
TOTAL EVA TIME: 10 hours 36 min.
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: August 1, 1944,
the RSFSR (Russia), Orenburg region, Buzuluksk district, Koltubanovsky
settlement.
NATIONALITY: Russian.
EDUCATION:
1961 – finished secondary school No. 23
in Kaliningrad (regional center);
1966 – graduated from the Chernigov Higher
Air Force School with the certificate in the field of Combat use and aircraft
operations;
1981 – completed his study by correspondence
at the Yu.A. Gagarin Air Force Academy with the certificate in the filed
of “Command-staff tactical aviation”.
OCCUPATION BEFORE JOINING COSMONAUT CORPS:
from August 1, 1961 – a concrete worker
at factory No.1 in Kaliningrad;
November 15, 1961 – June 15, 1962 –
a
metalworker at unit 55408 in Kaliningrad;
December 7, 1966 – an instructor-pilot,
from
July 19, 1969 – a senior instructor-pilot of Training air regiment
702 of the Chernigov Higher Air Force School.
DATE OF JOINING COSMONAUT CORPS (GROUP NUMBER,
DATE):
April 27, 1970 – was enrolled in the cosmonaut
corps of the Air Force Cosmonaut Training Center as a student-cosmonaut
(group 5) by the Air Force Commander-in-Chief order;
from July 6, 1972 – a cosmonaut of department
1, division 1.
RATING: March 23, 1969 – a second-class
military instructor-pilot, November 27, 1972 – an instructor of
the Air Force Paradrop Training (39 parachute jumps), December 30, 1987
– a first-class cosmonaut.
BACK-UP ACTIVITY:
May 1973 – November 1974 – a commander
of the second crew for the first test flight on the EPAS program together
with A. Ivanchenkov;
December 2, 1974 – a back-up man to the
Soyuz-16 commander A. Filipchenko;
January - June 1975 – a commander of the
third crew on the EPAS program together with A. Ivanchenkov;
September 1975 – September 1977
– a commander of the second crew on the program of the first basic expedition
together with A. Ivanchenkov;
October 9, 1977 – a back-up man to the
Soyuz-29 commander V. Kovalyonok;
November 20, 1978 – March 1979 – a
commander of the second Soviet-Bulgarian crew to the Salyut-6 LOS on the
BE-5 program together with A. Alexandrov (PRB);
April 10, 1979 – a back-up man to the
Soyuz-33 commander N. Rukavishnikov;
October 1980 – May 1981 – a commander
of the second crew on the VM-12 program to the Salyut-6 LOS on the Soviet-Rumanian
program together with D. Dediu (Rumania);
May 14, 1981 – a back-up man to the Soyuz-39
commander L. Popov;
September 1985 – October 1986 –
a commander of the second crew on the program of the basic expedition to
the Mir orbital station first together with M. Manarov, then with A. Laveykin.
SPACEFLIGHTS PERFORMED:
Flight 1 – December 10, 1977 – March 16, 1978
– a commander of the Soyuz-26 spacecraft (landing aboard Soyuz-27) on the
program of the first basic expedition to the Salyut-6 orbital station together
with G. Grechko. On December 20, 1977 he performed a space walk logging
1 hour 28 min. to check and monitor the exterior of the docking assembly
on the station transfer chamber. Work aboard Salyut-6 together with the
Soviet visiting mission crew comprising V. Dzhanibekov and O. Makarov and
the Soviet-Czechoslovakian Visiting Mission crew comprising A. Gubarev
and V. Remek (CzSSR). Dealt with the first Progress-1 transport cargo vehicle.
Flight
duration: 96 days 10 hours 00 min. 07 sec. Call sign: “Taimyr-1”;
Flight 2 – September 18-26, 1980 – a commander
of the Soyuz-38 spacecraft together with A. Tamayo-Mendez on the Soviet-Cuban
Visiting Mission program. Performed his responsibilities aboard Salyut-6
together with the BE-4 crew comprising L. Popov and V. Ryumin. Flight
duration: 7 days 20 hours 43 min. 24 sec. Call sign: “Taimyr-1”;
Flight 3 – February 5 – December 29, 1987
– the Soyuz TM-2 commander on the program of the second Basic Expedition
aboard the Mir station together with A. Laveikin and A. Alexandrov. Conducted
the work to assemble to the station structure and to put into operation
the Kvant astrophysical module and performed the first observation with
the help of its equipment. Performed three space walks. Worked aboard the
Mir station on the Soviet-Syrian program together with the Visiting Mission
crew comprising A. Viktorenko, A. Alexandrov and M. Faris (Syria), then
continued the flight together with A. Alexandrov, who replaced A. Laveikin.
At the end of the flight he performed his responsibilities together with
the third Basic Expedition crew comprising V. Titov, M. Manarov and a cosmonaut-researcher
A. Levchenko. Landed aboard the Soyuz TM-3 spacecraft together with A.
Alexandrov and A. Levchenko. Flight duration: 326 days 11
hours 37 min. 59 sec. Call sign: “Taimyr-1”.
DISCHARGE FROM COSMONAUT CORPS:
1988 – was discharged from the cosmonaut
corps due to a new assignment.
OCCUPATION AT THE GCTC:
from October 11, 1988 – October 1995 – Chief
of division 3 at the GCTC.
AWARDS:
Two medals “Gold Star” of Hero of the Soviet
Union (March 16, 1978, September 26, 1980),
Three Orders of Lenin (March 16, 1978, September
26, 1980, December 29, 1987),
Order of the Red Star (1976),
10 commemorative medals,
Medal “Gold Star” of Hero of the CzSSR (March
1978),
Medal “Gold Star” of Hero of Cuba Republic (!980),
Order “Plaia Hiron” (Cuba, 1980),
Order “The People’s Republic of Bulgaria”, class
I (1979),
Medal “The 30th Anniversary of Cuba
Republic Air Force” (1986),
Medal “Centenary of the Ottoman Yoke Fall” (PRV),
Medal “Weapon Fraternity”, class I (CzSSR),
K.E. Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal of the USSR Academy
of Sciences,
Two Gold Medals in the name of Yu.A. Gagarin
(FAI),
Two Medals de Lavo (FAI),
Gold Medal of the CzSSR Academy of Sciences,
His name was entered in the Honour Book of the
L.Y.C.L.S.U. Central Committee for the successful completion of the space
flight (September 28, 1980).
CURRENT STATUS:
October 2, 1995 –was transferred to the
reserve having reached the age limit by the RF Ministry of Defense order
(Colonel in the reserve).