CLASSIFICATION:14/35.
NUMBER OF MISSIONS: 2.
SPACEFLIGHT HOURS: 52 days 04 hours 17 minutes 47 seconds.
WORLD PIONEER ACTIONS: took part in the first docking of two (“Soyuz-4” and “Soyuz-5”) piloted space vehicles in the history of manned space flight (January 16, 1969).
PLACE AND DATE OF BIRTH: Born December 18, 1934 in Irkutsk, RSFSR (Russia).
NATIONALITY: Russian.
EDUCATION:
1952 - finished secondary school No.1 in Prokopievsk, Kemerovo Region;
1953 – finished 24 military aviation school for preliminary training of the Air Force’ pilots, Privolzhski Military District, Pavlodar, Kazakhstan;
1955 – graduated from the Staligrad Higher Aviation School of Pilots, Novosibirsk;
September, 1961 - January 6, 1968 – graduated from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy, the engineering faculty. Got qualification of a pilot-engineer-cosmonaut;
1980 – earned a candidate of technical sciences degree.
EXPERIENCE BEFORE THE COSMONAUT CORPS:
from August 20, 1952 – cadet, 24 military aviation school for preliminary training of the Air Force pilots;
December 19, 1953 – November 15, 1955 – cadet, the Staligrad Higher Aviation School of Pilots, Novosibirsk;
From January 27, 1956- pilot, 726 Air Defence Engineering Aviation Regiment of 133 Air Defence Engineering Aviation Division, Yaroslavl;
from August 7, 1957 – senior pilot, 726 Air Defence Engineering Aviation Regiment of 133 Air Defence Engineering Aviation Division, Yaroslavl;
from February 14, 1958 – senior pilot, 147 Air Defence Guards Engineering Aviation Regiment of the same Division.
ENROLLMENT (ENROLLMENT №, DATE):
March 7, 1960 – enlisted in the cosmonaut corps of the Air Force Cosmonaut Training Center as a candidate cosmonaut by the Air Force Commander-in-Chief Order (1^st enrollment);
from April 5, 1961 – cosmonaut in the cosmonaut corps of the Air Force’s CTC;
from March 14, 1966 – cosmonaut in the 1^st corps of the 1^st CTC.
QUALIFICATION: third-class military pilot (1959), second-class cosmonaut (1976).
BACKUP ACTIVITY:
August 11, 1962 – second backup of A.Nikolayev, pilot of the “Vostok-3” spacecraft;
August 12, 1962 – second backup of P.Popovich, pilot of the “Vostok-4” spacecraft;
September, 1962 – May 25, 1963 – backup of the “Vostok-5” spacecraft pilot on the program of the joint flight with a spacecraft, piloted by a woman-cosmonaut;
June 14, 1963 – backup of V.Bykovsky, pilot of the “Vostok-5” spacecraft;
October 12, 1964 – backup of V.Komarov, commander of the “Voskhod” spacecraft;
October 26, 1968 – second backup of G.Beregovoy, commander of the “Soyuz-3” spacecraft;
August 13, 1973 – backup crew commander for the flight aboard the “Almaz” OPS-101-2 (“Salyut-3”) together with V.Zholobov;
July 3, 1974 – backup of P.Popovich, commander of the “Soyuz-14” spacecraft.
SPACE MISSIONS:
1^st mission – January 15-18, 1969 – commander of the “Soyuz-5” spacecraft. Started together with A.Yeliseyev and E. Khrunov, who after docking moved into the “Soyuz-4” spacecraft (commander – V.Shatalov) through open space. Mission duration: 3 days 00 hours 54 minutes 15 seconds. Call sign: “Baikal-1”;
2nd mission – July 6 – August 24, 1976 – commander of the first expedition aboard the “Salyut-5” orbital manned station and “Soyuz-21” spacecraft together with V.Zholobov. Mission was aborted. Mission duration: 49 days 06 hours 23 minutes 32 seconds. Call sign: “Baikal-1”.
DISCHARGE FROM COSMONAUT CORPS:
1990 – discharged from the cosmonaut corps on reaching age-limit.
AWARDS/SPECIAL HONORS:
2 medals “Gold Star” of Hero of the Soviet Union (1969, 1976),
2 Orders of Lenin (1969, 1976),
Order of the Red Star (1961),
Order “For Service in the Armed Forces of the USSR” of the III class (1990),
Order of Merits to the Country of the IV class (March 2, 2000)
Medal “For Services in the Frontier Guard” (1977),
10 commemorative medals,
Order of the State Banner of the PRH (1973),
Medal “25 years of the People’s Power” (PRB, 1969),
Medal “For Weapon Brotherhood Strengthening” (PRB),
Medal “Centenary of Bulgaria threw off the Ottoman EmpireYoke” (PRB),
Decoration badge “Weapon Brotherhood” (PRP),
Medal of Cuba,
Gold Medal of K.E. Tsiolkovsky,
Honorary Diploma of V.M.Komarov (FAI),
Medal of the Portugalian Socialist Party (1977)
Honorary citizen of Kaluga, Prokopievsk, Kustanay, Magadan, Irkutsk, Sofia (Bulgaria), Kalysh (Poland);
Honorary member of the Azerbaidzhan SSR’s Geographical Society (1969).
СURRENT STATUS: 1998 – colonel in the reserve.

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