Today it is believed that the first Ukrainian astronaut is Leonid Kadeniuk. And this despite the fact that among those who from the beginning of the 60s and before the collapse of the Soviet Union visited the Earth’s orbit, there were many who were most directly connected with the Ukrainian USSR.
P.R. Popovich (1930-2009)
Pavel Romanovich was born on October 5, 1930 in the city of Uzin, Kiev region. After the war he moved to Magnitogorsk. Having studied at a local flying club and at a military aviation school, in 1960 he was enrolled in the cosmonaut corps. After 2 years, he flew into Earth orbit lasting almost 3 days, which was also the first space expedition in which two ships were involved simultaneously. The experience turned out to be successful, which made it possible in the future to carry out the most complex docking operations in orbit. Thus, it can be argued that the first Ukrainian astronaut is P.P. Popovich
In 1974, Pavel Romanovich made the second space flight and again he was one of the pioneers, as it was the first flight to the orbital station, where the crew under his leadership conducted numerous observations and experiments. The astronaut was twice awarded the title of Hero and many other awards, including foreign ones. In addition, in 2005 he was awarded the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise of the 4th degree for his significant contribution to the strengthening and development of Ukrainian-Russian relations.
G. T. Beregovoi (1915-1995)
In the list of "Ukrainian cosmonauts" a special place is given to the name of this ace pilot, who was born a year after the start of the First World War in the Poltava region. He was the first of all pilots to become a holder of the Golden Star Order and received the title of Hero of the USSR during the Second World War. In 1963, Beregovoi was selected by the command in a detachment of future cosmonauts for training.
After some time he was informed that the time had come for the flight, for which he trained day and night for a long time. Beregovoi made his first space flight on a Soyuz-3 rocket. The expedition lasted about 4 days.
G. S Shonin (1935-1997)
Georgy Stepanovich is a native of Lugansk region. In 1960 he was enrolled in the cosmonaut corps of the USSR, and made his first flight in October 1969 together with V. Kubasov. During the flight, tests were carried out on methods of welding metals in zero gravity. The astronaut is the author of the books "The very first" and "Memory of the heart."
V.A. Lyakhov
The astronaut was born in 1941 in the city of Anthracite of the Luhansk region. The first flight into low Earth orbit lasting 175 days made in 1979. He performed 50 experiments on growing single crystals of semiconductor materials in zero gravity, as well as creating new metal compounds and alloys.
The second time visited space in 1983, together with A.P. Aleksandrov. This time it was "absent" on Earth for 149 days. In 1988, for the third time, it launched into space orbit as the commander of the Soyuz TM-6 spacecraft. For a week he worked on board the Mir station.
L. D. Kizim (b. 1941)
Leonid Denisovich occupied a special place in the list of Ukrainian cosmonauts, since the total time spent by him in Earth orbit during 3 flights is more than 24 months. In 1996 he was awarded the Order of Friendship for his great contribution to the successful completion of the 1st stage of Russian-American cooperation under the Mir-Shuttle program.
L. I. Popov
Leonid Ivanovich was born in 1945 in the Kirovograd region of the Ukrainian SSR. He was enlisted in the cosmonaut squad in the 1970th. He made three flights to orbit. In 1982 he was awarded the State Prize of the Ukrainian USSR.
V.V. Vasyutin
For the most part, Ukrainian cosmonauts of the Soviet era were people fanatically devoted to the profession, ready for anything. Among them is Vladimir Vladimirovich Vasyutin. He was born in March 1952 in Kharkov, Ukrainian SSR. He was enrolled in the cosmonaut corps in 1976. Placed on a flight in September 1985, together with G. Grechko and A. Volkov. As it turned out later, fearing removal from flights, he hid that he was suffering from a urological disease, violating the instructions.
Once in orbit, Vasyutin soon felt unwell and was forced to confess to the crew members. Due to the deterioration of his health, the flight had to be stopped and the crew returned to Earth. As a result, the expedition was frustrated. Nevertheless, Vasyutin was awarded a number of orders and medals. He died after a long and prolonged illness in 2002.
Anatoly Pavlovich Arcebarsky
Many Ukrainian astronauts and scientists in the field of astronautics have made a great contribution to the development of human knowledge about the possibilities of developing space outside our planet. Among them is Anatoly Pavlovich Artsebarsky. He was born in 1956 in the Ukrainian SSR, in the small village of Prosyanaya, which was located in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
He was enrolled in the squad as a test cosmonaut. In 1991, he made a space flight with S. Krikalev and an astronaut from Great Britain H. Sharman. During the expedition, he carried out 6 spacewalks with a total duration of more than 32 hours. He was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
The first Ukrainian cosmonaut Leonid Kadenyuk
Ukrainian astronaut was born in 1951 in the Chernivtsi region, in the village of Klishkovichi. In 1976, he was admitted to the detachment of Soviet cosmonauts and in his ranks passed the necessary training course for flights. Nevertheless, he failed to take part in the expedition to the Soyuz station. The thing is that the Ukrainian cosmonaut Kadenyuk divorced his wife, which for that period of time was considered a manifestation of licentiousness and was incompatible with the high title of conqueror of interplanetary space.
In 1983, he was even expelled from the cosmonaut corps, but in 1988 he rejoined his ranks and began to prepare for space flights on shuttles of a new type, such as the Buran. It soon became clear that this manned ship was unlikely to be able to go on an expedition in the near future, and this led to the fact that work on this project was stopped.
In the mid-90s, Kadenyuk received an invitation from the authorities of the independent Ukrainian Republic to accept the citizenship of the country in whose territory he was born. After that, he was included in the group, which soon went to the United States to prepare for flights under the NASA program. In November 1997, Kadenyuk finally made a space flight on the ship Columbia. During the expedition, he was engaged in scientific experiments. The flight lasted about a crescent. After his graduation, Kadenyuk returned to his homeland and began to work in the NCA of Ukraine, continuing to be listed as a NASA astronaut.
N.I. Adamchuk-Chalaya
When the subject of the story is the Ukrainian astronauts of modern times, the name of this biologist is necessarily mentioned. Nadezhda Adamchuk-Chalaya was born in 1970 in Kiev. In 1996, she was included in a group of Ukrainian cosmonauts selected to prepare for flights on the American Space Shuttle.
The woman successfully completed the entire course of classes and training and received the appropriate qualifications. However, so far she has not managed to make a single space flight. Currently Adamchuk-Chalaya works at the Institute of Botany. N. Cold NASU. He is engaged in the preparation of experiments, which will be further conducted at the orbital station. In 2003, she became a laureate of the Presidential Award.
Valentin Bondarenko
The fate of the Ukrainian cosmonauts of the Soviet era was not always happy. First of all, this concerns Valentin Bondarenko. He was born in 1937 in the Ukrainian city of Kharkov. In 1960, he was selected to be the first cosmonaut of the USSR. Perhaps due to the fact that he was the youngest of its members, he did not get into the famous "first six". His trials were supposed to begin in mid-March 1961. On the 10th day of training in the sound chamber, in which, as you know, oxygen levels were increased, Valentin was allowed to remove medical sensors. He decided to wipe his skin with cotton wool, previously moistened with alcohol, and then throw it in a trash can.
However, the cotton wool, flying past, fell on a spiral of electric stove, as a result of which a fire broke out in the room. Flames instantly swept the camera, and immediately switched to the cosmonaut's training suit. The doctor on duty could not immediately open the sealed doors of the pressure chamber. When Bondarenko managed to get out, the young man was still conscious. Doctors fought for the life of a young man for 8 hours, but it was too late, and he died from burn shock. In 1961, a few months after his death, the astronaut was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Star.
