The attitude to the past of our country among different people is ambiguous. But no matter how disagreeing opinions, the fact that the Soviet Union has nurtured strong, talented, wonderful people, heroes of not only its time is an indisputable fact. Our country was the first to seriously engage in direct space exploration. Cosmonaut Valery Bykovsky, whose biography is a complete list of awards and achievements, a striking representative of the national cohort of great people.
Today, Valery Fedorovich is eighty, he is cheerful and affable. With a smile and barely noticeable notes of sadness, he shares with his followers his experience, knowledge and achievements.
Childhood
On August 2, 1934, a child was born in the Bykovsky family, who was destined to become a famous astronaut. The newborn family at that time lived in Pavlovsky Posad. Father, Fedor Fedorovich - former KGB officer, employee of the Ministry of Railways. And her mother, Klavdia Ivanovna, devoted all her time to her family and home.
Valery Fedorovich is not the only child in the family, he has an older sister Margarita Fedorovna (in the marriage of Mikheev).
As a child, Bykovsky had to change two schools. First, he attended school at the Soviet Embassy in Tehran, and from the seventh grade he studied in Moscow.
From childhood Valery Bykovsky raved about stars and sky. The astronaut began his stellar career with the fact that as a young man he entered the Moscow flying club. Then he successfully graduated from an aviation school in the Penza region. He was then 19 years old.
Education and first experience
Bykovsky, the astronaut, began his journey from an aero-kulub or “initial”, even before graduation. Exhausting training in any weather, the first flying experience and the adoption of the most important decision in life - that's what the Moscow flying club gave him. The characteristic of Valery Fedorovich contained the most flattering reviews. Instructors also believed that he loves flying, he does it boldly and confidently, he knows science with enthusiasm and takes the initiative. Leaving his first flight school, Bykovsky (an astronaut in the near future) firmly decided to enter the school of fighter pilots.
Studying at the Kachinsky Military Aviation School, of course, was more complicated and serious. Practical classes were held at a fast pace, but Valery Fedorovich was in time, liked and studied very well. In all characteristics of Bykovsky there are only positive responses: hardy, well-oriented, initiative. All grades for theory and practice are excellent.
Service
Thanks to perseverance and hard work, Bykovsky quickly achieved success in part. Quite quickly, the senior lieutenant was transferred to the squadron of interceptors. Valery Fedorovich recalls how missions, air attacks, combat alarms went and notes how important it is to feel the people who are near you and trust them. When in part he flew the MIG, he was 100 percent sure of the plane, thanks to the efforts of his technician Konkov.
During the years of service, the future astronaut Bykovsky gained a lot of flying experience and good comrades. His biography will be replenished with more vivid and significant achievements for the whole country. From childhood, Valery Fedorovich was involved in sports: football, athletics, fencing. No less sports carried away his books. Valery Fedorovich perceived vocational education and self-education as one of the most important components in life, therefore, with pleasure I comprehended various areas of knowledge. And in the Soviet army, in the circle of like-minded people, the same young, active, and purposeful pilots, he continued to engage in sports and self-improvement.
Unearthly trials
Every Soviet boy dreamed of becoming a hero, serving the good of the Fatherland, conquering the peaks and exploring the unknown, Bykovsky was no exception. An astronaut at heart and a pilot through life, he decides to try his hand and sets off on a train to his dream.
The first test Valery Fedorovich faced was a medical commission. It is worth noting that the doctors conducting the selection and giving access to flights are very careful, strict and suspicious. If there is even the slightest deviation from the required parameters, there will be no access to flights. Medical commissions, pilots, and especially astronauts, are held regularly. Excitement and tension in doctors' offices is growing. How many guys broke up there with their dream! But Bykovsky passed the first stage with ease, only with wishes of success and approving smiles of doctors.
The second stage is an imitation of possible situations in space. To do this, it was necessary to pass tests on various simulators, installations, in a pressure chamber. Nobody succeeded in faking and deceiving nature and doctors. Only the strongest, sturdy and healthy were selected. That was Bykovsky. But this was only the beginning of a difficult journey.
Family of astronauts in Star City
In Star City, the regime of astronauts is strict: sports, loads, exercises, simulators, medical commissions. The new team was very friendly, hardworking and purposeful. The comrades elected Bykovsky as deputy secretary of the Komsomol committee. Valery Fedorovich's care was significantly increased, but this made his life even more interesting and eventful. Bykovsky made many friends and good comrades in those years. Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and other no less famous people trained with him in Zvezdnoy.
One of the most difficult simulators for all future astronauts is a centrifuge. Her overload was tested by the capabilities of the human body, and Bykovsky showed remarkable results on it. He quickly learned the lessons and advice of trainers, doctors, so he achieved significant success.
One of the most interesting activities, perhaps, was a stay in zero gravity. And the most unusual, as Valery Bykovsky (cosmonaut) believed, is the development of the habit of being alone. In a sound chamber with a size of one and a half square meters, where, in addition to appliances and an armchair, there were only food and books, he had to experience what awaits him in space. He worked, sang, declared poetry, read books, built tables. More than three days lasted his first pre-cosmic loneliness. Bykovsky was the first to visit the sound chamber.
