The outstanding pilot-cosmonaut Valery Nikolaevich Kubasov flew three times into space. In 1975, together with A. Leonov, he participated in the historical Soviet-American docking “Apollo” - “Union”. Despite the enormous contribution to space research and world fame, in life he was a man of amazing modesty, who are alien to vanity and arrogance. We will tell about the exploits of the astronaut in the article.
Biography
Valery Nikolayevich Kubasov was born into a family of employees in the city of Vyazniki, Ivanovo Industrial Region (now Vladimir Region), January 7, 1935. In 1952 he graduated from high school, then entered the Moscow Aviation Institute at the Department of Aircraft Engineering.
After receiving his diploma in 1958, Kubasov began working in the ninth department of OKB-1, first as an engineer, then as a senior engineer and team leader. Under the leadership of the Soviet designer M. Tikhonravov, he designed the Martian manned ship. Since September 1964 he worked as the head of a group of the ballistics department.
In May 1964, Valery Nikolayevich Kubasov was sent for medical examination at the TsVNIAG as one of fourteen candidates for the position of an astronaut-engineer for a flight on the Voskhod spacecraft. The commission allowed him to receive special training, but as a result of the meeting of the Credentials Committee, he was not included in the group.
A year later, he took part in the first set of astronauts in OKB-1 and was one of twelve people who went through all stages of selection. In 1966, he was included in the list of candidates for the positions of test cosmonauts at TsKBEM. Since that time, the biography of Valery Nikolaevich Kubasov is forever connected with space.
First space flight
In 1966-1968 Valery Nikolaevich, together with A. Nikolaev and V. Gorbatko, was preparing for the flight of the Soyuz spacecraft, at the same time he was studying at the TsKBEM post-graduate school, and received a candidate’s degree. In 1969, during the launch of Soyuz-5, he was an understudy of A. Eliseev as a ship’s flight engineer.
The first space flight, Valery Nikolaevich Kubasov made in 1969, October 11-16. It was the world's first group transportation of three Soyuz spacecraft to outer space. Kubasov flew to the Soyuz-6 spacecraft as a flight engineer, his call sign was Antey-2. During the flight, the astronauts conducted experiments to perform welding work in space on equipment developed at the Research Institute of Electric Welding. They spent almost five days in outer space.
Failed flights
In 1970-1971 Valery Nikolaevich, together with P. Kolodin and A. Leonov, was preparing for transportation to the Salyut-1 station as part of the Soyuz-11 crew. But in June 1971, the main crew was suspended, since a blackout in the lungs was found in Kubasov. As it turned out later, it was an allergy to the flowering of a local plant. Instead, a backup crew flew. Upon returning to Earth on June 30, 1971, the astronauts died.
In 1972, Kubasov and Leonov were supposed to fly to the Salyut-2 DOS, but the expedition was canceled due to the Proton rocket accident on July 29 during launch into orbit. Then he was preparing to test the new Sokol-K rescue spacesuits in space, but the flight was replaced by an unmanned one.
In the spring of 1973 he was supposed to make an expedition to the DOS “Salyut-3” with Leonov, but it did not take place due to an accident at the orbital station.
Second and third space flights
July 15-21, Valery Nikolayevich Kubasov flew into space for the second time as part of the Soyuz-19 spacecraft, his call sign was Soyuz-2. During the expedition, the crew completed the first ever docking of US and USSR spacecraft, and also carried out work in orbit jointly with the crew of the American Apollo. The flight lasted almost six days.
Since 1978, Kubasov was preparing for an expedition to the Soyuz-6 station as the commander of the Soviet-Hungarian crew. The flight was postponed due to an accident on the Soyuz-33 spacecraft, but the astronauts continued training to maintain fitness.
May 26 - June 3, 1980 the third transportation of Valery Kubasov into space as the commander of Soyuz-36 along with B. Farkash took place. According to the Soviet-Hungarian program, the crew went to Salyut-6, where he worked with the members of the main expedition of the orbital station V. Ryumin and L. Popov. The call sign of Kubasov was Orion-1. The flight lasted a little less than eight days.
