Russia-USSR became the first space power! And continues to be today!
For as long as I can remember, everyone knew the names of the cosmonauts; these were the main heroes - as they would now say “superman” - of the peaceful Soviet era.
During the flights, all radio and television broadcasts were interrupted, the brilliant Levitan solemnly announced the new flight, then the newspapers printed photos of the new cosmonauts on the front pages.

Belka and Strelka also flew long before I was born, but for some reason I knew them too.
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Space flights became a routine somewhere in the second half of the 70s.
Before interest waned, the last “spike” was Soyuz-Apollo. In Omsk, the live broadcast of the docking of the American and Soviet ships was at night, I remember it in a dream, it woke me up cousin(10 years older than me), he did not sleep, he really wanted to see this historical event.

Then the cosmonaut corps was replenished with new faces, there were many cosmonauts, and not everyone knew them anymore. Flights with cosmonauts from socialist countries were more “promoted”.
But everyone knew the first ones!

The first cosmonauts of the USSR

Cosmonaut No. 1 - Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin (1934 - 1968)

Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968), fighter pilot, first space flight:
April 12, 1961 "East".
Died on March 27, 1968 in a plane crash.


Gagarin's funeral

The historic flight of Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin took place on the morning of April 12, 1961.
The Vostok spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and, having flown once around the Earth, landed in the Saratov region.
Moreover, Gagarin ejected and landed with a parachute.

Cosmonaut No. 2 German Stepanovich Titov (1935 - 2000)

German Stepanovich Titov (1935-2000), air defense pilot, one space flight: August 6, 1961 Vostok-2. Left the cosmonaut corps on June 17, 1970.
Later he worked at the Space Research Institute.

Cosmonaut No. 3 Andrian Grigorievich Nikolaev (1929 -2004)

Andriyan Grigorievich Nikolaev (1929-2004), air defense pilot, two space flights: August 11, 1962 Vostok-3; June 1, 1970 Soyuz-9. Left the cosmonaut corps on January 26, 1982.

Cosmonaut No. 4 Pavel Romanovich Popovich (1930 - 2009)

Pavel Romanovich Popovich (1930-2009), Air Force pilot, two space flights: August 12, 1962 Vostok-4; July 3, 1974 Soyuz-14. Left the cosmonaut corps on January 26, 1982.

Cosmonaut No. 5 - Valery Fedorovich Bykovsky (1934)

Valery Fedorovich Bykovsky (1934), Air Force pilot, three space flights: June 14, 1963 Vostok-5; September 15, 1976 Soyuz-22; August 26, 1978 Soyuz-31. Left the cosmonaut corps on January 26, 1982.

Cosmonaut No. 6 - The first female cosmonaut - Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (born 1937)

Space flight June 16, 1963, Vostok-6, at the same time Vostok-5 was in orbit, piloted by pilot cosmonaut Valery Bykovsky.

Cosmonaut No. 7. Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov


Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov (1927-1967), Air Force pilot-engineer, two space flights: October 12, 1964 “Voskhod”;
April 23, 1967 Soyuz-1. April 24, 1967 Vladimir Komarov died during landing after a flight on the Soyuz-1 spacecraft. (Yu.A. Gagarin was appointed as his backup for this flight).
We have a book about Komarov at home.

On October 12, 1964, the world's first multi-seat spacecraft flew into space. For the first time, the crew included not only a pilot, but also an engineer and a doctor.
For the first time in history, the crew flew without spacesuits.
The soft landing system was used for the first time. The call sign “Rubin” sounded from orbit for 24 hours. The total flight duration was one day and 17 minutes, during which time the ship circled the globe 16 times.

Cosmonaut No. 8. Konstantin Petrovich Feoktistov

Konstantin Petrovich Feoktistov (1926 - 2009), pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, research fellow-cosmonaut of the Voskhod spacecraft, 8th cosmonaut of the USSR and 12th cosmonaut of the world, Doctor of Technical Sciences.
K. P. Feoktistov was the first civilian cosmonaut and the only non-partisan in the history of Soviet cosmonautics to have completed a space flight.
Participant of the Great Patriotic War since 1941. He fought in the infantry and was a scout. In 1942 he was captured by the Germans and shot, but remained alive.
During the Great Patriotic War, Feoktistov dropped out of school and went to the front. He fought as a reconnaissance officer in a military unit. While carrying out reconnaissance in the city of Voronezh, Feoktistov was captured by a German patrol and miraculously survived the execution:
After graduating from Moscow Higher Technical School in 1949, he worked at NII-1 in the group of M.K. Tikhonravov, then at OKB-1 (now NPO Energia).
Participated in the development of the first artificial Earth satellite, the spacecraft Vostok, Soyuz, Soyuz T, Soyuz TM, Progress, Progress-M, and the Salyut and Mir orbital stations.
Member of the cosmonaut corps since 1964. On October 12-13, 1964, he flew into space on the Voskhod-1 spacecraft.

Cosmonaut No. 9 Boris Borisovich Egorov

Boris Borisovich Egorov (1937 - 1994). The doctor is an astronaut.Made one flight on the multi-seat ship "Voskhod 1", lasting 1 day 0 hours 17 minutes 3 seconds.
Later he worked at the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems on the problems of weightlessness.
Doctor of Medical Sciences.

Cosmonaut No. 10 Pavel Ivanovich Belyaev

Belyaev Pavel Ivanovich (1925-1970), naval aviation pilot, one space pilot
flight: piloted March 18, 1965 Voskhod-2.
Graduated from the Yeisk Military Aviation School of Pilots in 1945, participant in the Soviet-Japanese War Aug. Sept 1945.
When landing the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, due to deviations in the operation of the ship's orientation system to the Sun, P. I. Belyaev manually oriented the ship and turned on the braking engine. These operations were performed for the first time in the world.
As a result, Voskhod landed in an off-design area 180 km north of the city of Perm. The TASS report called this a landing in a “reserve area,” which was actually the remote Perm taiga.
The astronauts had to spend two nights alone in the wild forest in severe frost. Only on the third day did rescuers make their way through the deep snow on skis, who were forced to cut down the forest in the Voskhod landing area in order to clear the landing area for the helicopter.
Flight duration - 1 day 2 hours 2 minutes 17 seconds.

Cosmonaut No. 11. Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov.

The world's first spacewalk.
Alexey Leonov (1934), Air Force pilot, two space flights: March 18, 1965 Voskhod-2; July 15, 1975 Soyuz-19. Left the cosmonaut corps on January 26, 1982.

Leonov made the first in history astronautics spacewalk lasting 12 minutes 9 seconds. During the exit he showed exceptional courage, especially in an emergency situation when a swollen space suit prevented the astronaut from returning to the spacecraft. Leonov managed to enter the airlock only by releasing excess pressure from the suit, while he climbed into the ship's hatch not with his feet, but with his head first, which was prohibited by the instructions.
In 1975, July 15-21, Leonov, together with V.N. Kubasov, made his second flight into space as commander of the Soyuz-19 spacecraft under the ASTP program (another frequently mentioned name of the program is Soyuz-Apollo). .
A.A. Leonov is the author of about 200 paintings and 5 art albums, including magnificent cosmic landscapes, science fiction, earthly landscapes, portraits of friends (watercolor, oil, Dutch gouache).

April 15 is the birthday of USSR pilot-cosmonaut No. 12 Georgy Timofeevich Beregovoy.

Georgy Timofeevich Beregovoi born on April 15, 1921 in the Ukrainian village of Fedorovka, Poltava province. He spent his childhood and youth in the city of Yenakievo. It was here that he graduated from school, took his first steps in his career as an electrician at the Yenakievo Metallurgical Plant, and here he first took to the air as a cadet at the Yenakievo Aero Club.
By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, Georgy Beregovoy was a fully trained attack pilot. Fate protected him, although during the war years the brave pilot had to repeatedly look death in the face. He ended the war as a Hero of the Soviet Union.


After the war, he successfully completed the higher officer courses for test pilots. He worked as a test pilot of the USSR, receiving the title of Honored Test Pilot of the USSR in 1961, and in 1963 he achieved enrollment in the cosmonaut corps, despite his age.
Having completed a full course of training for flights on Soyuz-class ships, October 26 -30, 1968 - at the age of 47! - made a space flight on the Soyuz-3 spacecraft. The flight included the first ever attempt to dock with an unmanned Soyuz-2 spacecraft in the shadow of the Earth. The flight lasted 3 days 22 hours 50 minutes 45 seconds. For completing a space flight on November 1, 1968, he was awarded the second medal “ Golden Star» Hero of the Soviet Union.
Having survived the war without serious injuries, he almost died in peacetime: on January 22, 1969, in the Kremlin, during a ceremonial meeting of cosmonauts, officer Viktor Ilyin fired at the car in which Beregovoi was driving, mistaking it for Brezhnev’s car. Beregovoy’s slight external resemblance to Brezhnev also contributed to the mistake. The driver behind the wheel was mortally wounded, and Beregovoy received minor injuries from fragments of the windshield.
After the space flight, Aviation Lieutenant General Beregovoy worked for a long time as the head of the Cosmonaut Training Center and trained a whole generation of space Argonauts. He retired in 1987 with the rank of lieutenant general. But he continued active public work as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Georgy Beregovoy died on June 30, 1995 during heart surgery. He was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy cemetery.

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The history of astronautics, unfortunately, is full of not only dizzying ups, but also terrible falls. Dead astronauts, rockets that failed to take off or exploded, tragic accidents - all this is also our heritage, and forgetting about it means erasing from history all those who consciously risked their lives for the sake of progress, science and a better future. It is about the fallen heroes of the USSR cosmonautics that we will talk in this article.

Cosmonautics in the USSR

Until the 20th century, space flights seemed like something completely fantastic. But already in 1903, K. Tsiolkovsky put forward the idea of ​​flying into space on a rocket. From this moment on, astronautics was born in the form in which we know it today.

In the USSR, the Jet Institute (RNII) was founded in 1933 to study jet propulsion. And in 1946, work related to rocket science began.

However, it took years and years more before man for the first time overcame the gravity of the Earth and found himself in space. We should not forget about the mistakes that cost the lives of the testers. First of all, these are the dead. According to official data, there are only five of them, including Yuri Gagarin, who, strictly speaking, died not in space, but after returning to Earth. Nevertheless, the cosmonaut also died during testing, being a military pilot, which allows us to include him in the list presented here.

Komarov

The Soviet cosmonauts who died in space made an incomparable contribution to the development of their country. Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov was such a person - a cosmonaut pilot and engineer-colonel, awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Born in Moscow on April 14, 1927. He was part of the first crew of a spaceship in world history and was its commander. Been to space twice.

In 1943, the future cosmonaut graduated from the seven-year school, and then entered the Air Force special school, wanting to master it. He graduated from it in 1945, and then became a cadet at the Sasovo Aviation School. And in the same year he was enrolled in the Borisoglebsk Higher Military Aviation School.

After graduating in 1949, Komarov entered the military service in the Air Force, becoming a fighter pilot. His division was located in Grozny. Here he met Valentina, a school teacher who became his wife. Soon Vladimir Mikhailovich became a senior pilot, and in 1959 he graduated from the Air Force Academy and was assigned to the Air Force Research Institute. It was here that he was chosen to join the first cosmonaut corps.

Flights into space

To answer the question of how many astronauts died, it is necessary first to cover the topic of flights itself.

Thus, Komarov’s first flight into space took place on the Voskhod spacecraft on October 12, 1964. It was the world's first multi-person expedition: the crew also included a doctor and an engineer. The flight lasted 24 hours and ended with a successful landing.

Komarov's second and final flight took place on the night of April 23–24, 1967. The astronaut died at the end of the flight: during the descent, the main parachute did not work, and the reserve lines were twisted due to the strong rotation of the device. The ship collided with the ground and caught fire. So, due to a fatal accident, Vladimir Komarov died. He is the first USSR cosmonaut to die. A monument was erected in his honor in Nizhny Novgorod and a bronze bust in Moscow.

Gagarin

These were all the dead cosmonauts before Gagarin, according to official sources. That is, in fact, before Gagarin, only one cosmonaut died in the USSR. However, Gagarin is the most famous Soviet cosmonaut.

Yuri Alekseevich, Soviet pilot-cosmonaut, was born on March 9, 1934. His childhood was spent in the village of Kashino. He went to school in 1941, but the village was invaded German troops, and school was interrupted. And in the house of the Gagarin family, the SS men set up a workshop, driving the owners out onto the street. Only in 1943 the village was liberated, and Yuri’s studies continued.

Then Gagarin entered the Saratov Technical School in 1951, where he began attending the flying club. In 1955, he was drafted into the army and sent to aviation school. After graduation, he served in the Air Force and by 1959 had accumulated approximately 265 hours of flight time. He received the rank of military pilot third class and the rank of senior lieutenant.

First flight and death

The dead cosmonauts were people who were well aware of the risks they were taking, but nevertheless this did not stop them. Likewise, Gagarin, the first man in space, risked his life even before he became an astronaut.

However, he did not miss his chance to become the first. On April 12, 1961, Gagarin flew on a Vostok rocket into space from the Baikonur airfield. The flight lasted 108 minutes and ended with a successful landing near the town of Engels (Saratov region). And it was this day that became Cosmonautics Day for the whole country, which is still celebrated today.

For the whole world, the first flight was an incredible event, and the pilot who made it quickly became famous. Gagarin visited more than thirty countries by invitation. The years following the flight were marked by active social and political activities for the cosmonaut.

But soon Gagarin returned to the controls of the plane. This decision turned out to be tragic for him. And in 1968, he died during a training flight in the cockpit of the MIG-15 UTI. The causes of the disaster still remain unknown.

Nevertheless, the deceased astronauts will never be forgotten by their country. On the day of Gagarin's death, mourning was declared in the country. And later, a number of monuments to the first cosmonaut were erected in various countries.

Volkov

The future cosmonaut graduated from Moscow school No. 201 in 1953, after which he entered the Moscow Aviation Institute and received the specialty of an electrical engineer specializing in rockets. He goes to work at the Korolev Design Bureau and helps in the creation of space technology. At the same time, he begins to attend courses for athlete pilots at the Kolomna Aero Club.

In 1966, Volkov became a member of the cosmonaut corps, and three years later made his first flight on the Soyuz-7 spacecraft as a flight engineer. The flight lasted 4 days, 22 hours and 40 minutes. In 1971, Volkov's second and last flight took place, in which he acted as an engineer. In addition to Vladislav Nikolaevich, the team included Patsayev and Dobrovolsky, whom we will talk about below. When landing the ship, depressurization occurred, and all participants in the flight died. The dead USSR cosmonauts were cremated, and their ashes were placed in the Kremlin wall.

Dobrovolsky

Which we already mentioned above, was born in Odessa in 1928, June 1. Pilot, cosmonaut and Air Force colonel, posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

During the war, he ended up in territory occupied by the Romanian authorities and was arrested for possession of weapons. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the crime, but local residents managed to ransom him. And after the end of the Second World War, Georgy Dobrovolsky entered the Odessa Air Force School. At that moment, he did not yet know what fate was in store for him. However, astronauts who die in space, like pilots, prepare for death in advance.

In 1948, Dobrovolsky became a student at the military school in Chuguevsk, and two years later began serving in the USSR Air Force. During his service he managed to graduate from the Air Force Academy. And in 1963 he became a member of the cosmonaut corps.

His first and last flight began on June 6, 1971 on the Soyuz-11 spacecraft as commander. The astronauts visited space station"Solyut-1", where several scientific research. But at the moment of returning to Earth, as mentioned above, depressurization occurred.

Marital status and awards

The dead cosmonauts are not only heroes of their country, who gave their lives for it, but also someone’s sons, husbands and fathers. After the death of Georgy Dobrovolsky, his two daughters Marina (b. 1960) and Natalya (b. 1967) were orphaned. The hero's widow, Lyudmila Stebleva, a high school teacher, remained alone. And if eldest daughter managed to remember her father, the youngest, who was only 4 years old at the time of the capsule crash, does not know him at all.

In addition to the title of Hero of the USSR, Dobrovolsky was awarded the Order of Lenin (posthumously), the Golden Star, and the medal “For Military Merit.” In addition, planet No. 1789, discovered in 1977, a lunar crater and a research ship were named after the astronaut.

Also to this day, since 1972, there has been a tradition of playing the Dobrovolsky Cup, which is awarded for the best trampoline jump.

Patsaev

So, continuing to answer the question of how many cosmonauts died in space, we move on to the next Hero of the Secular Union. born in Aktyubinsk (Kazakhstan) in 1933, June 19. This man is famous for being the world's first astronaut to work outside the Earth's atmosphere. He died along with Dobrovolsky and Volkov, mentioned above.

Victor's father fell on the battlefield during the Second World War. And after the end of the war the family was forced to move to Kaliningrad region, where the future cosmonaut first went to school. As his sister wrote in her memoirs, Victor began to be interested in space even then - he got hold of “A Trip to the Moon” by K. Tsiolkovsky.

In 1950, Patsayev entered the Penza Industrial Institute, from which he graduated and was sent to the Central Aerological Observatory. Here he takes part in the design of meteorological rockets.

And in 1958, Viktor Ivanovich was transferred to the Korolev Design Bureau, to the design department. It was here that the deceased Soviet cosmonauts (Volkov, Dobrovolsky and Patsayev) met. However, only 10 years later a corps of cosmonauts will be formed, in whose ranks Patsayev will be. Its preparation will last three years. Unfortunately, the first flight of the astronaut will end in tragedy and the death of the entire crew.

How many astronauts have died in space?

There is no clear answer to this question. The fact is that some information about space flights remains classified to this day. There are many assumptions and speculations, but no one has concrete evidence yet.

As for official data, the number of deaths of cosmonauts and astronauts from all countries is approximately 170 people. The most famous of them, of course, are representatives of the Soviet Union and the United States. Among the latter are Francis Richard, Michael Smith, Judith Resnik (one of the first female astronauts), and Ronald McNair.

Other dead

If you are interested in the dead, then go to this moment they don't exist. Not once since the collapse of the USSR and the formation of Russia as a separate state has a single case of a spaceship crash and the death of its crew been reported.

Throughout the entire article we talked about those who died directly in space, but we cannot ignore those astronauts who never had the chance to take off. Death overtook them while still on Earth.

Such was the one who was part of the group of the first cosmonauts and died during training. During his stay in the pressure chamber, where the astronaut had to be alone for about 10 days, he made a mistake. I detached the sensors that report vital activity from the body and wiped them with cotton wool soaked in alcohol, and then threw it away. A cotton swab got caught in a heated hotplate, causing a fire. When the chamber was opened, the cosmonaut was still alive, but after 8 hours he died in the Botkin hospital. The dead cosmonauts before Gagarin, therefore, include one more person in their composition.

Nevertheless, Bondarenko will remain in the memory of posterity along with other fallen cosmonauts.

The first cosmonaut on the planet was a citizen of the USSR, Yuri Gagarin. On April 12, 1961, he launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on the Vostok-1 spacecraft. During the flight, which lasted 1 hour 48 minutes (108 minutes), Gagarin made one orbit around the Earth.

After Gagarin, American astronauts Alan Shepard Jr. made suborbital flights on spaceships. - 15 minutes 22 seconds (May 5, 1961 in a Mercury MR-3) and Virgil Grissom - 15 minutes 37 seconds (July 21, 1961 in a Mercury MR-4).

First woman astronaut

The first woman in the world to fly into space was Valentina Tereshkova (USSR) - on June 16-19, 1963, she flew on the Vostok-6 spacecraft (2 days 22 hours 51 minutes).

During this time, the ship made 48 orbits around the Earth, flying a total distance of approximately 1.97 million km.

Tereshkova is not only the first female cosmonaut, but also the only woman to complete a solo space flight.

The youngest and oldest cosmonaut at the time of launch

The youngest is German Titov (USSR). He took off on his first flight at the age of 25 years 10 months 26 days. The flight took place on August 6-7, 1961 on the Vostok-2 ship.

The oldest astronaut is John Glenn Jr. (USA). At the time of the Discovery shuttle launch on October 29, 1998 (the flight continued until November 7, 1998), he was 77 years, 3 months, 11 days.

Among the women, the youngest is Valentina Tereshkova (USSR). At the time of launch into space on June 16, 1963, she was 26 years, 3 months, 11 days.

The oldest is US astronaut Barbara Morgan. She took off on August 8, 2007 at the age of 55 years, 8 months, 12 days. She was a member of the crew of the shuttle Endeavor, the flight continued until August 21.

The first multi-seat spacecraft

The first multi-seat spacecraft was Voskhod (USSR), on which a crew of three cosmonauts - Vladimir Komarov, Konstantin Feoktistov, Boris Egorov - flew on October 12-13, 1964 (24 hours 17 minutes).

Records in outer space

The first ever spacewalk was made on March 18, 1965 by USSR pilot-cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, who was flying on the Voskhod-2 spacecraft together with Pavel Belyaev. Spent 12 minutes 9 seconds outside the ship.

The first woman to go into outer space was Svetlana Savitskaya (USSR). The exit was made on July 25, 1984 from the Salyut-7 station and took 3 hours 34 minutes.

The longest spacewalk in the history of world astronautics - 8 hours 56 minutes - was performed on March 1, 2001 by American astronauts James Voss and Susan Helms from aboard the International Space Station.

The largest number of exits - 16 - belongs to Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyov. In total, he spent 78 hours and 48 minutes in outer space.

Among women, Sunita Williams (USA) performed the most spacewalks - she made 7 spacewalks (50 hours 40 minutes).

First docking of manned spacecraft

On January 16, 1969, the first docking of two manned spacecraft was carried out (carried out manually) - the Soviet Soyuz-4 (launched on January 14, 1969; pilot - Vladimir Shatalov) and Soyuz-5 (January 15, 1969; crew - Boris Volynov, Evgeny Khrunov, Alexey Eliseev). The ships were docked for 4 hours and 35 minutes.

Lunar records

The first person to set foot on the surface of the Moon on July 21, 1969 was American astronaut Neil Armstrong. After 15-20 minutes, Edwin Aldrin emerged from the landing module after him.

Armstrong spent about 2.5 hours on the surface of the Moon, Edwin Aldrin - about 1.5 hours. Each astronaut walked a distance of about 1 km, the greatest distance from the lunar module was 60 m.

The landing on the Moon was carried out during the American lunar expedition on July 16-24, 1969; the crew, in addition to Armstrong and Aldrin, included Michael Collins.

The longest walk on the surface of the Moon (7 hours 36 minutes 56 seconds) was made on December 12, 1972 by US astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt. They were part of the crew of Apollo 17 (“Apollo 17”), the flight took place on December 7-19, 1972.

First space station in orbit

On April 19, 1971, the first space station, the Soviet Salyut 1, was launched into orbit. The launch was carried out from the Baikonur cosmodrome using a Proton-K launch vehicle.

The station was in orbit at an altitude of 200-222 km for 174 days - until October 11, 1971 (it was deorbited, most of it burned up in the dense layers of the atmosphere, and some of the debris fell into the Pacific Ocean).

The International Space Station is the longest-lived among space orbital projects; it has been in orbit since November 20, 1998, that is, more than 17 years.

The largest crew

The largest crew of a spacecraft was the 9th flight of the Challenger shuttle with a crew of 8 astronauts in October-November 1985.

Longest flights

The longest flight (437 days 17 hours 58 minutes 17 seconds) in the history of cosmonautics was carried out by Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov in January 1994 - March 1995, working at the Russian Mir station.

The longest flight among women (199 days 16 hours 42 minutes 48 seconds) belongs to Samantha Cristoforetti (Italy), who worked on the International Space Station from November 2014 to June 2015.

Largest number of people in orbit

The largest number of people simultaneously in orbit - 13 - was recorded on March 14, 1995. Among them are three people from the Russian Mir station (at that time the manned Soyuz TM-20 spacecraft was docked to it), seven from the American Endeavor (Endeavour, 8th shuttle flight March 2-18, 1995) and three from the Soyuz TM-21 spacecraft (launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on March 14, 1995).

Record holders for the number of flights

The world record for the total duration of a person's stay in orbit belongs to Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka - 878 days 11 hours 29 minutes 36 seconds (for 5 flights). It was registered by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) in September 2015.

By maximum number flights - 7 - the record holders are American astronauts Franklin Chang-Diaz (total duration - 66 days 18 hours 24 minutes) and Jerry Ross (58 days 54 minutes 22 seconds).

Among women in space greatest number Peggy Whitson (USA) spent 376 days 17 hours 28 minutes 57 seconds (over two flights).

The maximum for women is 5 flights. Several representatives of the United States flew into space that long, including Shannon Lucid (total flight time - 223 days 2 hours 57 minutes 22 seconds), Susan Helms (210 days 23 hours 10 minutes 42 seconds), Tamara Jernigan (63 days 1 hour 30 minutes 56 seconds ), Marsha Ivins (55 days 21 hours 52 minutes 48 seconds), Bonnie Dunbar (50 days 8 hours 24 minutes 41 seconds), Janice Voss (49 days 3 hours 54 minutes 26 seconds).

Leading countries by number of flights

More American astronauts have flown into space - 335; Russia (including the USSR) is in second place - 118 cosmonauts (this number does not include Alexey Ovchinin, who is still in flight).

In total, since the beginning of manned flights, 542 people (including 59 women) have been in space - representatives of 37 states (36 currently existing ones and Czechoslovakia). Two more people are currently making their first flights: Englishman Timothy Peake has been on the ISS since December 2015, Russian Alexey Ovchinin has been on the ISS since March 19, 2016.

TASS-Dossier/Inna Klimacheva

Chapter 10: Dead astronauts. * “The family of Senior Lieutenant Bondarenko must be provided with everything necessary, as befits the family of an astronaut” - a special order signed by the Minister of Defense P.D. Malinovsky on April 16, 1961, is classified as “Secret”. Please note: before 1986, no Soviet book or magazine ever mentioned the existence of a cosmonaut by name Valentin Bondarenko. In 1982, a year after the publication of my first book, Red Star in Orbit, I received a wonderful photograph from a colleague who had just returned from Moscow [from Arthur Clarke]. The photo shows the hero of the Soviet Union, cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, who frowned while looking at my book. Leonov looked at the photograph, which I called the “Sochi six” - by analogy with our group of astronauts of the Mercury program - the “Original seven”. These six were the best of the first corps of astronauts, consisting of twenty people, the bravest representatives of the nation, selected for the first space flights. The photo was taken in the Black Sea resort of Sochi in May 1961, a few weeks after Yuri Gagarin's historic flight. Below this photograph in my book was a copy of it, in which the face of one of the six astronauts was retouched. One of the six astronauts was forgotten, and two versions of the same photograph confirmed this. Soviet officials, including Leonov, went to great lengths to conceal certain parts of space history concerning the man whose face was erased. Now Leonov had good reason to frown. The deception was exposed, and the ghost rose from the dead, from official Soviet oblivion. For decades, no one except those working on the manned flight program knew anything about Grigory Nelyubov. He was a young, egotistical fighter pilot. Despite this character trait, his flying skills were so impressive that he was the favorite candidate of several high-ranking officials. officials for the first manned space flight. After this failed, he was supposed to make one of the next flights after Yuri Gagarin's flight in 1961. But later that year, when Nelyubov and two other cosmonaut trainees were returning from leave, they got into an altercation with an army patrol at the station. Perhaps they even managed to exchange a few blows when they tried to stop them. All three, possibly drunk, were detained and placed under guard in the station master's office. Once it was established that they were indeed astronauts, the patrol officers were ready to consign the incident to oblivion. But one of the officers demanded that before this Nelyubov and his friends apologize to the members of the patrol (which suggests that the cosmonauts emerged victorious from the first skirmish, before they could be detained). Nelyubov's two comrades readily agreed to this. Nelyubov, however, refused to apologize. He was soon to become the third or fourth man in orbit, and he demanded respect from those who detained him. As no agreement was reached, the officer on duty registered the incident. The message about this quickly reached the commander of the cosmonaut corps, an old air force veteran Nikolai Kamanin, who was very angry at Nelyubov's irresponsibility. As punishment, Kamanin expelled all three from the cosmonaut corps. Their space careers over, they returned to flying jets in Siberia. The remaining cosmonauts were as stunned by the severity of the punishment as they were outraged by Nelyubov's narcissistic intransigence. They especially pitied Nelyubov’s two companions, second-stage cosmonaut trainees. Ivan Anikeev And Valentina Filatieva , who were very loved in the detachment. Nelyubov was transferred to an air defense squadron located near Vladivostok, where he told everyone that he was an astronaut. He was very angry that only a few believed him. He watched from the sidelines the flights of his colleagues, one after another going into orbit, to fame and glory. First, the rest of the “Sochi Six” (Nikolaev, Popovich, Bykovsky in 1962 and 1963). Then, part of the second group, whom he at one time was ahead of in preparation for the flight (Komarov in 1964 and Leonov the next year); and even those whom he did not even know (Feoktistov and Egorov), who were not even candidates for cosmonaut when he was expelled from the detachment. Sinking deeper and deeper into depression and alcoholism, he experienced a severe mental crisis. Early in the morning of February 18, 1966, while drunk, he was hit by a train at Ippolitovka station, northwest of Vladivostok. Whether it was an accident or suicide is no longer known. None of these facts were known at the time I published my book "Red Star in Orbit" and published his photograph in it. This tragic story was told only in April 1986 in the Izvestia newspaper, in a series of articles dedicated to the twenty-fifth anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight. Their author, leading space journalist Yaroslav Golovanov, probably knew this before, but was deprived of the opportunity to publish the truth until the strategy of openness and continuous pressure from Western researchers (including myself) made this possible. The unusual sincerity of these publications contrasts sharply with the false statements of previous decades, when cosmonauts in their interviews tried in every possible way to avoid the topic of “missing” cosmonauts. Thus, giving an explanation to a Danish correspondent about the cosmonaut (Nelyubov) depicted in the photograph of the “Sochi Six,” Alexey Leonov stated the following: “In 1962 or 1963, I don’t remember exactly, he left our ranks, because after training in a centrifuge he stomach cramps began. As for the photograph of the young fair-haired pilot given in my book (it turned out to be Ivan Anikeev, counted together with Nelyubov), Leonov gave the following description of his disappearance: “He was withdrawn from the cosmonaut corps due to his weak physical condition, it was , it seems, in 1963." It is difficult to believe that Leonov could so forget what happened with Nelyubov and Anikeev. Most likely, he simply came up with these explanations in the hope that the truth would never come out. The Russians have always presented their road to space as a smooth road to glory, part of their system of planning and full support. The traditional Soviet practice of boasting, glossing over failures and airbrushing its own history has led many Western analysts to question this idyllic picture. Conflicting information that reached the West in parts and incompletely sometimes made one assume an even worse scenario than it actually was. Golovanov's articles, published in 1986, five years after my book "Red Star in Orbit", were the first attempt to restore this aspect of Soviet space history. And there was a lot that needed fixing. Even before the first officially announced aircraft flew in 1961 Soviet cosmonaut, Rumors have reached the West regarding the existence of secret graves of unknown astronauts who died on secret missions. Moscow vigorously denied the very existence of such a possibility, but this had no effect. Many lists of dead astronauts have circulated in the Western press for many years. The USSR condemned the publishers of this kind of material as “enemies.” But in 1986, Golovanov, in his articles in Izvestia, admitted that there really was a tragic accident with the astronaut, and that it was kept secret. His article even included the name of the deceased cosmonaut, Valentina Bondarenko , and the date of his death, March 23, 1961. Golovanov wrote: “Valentin was the youngest of the first cosmonaut corps (he was only 24 years old). A small, grainy photograph from the document accompanied the article. The photograph showed a very young man trying to look stern and important. The photograph was taken in just a few days before his death. Bondarenko underwent training in a pressure chamber, which was part of a 10-day test in complete isolation. At the very end of his stay in the pressure chamber, he made a fatal mistake for him. “After conducting medical tests,” Golovanov writes, “Bondarenko, Having removed the sensors attached to the body and wiped the skin with cotton wool soaked in alcohol, he threw it away, accidentally falling on the heater coil." In an oxygen-saturated atmosphere, the flame quickly engulfed the entire small space of the pressure chamber. In the presence of a high concentration of oxygen, even usually non-flammable substances can burn at high speed An astronaut's training suit caught fire.Unaccustomed to strong fires in an atmosphere with high oxygen content, Bondarenko, making attempts to extinguish the fire, only contributed to the rapid spread of the flames. When the doctor on duty noticed the fire through the porthole, he rushed to the hatch, which he could not immediately open because the internal pressure of the chamber kept him pressed. Relieving pressure through the valves took at least several minutes. And all this time Bondarenko was engulfed in flames. When Valentin was taken out of the pressure chamber, Golovanov continues, he was still conscious and continued to repeat: “It was my mistake, no one else is to blame.” He died eight hours later from burn shock. He was buried in Kharkov, Ukraine, where he grew up and where his parents still lived. He left behind a young widow, Anya, and a five-year-old son, Alexander. Anya remained to work at the cosmonaut training center. When Alexander grew up, he became an officer in the air force. Golovanov's candid article revealing Bondarenko's death may have surprised his compatriots and generated major headlines in the Western press, but it was hardly news to informed "space sleuths" in the West. They were already on the trail of this incident, and the Soviet censors knew it. The reason for such a large-scale (but not full-scale) correction of official history is very simple. Many facts about Bondarenko’s tragedy have already leaked to the West through the Iron Curtain. In 1982, a Jew named S., who had recently emigrated from the USSR. Ticktin discussed Soviet cosmic secrets in a Russian-language monthly magazine published by the emigrant society in West Germany . He mentioned the existence of a similar incident. “Soon after Gagarin’s flight, rumors spread regarding the death of cosmonaut Boyko (or Boychenko) from a fire in a pressure chamber,” he wrote in his article. In 1984, the publishing house St. Martin's Press published a book entitled "Russian Doctor", written by the surgeon, Dr. Vladimir Golyakhovsky, an emigrant from the USSR. He described the death of a cosmonaut trainee in a fire in a pressure chamber. Half of the chapter was devoted to this incident, which occurred in the prestigious Botkin Hospital, where Golyakhovsky (a trauma surgeon) worked in the emergency surgery department and where the dying cosmonaut was brought in. As Golyakhovsky recalls, this very badly burned man, registered as “Sergeev, 24-year-old lieutenant of the Air Force,” was brought in on a stretcher. “I “I couldn’t help but tremble,” Golyakhovsky continues. - He was burned all over. The body was completely devoid of skin, the head was hairless, and there were no visible eyes on the face. ... It was a complete burn of the highest degree. But the patient was still alive...” Golyakovsky noticed that the man was trying to say something, and leaned over to hear. “It hurts very much, please do something to take away the pain,” these were the only words he could make it out. "Sergeev" was burned everywhere except the soles of his feet, where his flight boots gave him some protection from the fire. With great difficulty, the doctors inserted intravenous drips into his legs (they could not find intact blood vessels anywhere else) and administered painkillers medicines. “Unfortunately, Sergeev was doomed, and we realized it immediately,” recalls Golyakovsky. “And yet, each of us tried to do at least something to ease his terrible suffering.” Doctors managed to delay death by only sixteen hours. Golyakovsky then reports a conversation with a small young officer who waited by the telephone in the lobby while the burned man struggled with death. The doctor demanded and received an official record of the accident. It included such details as “a pressure chamber ... oxygenated " and "small electric burner... rag catching fire." Golyakovsky also reported that it took half an hour to open the pressure chamber with Sergeev, and that during this time almost all the oxygen inside the chamber burned out. Later Golyakovsky saw a photograph of this officer in the newspapers. It was Yuri Gagarin who became the first man in space. Despite some inaccuracies in the reports of Tiktin and Golyakovsky, they clearly pointed to some kind of disaster that occurred at the beginning of the Soviet manned space program. The Soviet authorities only had to provide details regarding the real death of Valentin Bondarenko, which they did in April 1986. Golovanov’s article gave new confirmation to many other things that we knew or suspected. By this time it was already known that from the twenty people selected for space flight and who began training in March 1960, a group of six people was later selected for the first flight. But Golovanov gave unknown details. One of the first six, a man named Anatoly Kartashov, was written off due to the appearance of bleeding on the skin after training in a centrifuge. Another of the "six" Valentin Varlamov was written off after damaging his cervical vertebra as a result of stupid carelessness (he died a few years later from an unrelated problem). Those who replaced them became some of the first people in space; a quarter of a century later, even glasnost still prevented Golovanov from publishing their photographs. Another of the twenty astronauts, Mars Rafikov, left the detachment later for personal reasons (since he was the only non-Slavic cosmonaut ever selected, this caused various speculations). The last loser from the first set, Dmitry Zaikin, was discharged in 1968 for medical reasons (ulcer) after working in the backup crew. None of these incidents came to light at the time in the early 1960s. Instead, in the complete absence of information from the Soviet side, Western observers supplemented it with assumptions and rumors, mostly inaccurate and almost always more pessimistic than what actually happened. My own first research work on Soviet space history was carried out in 1972 - 1973, and was devoted to the stories of dead cosmonauts. These stories and legends, making up for the lack of accurate information with their sheer numbers, have led many experts to conclude that at least some of them may have been genuine. By 1973, I had collected an impressive list of rumors regarding dead astronauts: - Cosmonaut Ledovskikh died in 1957 during a suborbital space flight from the Kapustin Yar missile test site, near the Volga. - Astronaut Shaborin died the following year while attempting the same flight. - Astronaut Mitkov died during the third attempt to make a suborbital flight in 1959. - An unknown astronaut was unable to return from orbit in May 1960, when his orbital compartment went into high orbit. 1) - In late September 1960, while Khrushchev was pounding his boot on the table at the UN, another cosmonaut (sometimes identified as Pyotr Dolgov) was killed when his rocket exploded on the launch pad. 2) - On February 4, 1961, a heartbeat was heard from aboard a secret Soviet satellite, which soon stopped (in some reports this satellite was described as a two-seater manned spacecraft, and the names of the dead cosmonauts were given - Belokonev, Kachur And Grachev). 3) - At the beginning of April 1961, a Soviet pilot Vladimir Ilyushin made three orbits around the Earth, but upon returning he was seriously injured. - In mid-May 1961, faint signals asking for help were received in Europe, apparently from an orbiting spacecraft with two astronauts on board. - On October 14, 1961, a multi-seat Soviet spacecraft was knocked off course by a solar flare and disappeared into the depths of space. - Radio tracking radars in Italy detected a space shuttle crash in November 1962, and some believe it killed an astronaut named Belokonev . - The attempt to launch a second woman into space ended tragically on November 19, 1963. - According to radio intercepts made by Italian shortwave operators, one or more astronauts died during a failed spacecraft launch attempt in April 1964. - After the Apollo 1 fire in 1967, which killed three American astronauts, American intelligence sources described five Soviet space mission disasters and six disasters on Earth. What should a researcher think when faced with so many stories? There is a well-known proverb - “there is no smoke without fire.” Although most of the stories seemed fictitious, a few, perhaps two or three, may have been based on real events. But my study of these stories gave a completely negative answer. After reviewing their sources and their details in the context of subsequent space exploration, I concluded that all of these stories were false. At the same time, however, I received convincing evidence that a large number of the first astronaut trainees had disappeared. One could only fantasize about the circumstances under which these people left the cosmonaut training program, and one could assume (to be confirmed ten years later) that some of them were indeed dead. But unlike the myths of the 1960s, it was clear that these people did not die while on a space mission. This new evidence was obtained by studying newsreels and photographs. In 1972 and 1973, I reviewed, frame by frame, the vast amount of Soviet manned spaceflight footage produced in the early 1960s and found at least six unidentified individuals among the apparent trainee cosmonauts. It was unlikely that these individuals were still waiting their turn to fly, since the last person from this first set flew into space in 1969. Some of these individuals also appeared in photographs of the group released in 1971 and 1972 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Gagarin's flight ( for example, the original photograph of the “Sochi Six” was in a book by a Soviet space journalist, published by a New York publishing house). In 1973 I was surprised to discover different versions of some of these photographs. Some faces were retouched in photographs in books published for use in the USSR, although these "non-existent cosmonauts" were still present in the same photographs in Soviet books published for foreign readers. The most famous photograph was the one depicting the so-called “Sochi Six”, including Grigory Nelyubov (second from left in the back row). It was this photograph in the book “Red Star in Orbit” that Leonov frowned at. And a few years later, British explorer Rex Hall discovered two various options a group photograph taken on the same day, one of which included eleven and the other sixteen astronauts. One of those “removed” from the photograph were Nelyubov and his fellow sufferers Anikeev and Filatiev, as well as Mars Rafikov, Dmitry Zaikin, and a parachute jumping instructor named Nikitin, who crashed during the jump, who later left the race. This photograph of the “Sochi Six,” found in some Soviet book, was published as an illustration to Golovanov’s article in Izvestia, with the false title “Published for the first time.” These "absent cosmonauts" were originally unknown, and for convenience I have designated them under the codes X1 to X9. Photographs of many of these people were published in my articles as early as 1973. One of these astronauts, whom I named X2, was identified fairly quickly. He was erased from the photo of the Sochi Six. According to photographs and texts, he was closely associated with the flight of Yuri Gagarin. At the same time, individual mentions of “Gregory” in memoirs and historical literature characterized him as a person with a complex character. It was undoubtedly Nelyubov. When Bondarenko's photograph appeared in Izvestia in 1986, I looked through my photographs of unknown cosmonauts under the code X. And one of them, whom I designated X7, was undoubtedly the pilot Bondarenko. In response to the widespread publication in the West in the mid-1970s of "before" and "after" retouching photographs of astronauts, the USSR was extremely reluctant to provide an "explanation" for the existence of these "additional" cosmonauts. In 1977, in a book by Georgy Shonin, the presence of eight “expelled” from the first set of cosmonauts was recognized. Only the names of these cosmonauts were named (ten years later Golovanov also named their last names). Shonin's book (and some other, later books by astronauts) gave very scant information about their expulsion, mentioning medical, disciplinary and other reasons, but making it clear that they all left the detachment alive. Shonin even spoke on two pages about “young Valentin” (Bondarenko, as we later learned), although without any mention of the tragedy that had occurred. These partial explanations and deceptions were undertaken in response to continued Western interest in the mystery of the missing Soviet cosmonauts. At the time I wrote the book "Red Star in Orbit" in 1980, the veracity of Shonin's story was under strong suspicion. I didn't believe that all eight astronauts were still alive or that we would ever be able to recognize them real story . On the first question I was right, but on the second I was wrong, which I am very happy about. Meanwhile, more careful retouching of the photographs was attempted in the Soviet Union, perhaps after I mockingly criticized the clumsiness of the original forgery. In a photograph published in Moscow in 1972, the place of the absent cosmonaut was simply a painted-over background. In two new versions of the photographs (published in 1982), inconsistent images were added. In one, a diligent graphic artist filled in the gap by reconstructing a missing staircase (visible in other photographs taken at the same location, but obscured by the missing person's body); on another, a less conscientious but more creative artist painted an intricate rose bush to fill the vacant space! Placed side by side, the two new fake photographs of the Sochi Six looked even funnier than the original fake. For many years I was one of the few in the West who exposed stories of missing astronauts as fiction. Imagine my surprise in April 1986 when one of Golovanov's articles in Izvestia (titled "Slander") accused a certain "James Oberg from Houston" of being the main spreader of rumors about "secret dead cosmonauts"! Allegedly, I started a rumor about the death of pseudo-cosmonauts Grachev, Dolgov, Zavadovsky and Ledovsky. “I’ve never heard of these names,” Golovanov exclaimed, trying to find out the source of “my” rumors. The official "summary" of Golovanov's article in English, released by the Novosti news agency, went even further. "James Oberg claimed that four Soviet cosmonauts died in space between 1957 and 1961. He even named their last names: Grachev, Dolgov, Zavadovsky and Ledovsky. We must ask James Oberg from Houston to clarify who Grachev, Dolgov, Zavadovsky are and Ledovsky, because he invented them." But this is not true. Other authors started these rumors, and I debunked them. Golovanov himself explained who they were a few weeks later, in May 1986, in another article in Izvestia. In 1959, they were testers of high-altitude aircraft equipment, interviews with them were published in Moscow publications, and subsequently they were mistakenly called “cosmonauts” by Western journalists. In one of his articles in April 1986, Golovanov scolded all those whom he accused of spreading slanderous rumors about the Soviet space program: “Fie, gentlemen. Shame on you!" I did not feel particularly ashamed. Golovanov distorted my conclusions, despite the fact that he himself borrowed something from me. When I learned that the editors wanted to publish a number of articles in the form of a brochure, I sent several letters demanding correction of errors and making changes. I received Golovanov's response not by mail (I never received an apology or explanation), but in the typical Soviet way - by revising history [but in the early 1990s we met several times amicably and worked together on a joint investigation]. published, and although it was implied that it was based on newspaper articles, this was not entirely true. The section on my work was completely rewritten in full accordance with my complaints; I was now good guy , debunking rumors of “dead cosmonauts,” which (according to Golovanov) “testified [my] reputation as a serious and objective journalist.” It came close to an apology, and I appreciated Golovanov's grace and humor. He played on my last name - preserving, in Russian - oberegaya - and found a way to correctly present the events. (I now assume that the original accusation in the newspaper was based on poor translation of my articles). Thus, the first reaction of the Soviets to the insistence on revealing their secrets was an accusation of criminal intent, rather than an understandable interest in the truth. Even during glasnost, the old and strident Russian paranoia of foreign curiosity about its failures is still very noticeable. An example of such a reaction is the story of Dennis Ogden, a British correspondent in Moscow in 1961. Just before Gagarin's flight, Ogden wrote that a pilot named Vladimir Ilyushin flew into space a week before Gagarin, but returned seriously wounded and was hidden in a hospital. Golovanov wrote in Izvestia: “At first I treated this story [about Ilyushin’s flight] with irony and disgust. This is a well-thought-out anti-Soviet campaign, the authors of which for many years deceived millions of people and belittled the scientific and technical achievements of our country... We could also expect that our enemies would try to undermine the significance of Gagarin's flight in one way or another... Such messages are intended for extremely ignorant readers. I repeat: this is a whole campaign." The ironic aspect of Golovanov's attack on the "enemies" and the use of Ilyushin's story as an example is that this story did not come from the enemies of the USSR. It came from his friends. The author was Dennis Ogden, Moscow correspondent for the Daily World, the official newspaper of the British Communist Party. Ogden lived in Moscow in 1961 and may have received a highly distorted version of Bondarenko's death, which we now know actually occurred twenty days before Gagarin's flight. Or he, knowing (since he lived in the same house as Ilyushin) that Ilyushin was severely injured (during a car accident), could connect them with the rumors regarding injured cosmonauts that were circulating in Moscow at the time. He offered a plausible version, which turned out to be false, without at all trying to oppose the "worker's paradise" that he actually adored. Meanwhile, new reports continued to arrive regarding other dead astronauts. Golovanov's article in 1986 claimed that there were no others besides Bondarenko's death, but this is unlikely. After all, it was the head of the cosmonaut corps, Vladimir Shatalov, who told his American colleagues that “six or eight” cosmonaut candidates had died in 1973 in Houston, while planning the joint Apollo-Soyuz flight (so many that he, leader, could not remember the exact number!) [Later Shatalov and Stafford insisted that he was talking about total quantity all dead cosmonauts]. One of the women members of the 1973 Soviet delegation to NASA told her American interlocutors that she was the widow of cosmonaut Anatoly Tokov, a former test pilot who died in 1967 while preparing for a space flight. [This has not been confirmed and I no longer believe it]. In the mid-1960s, there were credible reports of one unsuccessful parachute jump and at least one car accident (the same source reported that several candidates were suspended from training due to a drunken scandal - a direct link to the Nelyubov story). So obviously there were many more young people who deserved to be remembered. When researcher Michael Cassutt, who was collecting material for a book about astronauts, requested the CIA under the Freedom of Information Act for "astronaut incidents between 1960 and 1975," he received a very interesting answer. His request for such documents was rejected, but as compensation he was provided with a list of documents that satisfied his request. There was one message from April 6, 1965 (shortly after the Voskhod 2 flight), three during the Soyuz 1 disaster in April 1967, two more in the same year, and three more between 1973-1975 (possibly regarding preparations for the Apollo-Soyuz flight). The existence of such documents suggests the possibility of something else happening, but further speculation is useless until the documents are fully declassified. When Golovanov listed the dead American astronauts who died during training, plane crashes, and other space-related accidents, he may have specifically left out one name. Astronaut Edward Givens died in a car accident in 1967, and Golovanov did not list him among the other "dead astronauts." He may have believed that it was difficult to view a car accident as a “death in training.” Or perhaps it was a veiled hint that he knew about similar cases with Soviet cosmonauts, and specifically changed the selection criteria so as not to include them in the list of Soviet dead cosmonauts. So perhaps there were still cosmonauts in the Soviet Union who died for reasons unrelated to their professional activities. I found a larger number of processed photographs that the censors had worked on and that also had retouched characters. Since the very method of “processing” the photograph is the same as in the case of Nelyubov and Bondarenko, it is possible that the fate of these “removed” people also ended tragically. The search continues. The Bondarenko tragedy in 1961 is very similar to the Cape Kennedy disaster in January 1967, when three American astronauts also died in a fire in an oxygen-rich atmosphere. With no knowledge of the Soviet disaster, NASA engineers were careless in using a pure oxygen atmosphere. Apollo 1 (like the Soviet pressure chamber) used materials that were found to be highly flammable in an oxygen-enriched atmosphere; Apollo 1 (like the Soviet pressure chamber) did not have an escape hatch cabins; on Apollo 1 (as in the Soviet pressure chamber), there was no effective fire-fighting equipment. Could knowledge of Bondarenko's death in the fire have prevented the fire on Apollo 1 and thereby saved Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee? Information that a Soviet cosmonaut died due to a fire in an oxygen-enriched atmosphere could prevent a repetition of this tragedy in America. At the time of the Bondarenko tragedy, Khrushchev was the Soviet leader, and decades later, in a memoir he wrote in retirement, he noted that he believed information about such incidents should be publicly available. Speaking about the Soyuz-11 tragedy, he said: “I believe that the cause of the disaster should be announced for two reasons: firstly, to somehow console people who do not know what happened and how, and secondly, so that scientists can "We would like to take precautions to prevent the same catastrophe from happening again. In general, I believe that the United States should be informed by us about everything that has gone wrong. After all, after all, Americans are also engaged in space exploration." But when he had the opportunity to implement this strategy (in 1961), he did nothing. Perhaps he regretted it later. His successors, including Gorbachev, continued a strategy of non-disclosure that harmed all space explorers. When in 1965, cosmonaut Leonov, who was performing a spacewalk on Voskhod 2, nearly died due to difficulties returning to the ship, the Soviet Union did not inform its American colleagues about this at all. Instead, numerous official publications talked about how easily and simply this exit was carried out (only decades later did the cosmonauts admit to Western journalists that these reports were false). Consequently, NASA engineers and astronauts were unable to properly appreciate the difficulties that such work might pose, and in mid-1966 an American astronaut was nearly killed when he unexpectedly encountered the same difficulties. Even in 1985, when cosmonaut Vasyutin became seriously ill in orbit, the Soviet side refused the opportunity to consult with American space doctors on this problem. For the sake of the safety of future space flights, more “space transparency” is required. About some space tragedies in the Soviet Union it was reported openly. But the events were known only in general terms; certain specific details were not available. In April 1967, cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov died when the parachute of his Soyuz 1 spacecraft failed to deploy as he returned from space. Although the Soviet press wrote extensively about Komarov's death, the full story of the disaster was never reported. This was required by the fear of losing Soviet leadership in the “space race.” A few years later, Viktor Evsikov, a Soviet engineer who participated in the development of the protective fireproof coating for the Soyuz spacecraft, emigrated to America. Here he wrote down his memories of that period. He wrote: “Some launches were carried out almost exclusively for propaganda purposes. For example, the launch of Vladimir Komarov on the Soyuz-1 spacecraft was timed to coincide with the celebration of International Workers' Day, ... the design bureau knew that the ship had not yet been fully tested , and that a certain amount of time was required for it to be finalized and put into operation. But the Communist Party ordered the launch, despite the fact that four previous test launches showed the presence of deficiencies in the attitude control, thermal control, and parachute systems. ... None of the tests was not completely successful. During the first test flight, the fireproof screen burned through during descent. The descent vehicle was completely destroyed. Three other failures had different reasons. Failures in these test flights occurred due to breakdowns in the thermal control system, the automatic orientation system, and the parachute lines caught fire [due to the activation of the pyrotechnic system]. In these cases, the fireproof screen worked fine. It is clear that these failures were never declassified. None of the Kremlin rulers admitted responsibility for the decision to carry out Komarov's flight. Evsikov wrote: “I went

USSR cosmonauts became the first in the mysterious and beautiful space. Humanity has always dreamed of making contact with other civilizations.

Cosmonautics preserves the knowledge of where the universe itself and man came from. Is there another planet in observable space with similar conditions for life, and perhaps with its own history?

Anyone who says that outer space is only black does not know much about the world beyond the known planets. Modern residents may not remember where the history of space exploration began. Science fiction writers all over the world are coming up with the possibility of time travel (from the point of view modern physics portals are possible).

However, without the memories of the discoverers, we are unlikely to cross the limits of accessible (visible) space. If we don’t go out into other galaxies, cosmonautics will die.

Space nation, our country received such a “title” after Gagarin’s successful flight. This was not just a national achievement or pride, but a bid for global dominance. The Russians brought down to earth from the black depths of space not only glory.

Nations around the world have recognized the existence of a new "space" tactical advantage for any ongoing military operation, which in modern realities could be called "space wars".

The first space warrior

He became Yuri Gagarin, born in the Kashin village at the beginning of the twentieth century. His studies were interrupted during the Patriotic War. Six years after the end of the German attempts to conquer the Union, the future pilot entered the Saratov technical school, where he became interested in air flights. Five years later, Yura enters flight school.

By the time of his first flight into dark space, Yuri managed to fly over two hundred hours. In April of the sixty-first year (twentieth century), he spent a little more than a hundred minutes (108) outside our planet on the Vostok-1 ship. The landing was successful.

The need to make themselves known to the public forced Americans to invest a lot of money in the fight against the “red country.” Victory could bring spiritual uplift to the losing country.

The Soviets did not seek approval for funding space programs, but chose to cover only successful missions. Soviet citizens decided that the USSR program was not capable of failure. They were wrong.

In the table below in chronological order The cosmonauts of the USSR, the names of their spacecraft, the date of flight and other data are indicated.

Space warrior named Konstantin

Feoktistov Konstantin Petrovich - this researcher spent a day in space. Alas, he never got to see the second flight “due to health reasons.” This “state” remained with him after the unsuccessful “execution” in German captivity.

After hostilities, he chose the “peaceful” path and in 1967 received his doctorate.

Many events related to the death of the pilots were classified for a long time. Even now, half a century later, their number is not known exactly.

Few people know about Vladimir Komarov, best friend Soviet hero Gagarin. Second only to Gagarin, Vladimir died during the unsuccessful return of his Soyuz-1 capsule. There have been rumors about his final moments, in which many claim he spoke out against Soviet regime and blamed them for his impending death.

Officially, the successful second flight into space was a flight under the control of German Titov (a former understudy of Gagarin).

There are many theories regarding deceased space pilots. Government secrecy has given rise to many hypotheses about people “missing” in space. Moreover, there are allegations that flights took place long before the first flight in 61 (20th century). There is no public evidence other than the manipulation of some photos in the media.

All evidence supporting the theory of "lost" astronauts was regarded as inconclusive, and some cases turned out to be hoaxes. In the eighties, an American journalist conducted his own investigation into disasters in the Soviet Union, but also found no evidence.

Bondarenko Valentin Vasilievich

Deceased Russian pilot cosmonaut. Like many cosmonauts, he prepared for a future flight into space, undergoing tests in a hyperbaric chamber at the Air Force Research Institute-7. Selected pilots were tested in silence and loneliness. The tenth day of Valentin’s stay in the hyperbaric chamber was ending.

At the end of one of medical experiments, Valentin Vasilyevich detached the special sensors from his body, wiped the attachment points with a swab moistened with alcohol, and then carelessly threw it away by mistake. The tampon, hitting the coil of a hot hotplate, instantly burst into flames. The pilot's wool training suit caught fire.

When the pressure chamber was opened, Valentin was still alive. But in the hospital, after eight hours of doctors trying to help, he died, experiencing burn shock incompatible with life. 19 days before the first official flight into space, Valentin Bondarenko, who was a member of the cosmonaut training group, died.

Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov

Born on March sixteen, twenty-seven in the Orenburg region. In 1945 he graduated from the aviation school in Borisoglebsk. He was number seven on the list of cosmonaut pilots. He made two flights into space on two first-generation spacecraft, Soyuz and Voskhod.

The first space expedition without spacesuits (they were removed due to lack of space) took place in October sixty-four. The flight was successful. Komarov spent a little more than a day in space (that’s how long the flight lasted), after which, using a soft landing system, he successfully completed his first expedition.

On the second flight, from the very beginning, many emergency situations and minor failures occurred, warning of impending disaster. At the final stage, due to a failure of the parachute landing system, the device entered an uncontrolled rotation, crashed into the ground at high speed in the Adamovsky district of the Orenburg region, collapsed and caught fire. The second generation Soyuz burned down in April 1967.

Viktor Ivanovich Patsaev

Born on the nineteenth of June, thirty-three, on the territory of modern Kazakhstan, in Aktyubinsk.

In 1958 he got a job in the design bureau of the famous Korolev. Thirteen years later he flew as a research engineer on Soyuz 11. Spent twenty-three days in space at the Salyut-1 orbital station.

However, during the landing of the Soyuz-11 apparatus, depressurization occurred, all three crew members - Viktor Patsaev, Georgy Dobrovolsky and Vladislav Volkov - died. Posthumously, in the same year 1971, they all received the “Hero of the Soviet Union” award.

Volkov Vladislav Nikolaevich

Vladislav was born two years later than Patsaev in Moscow. After graduating from the Moscow Aviation Institute, he worked at the Korolev Design Bureau. Vladislav Volkov is one of the developers of many spacecraft, including the ships "Vostok" and "Voskhod".

The first expedition into space took place on the Soyuz 7 spacecraft in 1969 and lasted four days and twenty-two hours. In the second expedition, which took place in the seventy-first year, being part of Patsaev and Dobrovolsky, he died during the depressurization of the Soyuz-11 ship.

Dobrovolsky Georgy Timofeevich

Georgy was born in 1928, on the first day of summer, in Odessa. In 1944, he was captured by Romanian occupation forces and sentenced to 25 years of hard labor. A month later, in March, local residents bought Georgiy from the prison guard.

After the liberation of his hometown from occupation, he entered a special air force school, which he graduated from in 1946. He studied in Chuguevsky aviation school, served as a fighter pilot, graduated from the Air Force Academy (now named after Yuri Gagarin).

In January 1962, when Georgiy Timofeevich was 33 years old, he was invited to undergo training in the cosmonaut corps. Dobrovolsky was trained according to the lunar program. In 1971, he made his first flight on the Soyuz-11 spacecraft, which ended in tragedy. All three crew members, in the prime of life, died.

Women cosmonauts of the USSR and Russia

The fate of women who devoted themselves to work in the space sector is amazing.

Tereshkova Valentina Vladimirovna

The first woman to go into space, and even alone (the only one in the world today!), was Valentina under the call sign “Chaika”.

Valentina Vladimirovna was born four years before the start of the Patriotic War, on March 6. In '53, she graduated from 7 grades of school, then completed another 3 grades, combining education with work and helping her family. Having good musical ear I learned to play the domra.

Valentina's professions before joining the cosmonaut corps:

• bracelet at the Tire Factory in Yaroslavl;
• roving at the Industrial Fabrics Plant of the same city;
• correspondence student at the College of Light Industry, specialty - cotton spinning technologist;
• Secretary of the Komsomol Committee;
• student of the Yaroslavl Parachute Club (performed 90 jumps).

In 1962, she was selected from 100 applicants for the women's cosmonaut training squad. Valentina fully met the criteria by which the selection took place - up to 170 cm in height, up to 70 kg in weight, parachutist, age up to 30 years. Also, in addition to excellent preparation in flight and successful completion All trials, the Soviet authorities looked at social status (she was from the working class) and the ability to lead an active social life.

The flight took place on June 16, 1963 on the Vostok-6 spacecraft. Valentina’s flight lasted almost three days; she made 48 orbits around the Earth, kept a logbook, and took pictures of the planet.

After her triumphant return, Valentina became a cosmonaut instructor, and worked in this position until April 1997.

After flying into space, Valentina Vladimirovna graduated from the Air Force Academy. Zhukovsky, defended her dissertation, became a professor, published more than five dozen scientific works. This amazing woman was ready to fly one way.

Kondakova Elena Vladimirovna

Elena is the first female Russian cosmonaut to make a long flight into outer space. She was born in 1957 in Moscow.

Her flight took place in ninety-four, when the Union was no longer there. Elena returned to our planet in March 1995, after five months at the Mir station. The second flight on the American shuttle Atlantis took place in 1997 in May from the 15th to the 24th.

A list of the women's squad will be presented here. Some of these brave female cosmonauts may have already died, but these six names are worth remembering:

Russian cosmonauts

In which town do domestic cosmonauts train?

The Gagarin Aerospace Training Center is the main Soviet and Russian institution of Roscosmos. “Star City” was created in the early sixties in the Shchelkovsky district of the Moscow region.

S. G. Krikalev is listed as the director. At the end of the same decade, the center was named after the first person to travel into outer space.

A fairly young training center for preparing people for travel into space is located in the forest, hidden from prying eyes. Getting into the “town” is difficult.

With a population of six thousand people, this closed administrative territorial division is surrounded by forest. Every five years, deputies are elected, and they are all subordinate to a large Russian corporation.

Few Western journalists or reporters have had the opportunity to gain access to the treasury of Russian cosmonautics, where the great conquerors of dark space were trained.

Only one photographer managed to get beautiful pictures of the secret complex Mitch Karunaratne. He was allowed to go 48 kilometers from the capital and see the center where the legendary cosmonaut with the call sign “Kedr” (Gagarin’s call sign) was trained.

Conclusion

To this day, even though the area is no longer a military zone and was handed over to the space agency in 2009, it remains difficult for outsiders to gain access to Star City.