The history of global cosmonautics written by Russian experts abounds in “firsts.”
The history of global cosmonautics written by Russian experts abounds in “firsts.” And there is much beyond Soviet citizen Yury Gagarin being the first human in space.
Gherman Titov was the first person to spend more than 24 hours in space. On August 6 and 7, 1961 he completed a 25-hour space flight with 17 laps around the Earth, traveling over 700,000 kilometers.
The first formation flight with two spacecraft took place on August 12, 1962, with Andrian Nikolayev in Vostok-3 and Pavel Popovich in Vostok-4.
On June 16, 1963, Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman cosmonaut in space.
On October 12, 1964, the world’s first multiperson spacecraft lifted off, carrying Vladimir Komarov, Konstantin Feoktistov and Boris Yegorov. Also for the first time, a soft landing system was used.
On March 18, 1965, Alexei Leonov made the first space walk. The cosmonaut spent 12 minutes and 9 seconds outside his spacecraft. There was an emergency during the trial: Leonov found he could not re-enter the craft because his spacesuit had swollen. He managed to get back inside only after bleeding excessive pressure, head first, not feet , which had been prohibited.
Vladimir Komarov was the first Soviet cosmonaut to make two space flights. His first flight was on October 12, 1964, with Konstantin Feoktistov and Boris Yegorov. His second mission – on April 23, 1967 – ended in tragedy. During the descent, the main parachute failed to open and the spacecraft hit the ground at high speed, killing Komarov.
On January 15, 1969, for the first time two cosmonauts – Alexei Yeliseyev and Yevgeny Khrunov –traded spacecraft in space: from Soyuz-4 to Soyuz-5 and vice versa. It was the first time cosmonauts had lifted off in one craft and landed in another.
In June 1970, in Soyuz-9, Andrian Nikolayev and Vitaly Sevastyanov made the first flight that lasted over two weeks.
Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev made the first flight that lasted longer than three weeks. They started on June 6, 1971. On June 30, during the return, their spacecraft depressurized, and all of the crew was killed.
Yury Romanenko and Georgy Grechko made the first flight lasting over three months – 96 days and 10 hours. The crew celebrated the New Year in orbit and stayed up there from December 10, 1977 to March 16, 1978.
Leonid Popov and Valery Ryumin made the first flight lasting over six months in 1980.
Oleg Makarov became the first cosmonaut to fly three space missions and one suborbital mission.
Svetlana Savitskaya was the first woman to go to space as a member of a crew. She stayed in orbit from August 19 to 27, 1982 as a research cosmonaut.
Between July 17 and 29, 1984, Svetlana Savitskaya flew aboard Soyuz T-12 and the orbiting station Salyut-7 as a flight engineer. During the mission she was the first woman to make a space walk.
Vladimir Dzhanibekov became the first cosmonaut to have gone to space five times. His fifth mission, for example, when he commanded Soyuz T-13 (June 6 to September 26, 1985), is considered the most technically complex in the history of Russia’s cosmonautics. After a technical malfunction, Salyut-7 went into a tumble. To regain control over it, an expedition consisting of Dzhanibekov and Savinykh was dispatched. Ground- and space-based air defense facilities helped to guide the spacecraft to the troubled station.
Leonid Kizim and Vladimir Solovyov were the first expedition to the Mir station, flying there on Soyuz T-15 on March 13, 1986. They made the first inter-orbital transfer from one space station to another.
Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov were the first to spend a full year in space – from December 21, 1987 to December 21, 1988.
In 2005, Sergei Krikalev became the first cosmonaut to have been to space six times. He holds the record for the longest time spent in space (803 days spread over six launches).
In April 2008, Sergei Volkov, the son of the cosmonaut Alexander Volkov, flew into space, the first of the second generation of Russian cosmonauts.
