Valery Fyodorovich Bykovsky
Valery Fyodorovich Bykovsky was a Soviet
cosmonaut who flew three manned space mission space flights: Vostok
5, Soyuz 22, and Soyuz 31. He was also backup for Vostok 3 and
Soyuz 37.
Bykovsky set a space endurance record when he
spent five days in orbit aboard Vostok 5 in 1963. Although this
flight duration has long since been surpassed by crews of more than
one person, to this day it remains the endurance record for a solo
spaceflight.
Bykovsky was to have commanded the original
Soyuz 2 mission, which was cancelled due to problems with Soyuz 1.
After the parachutes failed on that mission, killing Vladimir
Komarov, the same problem was found with the Soyuz 2 capsule, which
meant if the mission had flown, Bykovsky and his crew would also
have been killed.
Many of his later years in the space programme
were involved with promoting the Intercosmos programme amongst the
world´s Socialist nations. He retired in 1988 and then spent three
years as the Director of the House of Soviet Science and Culture in
Berlin.
Valery Bykovsky was awarded the Hero of the
Soviet Union (1963), the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Star,
and numerous other medals and foreign orders.
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