MAJOR GENERAL ANATOLIY V. FILIPCHENKO Born: February 26, 1928 in Davydovka, Voronezh Oblast, RSFSR
Anatoly Vasilyevich Filipchenko was born February 26,
1928 in Davydovka, Voronezh Oblast, RSFSR. He was a Soviet cosmonaut of
Ukrainian descent. He flew on the Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 16
missions. After leaving the space programme in 1982 Filipchenko
became the Deputy Director of the OKB in Kharkiv. He was
awarded: Hero of the Soviet Union Pilot-Cosmonaut of the
USSR Order of Lenin Order of the Red Banner of
Labour Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" State Prize of
the USSR Order of the Banner of the Bulgarian People's
Republic Medal "For the Strengthening Military Cooperation"
(Czechoslovakia) Medal "Brotherhood in
Arms" (GDR)
VITALY ZHOLOBOV Born: June 18, 1937 in Zburyivka, Kherson Oblast Ukrainian SSR
Vitaly Mikhaylovich Zholobov was born June 18, 1937 in
Zburyivka, Kherson Oblast Ukrainian SSR. He was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on
Soyuz 21 space flight as the flight engineer.
Zholobov joined the space programme from the Soviet Air
Force where he held the rank of Colonel-engineer. His only trip to
space involved a two-month stay on the Salyut 5 space station (Soyuz 21
mission). The flight was scheduled to last for 60 days but lasted for only 49.
The reason for the cancellation was the detection of a noxious odor on board.
Vitaly Zsholobow reported to the Mission Control Center that the smell was
similar to that of a propellant which was known to be toxic. The Control Center
decided to abort the mission to avoid exposing the crew to further risk and
because the research and technology programs were already successfully finished.
He was in orbit from June 6, 1976 to August 24, 1976. Although he
never flew again, Zholobov stayed in the space programme until 1981 when he
resigned to become director of a geological science research
group. He was awarded: Hero of the Soviet
Union Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR Order of Merit 3rd class
(Ukraine) Order of Lenin Medal "For Merit in Space
Exploration" (Russian Federation) Medal "For the Development of Virgin
Lands" Medal "For Distinction in Guarding the State Border of the
USSR"
COLONEL PYOTR KLIMUK Born: July 10, 1942 in Kamarouka, Brest Voblast, Byelorussian SSR
Pyotr Ilyich Klimuk was born July 10, 1942 in Kamarouka,
Brest Voblast, Byelorussian SSR, is a former Soviet cosmonaut and the first
Belarusian to perform space travel. Klimuk made three flights into
space. Klimuk attended the Leninski Komsomol Chernigov High
Aviation School and entered the Soviet Air Force in 1964. The following year, he
was selected to join the space programme. His first flight was a
long test flight on Soyuz 13 in 1973. This was followed by a mission to the
Salyut 4 space station on Soyuz 18 in 1975. From 1976 he became
involved in the Intercosmos and made his third and final spaceflight on an
Intercosmos flight with Polish cosmonaut Miroslaw Hermaszewski on Soyuz
30. He resigned from the cosmonaut team in 1978 to take up a
position as the Assistant to the Chief of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.
In 1991 he was promoted to Chief of that facility and remained in that post
until retirement in 2003. Klimuk is a graduate of the Gagarin Air
Force Academy and the Lenin Military Political Academy. He is the
author of two books on human spaceflight: Beside the Stars, and Attack on
Weightlessness.
MAJOR GENERAL PAVEL POPOVICH Born: October 5, 1930 in Uzyn, Kiev Oblast, United Kingdomrainian SSR, USSR Died: September 29, 2009 in Gurzuf, Crimea, United Kingdomraine
Pavel Romanovich Popovich was the 4th cosmonaut in
space, the 6th person in orbit, and the 8th person in space.
He was born in Uzyn, Kiev Oblast of Soviet Union (now
Ukraine) to Roman Porfirievich Popovich (a fireman in a sugar factory) and
Theodosia Kasyanovna Semyonov. He had two sisters (one older, one younger) and
two brothers (both younger). During World War II, the Germans
occupied Uzyn, and burned documents including Popovich's birth certificate.
After the war, these were restored through witness testimony, and although his
mother knew that he was born in 1929, two witnesses insisted that Popovich was
born in 1930, and so this became his official year of birth. In
1947, he left vocational school in Bila Tserkva with qualifications as a
carpenter. In 1951, Popovich graduated as a construction engineer from a
technical school in Magnitogorsk, as well as receiving a pilot's
degree. In 1954, he joined the Young Communist
League. He was married to Marina Popovich, a retired Soviet Air
Force colonel, engineer, and legendary Soviet test pilot who has been outspoken
about UFO reality. They had two daughters. They later divorced, and Popovich
married Alevtina Oshegova. Popovich was also a keen weight
lifter: "Service in the Air Force made us strong, both physically and
morally. All of us cosmonauts took up sports and PT seriously when we served in
the Air Force. I know that Yuri Gagarin was fond of ice hockey. He liked to play
goal keeper. Gherman Titov was a gymnastics enthusiast, Andriyan Nikolayev liked
skiing, Pavel Popovich went in for weight lifting. I don't think I am wrong when
I say that sports became a fixture in the life of the cosmonauts." He was
also a member of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
6th–11th convocations. After his retirement in 1993, he lived in
Moscow. Popovich died in a hospital in Gurzuf where he had been
taken following a stroke on 29 September 2009. Brain hemorrhage was cited as the
cause of death. He is buried in Moscow.
Film Credits 2002 Out of the Blue (in person), 1997 Strange But True (in person), 1990 Yaoi Jun'ichi UFO shuzai tokuhô dai 3 dan (in person)
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