Быковский Валерий Федорович
Valery Fyodorovich Bykovsky is a Soviet cosmonaut pilot No. 5, twice Hero of the Soviet Union (1963, 1976), who completed three space flights with a total duration of 20 days, 17 hours, 47 minutes, and 21 seconds. He was the only one of the cosmonauts who flew on the Vostok or Voskhod spacecraft who completed three space missions.
Biography
He was born in the city of Pavlovsky Posad, Moscow region. He studied in schools in different cities where he lived with his parents (employees of the NKPS of the USSR): Pavlovsky Posad, Kuibyshev, Syzran, Moscow, Tehran. From 7th to 10th grade he studied at the men's secondary railway school No. 1 in Moscow.
He graduated from the DOSAAF Moscow Aero Club School, the 6th Military Aviation School for Initial pilot Training (VASHPOL) in Kamenka, Penza Region (1953), the Kachinsky Military Aviation School for Pilots (1955) and the Zhukovsky Military Air Engineering Academy (he defended his diploma in January 1968 on the topic of the fuel system of a single-seat rocket engine of an air and space aircraft).
Since 1955, he served as a fighter pilot in the fighter regiment of the Moscow Air Defense District. On March 7, 1960, by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, he was enrolled as an astronaut student in the cosmonaut squad of the Air Force Cosmonaut Training Center (now the Yuri Gagarin Space Training Center). On January 25, 1961, he was appointed to the position of cosmonaut with the qualification "Air Force cosmonaut".
He was a member of the first cosmonaut squad along with Yuri Gagarin, German Titov, Andriy Nikolaev, Grigory Nelyubov, Pavel Popovich.
After his discharge from the Armed Forces in 1988-1990, he worked as the director of the House of Soviet Science and Culture in Berlin (GDR).
Space flights
First flight (June 14-19, 1963) — commander of the Vostok-5 spacecraft. Duration — 4 days, 23 hours and 6 minutes. The flight took place in conjunction with the flight of the Vostok-6 spacecraft, piloted by Valentina Tereshkova. The purpose of the mission is to check the functioning of the human body during long—term flight, test onboard systems and prepare a diet for future astronauts. For this flight, Bykovsky was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union.
Second flight (September 15-23, 1976) — commander of the Soyuz-22 spacecraft. The duration is 7 days, 21 hours, 52 minutes, and 17 seconds. During the flight, the astronauts conducted biological experiments, tested new navigation equipment, and practiced new ship orientation techniques. For this flight, Bykovsky received the second Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union.
The third flight (August 26 — September 3, 1978) was the commander of the Soviet-German crew on the Soyuz-31 spacecraft to work aboard the Salyut-6 orbital station. The duration is 7 days, 20 hours, 49 minutes, and 4 seconds. The crew conducted experiments in space biology, astrophysics, remote sensing of the Earth and in the field of space medicine.
Other career stages
In 1965-1969, he led a group of Soviet cosmonauts who were preparing for the Soviet L1/Zond Moon flyby and L3 landing programs.
In 1965-1967, he was trained for flight as the commander of the main crew of the Soyuz-2 spacecraft. The flight was canceled on the eve of launch due to problems on board Soyuz-1, with which a docking was planned in orbit.
In January — September 1968, he trained as commander of the L3 spacecraft under the program of the expedition to the Moon, but the project was closed.
From October 11, 1979 to July 10, 1980, he was trained for flight under the program of the expedition to visit OS Salyut-6 as a backup crew commander along with Bui Thanh-Liem (SRV). During the launch of the Soyuz-37 spacecraft on July 24, 1980, he was the backup commander of the ship.
After being discharged from the cosmonaut squad, he served in various positions at the CPC from January 1982 to April 1988.
Awards and titles
Twice Hero of the Soviet Union (1963, 1976).
Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR (1963).
Hero of Socialist Labor of the Republic of Belarus.
The hero of the GDR.
Hero of Labor of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Three Orders of Lenin (1963, 1976, 1978).
Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1976).
Order of Friendship (2011).
Order of the Red Star (1961).
Medal "For the development of virgin lands" (1963) and nine commemorative medals.
The Gold Star Medal of the Hero of Labor of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (1963).
The Gold Star Medal of the Hero of Socialist Labor of the USSR and the Order of George Dimitrov (1963, Ussr).
Order of the Grunwald Cross, 1st degree (1963, Poland).
Order of the Star, 2nd Class (1963, Indonesia).
Gold Star Medal of the Hero of the GDR (1978).
Two Orders of Karl Marx (1976, 1978, GDR).
He was also an honorary citizen of the cities of Kaluga, Tselinograd, Pavlovsky Posad, Dzhezkazgan, Rzhev, Burgas, and Varna.
In 1973, he defended his thesis in the field of autonomous space navigation and received a PhD in engineering.
Valery Fyodorovich Bykovsky retired from the cosmonaut corps in 1988.