From time immemorial, mankind has sought to fly. Perhaps it was their most desired dream. With the formation of modern civilization, people wanted not just to fly, but to reach the enchanting haze of outer space. And finally, they were able to realize the desire of mankind to go into outer space!
The first cosmonaut of the Soviet Union was, which entered forever into world history. Preparations for the flight of the world's first man lasted a little over a year, and, behold, on April 12, 1961, this historic moment took place. They met the pilot on Earth, as befits, to meet the heroes of the fatherland. Later, Gagarin was awarded many ranks and awards. The flight into space was soon repeated by an astronaut from the United States. After that, the struggle began to launch the first woman astronaut into space.
An event of unprecedented scale was the flight of the first female Soviet cosmonaut. Her journey to the stars began with the fact that by the age of 25 she was enrolled in the ranks of astronauts and, along with other girls, was preparing for flight into orbit. During the training, the project leaders noticed the activity of Valentina Tereshkova and her diligence, as a result of which she was appointed senior in the women's group. After only 1 year of preparation, she set off on a space journey that has remained forever in the history books - the first space flight by a woman.
The Soviet Union did not just launch the first cosmonaut into orbit, but opened a new milestone in the evolution of human technology and the level of development of mankind as a whole. were the first in everything that was connected with astronautics. Our state possessed the best technologies in the field of astronautics. We were the first not only in launching astronauts. The state held the world championship in the future in the field of launching manned flights and the operation of orbital stations.
We must pay tribute to the heroes of the Soviet Union - the cosmonauts - for their courage and devotion to their dream. It was they who marked the beginning of a new era of mankind - space. But do not forget about those outstanding people who have invested in this business not only labor and time, but also a particle of their soul. The achievements of Russian cosmonautics are worthy of being written about in textbooks.
Boris Valentinovich Volynov (b. 1934) - Soviet cosmonaut, twice awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
early years
Boris Volynov was born in Irkutsk on 18.12.1934. However, soon his mother was transferred to another place of work - to the city of Prokopyevsk, Kemerovo Region, and the whole family moved there. Until 1952, the boy studied at a regular high school, and already in his youth he was set on fire with the idea of \u200b\u200bbecoming a pilot.
No sooner said than done: after school, Volynov went to Pavlodar, to the local military aviation school. Then he continued his education at the Stalingrad (now Volgograd) military aviation school. After training, he served as a pilot in Yaroslavl, later becoming a senior pilot.
Pavel Ivanovich Belyaev (1925 - 1970) - Soviet cosmonaut number 10, Hero of the USSR.
Pavel Belyaev is also known as an athlete and participant in the Soviet-Japanese War of 1945.
early years
Pavel Belyaev was born in the village of Chelishchevo, which today belongs to the Vologda region on 06/26/1925. He studied at a school in the city of Kamensk-Uralsky, after which he went to work as a turner at a factory. However, a year later he decided to devote himself to military affairs, as a result of which he entered the Yeisk Military Aviation School. So he became a pilot.
The Great Patriotic War had ended by that time (1945), but military operations against Japan were still ongoing in the Far East, and the young pilot went there.
Vladimir Dzhanibekov (Krysin) (b. 05/13/1942) is a very interesting representative of the national cosmonautics.
This is a man who has made several records in space flights. Firstly, he made a record number of flights in the USSR - five. Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev flew as many as six times, but this was already after the collapse of the USSR.
Secondly, in all five of his flights he was the commander. This record has not yet been surpassed by any cosmonaut in the world, and only James Weatherby repeated it, and even then only in his sixth flight, since he was not the commander in the first. Thus, Vladimir Dzhanibekov is the most experienced Soviet cosmonaut.
Valery Kubasov (1935 - 2014) - famous Soviet cosmonaut. He is known as a space flight engineer, and also as a participant in the famous Apollo-Soyuz program, during which the space stations of the two "superpowers" were docked.
Biography
Valery Kubasov was born in the city of Vyazniki, in the Vladimir region. He also went to school there. Since childhood, he dreamed of building airplanes, so after school he went to the Moscow Aviation Institute. Like many cosmonauts, Kubasov was an aviator in the early stages of his life.
Svetlana Savitskaya - test pilot, cosmonaut, Hero of the USSR (twice).
Probably everyone in the world knows who Valentina Tereshkova is. However, even after her, women continued to conquer space. Just next, after Tereshkova and the second female cosmonaut, was Svetlana Evgenievna Savitskaya.
She was a brilliant pilot, participated in two space expeditions, the first, among women, went into outer space and carried out work there, she became the only woman twice awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union. But first things first.
Viktor Gorbatko Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR, Major-General of Aviation.
Quite recently, on May 17, 2017, a well-known not only in Russia but also abroad pilot - cosmonaut Viktor Vasilyevich Gorbatko passed away.
This man participated in three space expeditions in his life, was one of the first chess players who played games between space and Earth. He is the 21st Soviet pilot-cosmonaut, twice Hero of the Soviet Union.
In addition to a huge number of Soviet awards, he received awards from five countries, and for the last 16 years of his life he was the president of the Union of Philatelists of Russia.
Komarov Vladimir Mikhailovich (1927 - 1967) cosmonaut, twice Hero of the USSR, test pilot
Childhood and years of study
Vladimir Mikhailovich was born on March 16, 1927. He grew up in a poor janitor family. From an early age, he stared at the planes flying in the sky and launched kites from the roof of the house. Hometown - Moscow.
From the age of 7, he has been studying at the 235th school, which currently bears the number 2107. Having completed a seven-year course of general education there in 1943, at the height of the Great Patriotic War, he makes a fateful decision to become a pilot.
He made two space flights and stayed in space for 28 days and a little more than 17 hours.
short biography
Vladislav Nikolaevich Volkov was born on November 23, 1935 in Moscow in a family, all members of which were professionally engaged in aviation. His father was a leading engineer - designer of the largest aviation enterprise, his mother worked there in the design bureau.
It is natural that Vladislav dreamed of aviation since childhood. After graduating from Moscow school number 212 in 1953, he simultaneously enters the famous MAI - the forge of Soviet aviation engineers and, at the flying club.
Classes both at the institute and at the flying club were very successful.
Popovich Pavel Romanovich - Soviet pilot-cosmonaut number 4 from the first "Gagarin" detachment, a legend of Russian cosmonautics. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union.
short biography
The biography of cosmonaut Popovich is not much different from the biography of his peers. Pavel Popovich was born in October 1929 in the village of Uzin, Kyiv region, Ukraine. His parents were ordinary people.
Father Roman Porfiryevich Popovich comes from a peasant family, all his life he worked as a stoker at a local sugar factory. Mother Feodosia Kasyanovna was born into a wealthy family, but wealthy relatives abandoned her after her marriage, and the large Popovich family had a pretty hard time.
Pavel learned from early childhood what hard work is - he had to work as a shepherd, to be a nanny in a strange family. The difficult years of the German occupation left an imprint on Paul's appearance - at the age of 13 he became gray-haired. But, despite all the hardships of post-war childhood, the boy grew up very smart, inquisitive and was an excellent student.
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Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (1857 - 1935) - an outstanding Russian and Soviet scientist, the founder of modern cosmonautics, as well as a philosopher, a prominent representative of the school of Russian cosmism.
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Petr Leonidovich Kapitsa (1894-1984) Russian physicist and engineer, member of the Royal Society of London (1929), member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1939), Hero of Socialist Labor (1945, 1974). Proceedings on the physics of magnetic phenomena, physics and technology of low temperatures, quantum physics of the condensed state, electronics and plasma physics.
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Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin (1934 - 1968) - Soviet cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union, holder of the highest distinctions of a number of states, honorary citizen of many Russian and foreign cities. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first person in world history to fly into outer space. The carrier rocket "Vostok" with the ship "Vostok", on board of which Gagarin was, was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome. After 108 minutes in space, Gagarin successfully landed in the Saratov region, not far from the city of Engels. Starting from April 12, 1962, the day of Gagarin's flight into space was declared a holiday - Cosmonautics Day.
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Titov German Stepanovich (1935 - 2000) Cosmonaut of the USSR: No. 2; Cosmonaut of the world: No. 2; Number of flights: 1; Duration: 1 day 01 hour 18 minutes; Soviet cosmonaut, the second Soviet man in space, the second man in the world to make an orbital space flight on the Vostok-2 spacecraft, the youngest cosmonaut in history and the first man to make a long space flight; military leader. The hero of the USSR. Understudy of Yuri Gagarin; doctor of military sciences, associate professor.
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Nikolaev Andriyan Grigorievich (1929-2004) Cosmonaut of the USSR: No. 3; Cosmonaut of the world: No. 5; Number of flights: 2; Duration: 21 days 15 hours 20 minutes 55 seconds. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union. Air Major General. The first astronaut to work in orbit without a space suit. The first cosmonaut who participated in a military experiment in space.
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Popovich Pavel Romanovich (1930s) Cosmonaut of the USSR: No. 4; Cosmonaut of the world: No. 6; Number of flights: 2; Duration: 18 days 16 h 26 min 28 s. Soviet cosmonaut. Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union. Pilot of the Vostok-4 spacecraft; commander of the Soyuz-14 spacecraft, pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR No. 4. Call sign - Berkut
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Bykovsky Valery Fedorovich (1934- gg.) Cosmonaut of the USSR: No. 5; Cosmonaut of the world: No. 9; Number of flights: 3; Duration: 0 days 17 hours 48 minutes 21 seconds. Soviet pilot Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, twice Hero of the Soviet Union. At the moment, he is a cosmonaut who made a space flight earlier than all other living Russian cosmonauts, and the only cosmonaut who flew on the spacecraft "Vostok" or "Voskhod" who made 3 space flights.
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Tereshkova Valentina Vladimirovna (1937) Cosmonaut of the USSR: No. 6; Cosmonaut of the world: No. 10; Number of flights: 1; Duration: 2 days 22 hours 50 minutes. Soviet pilot-cosmonaut, the world's first female cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union, Hero of Socialist Labor of Czechoslovakia, Hero of Socialist Labor of the People's Republic of Belarus, Hero of Labor of Vietnam, Hero of Labor of the MPR, major general, candidate of technical sciences, professor. Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR No. 6, 10th cosmonaut in the world.
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Komarov Vladimir Mikhailovich (1927-1967) Cosmonaut of the USSR: No. 7; Cosmonaut of the world: No. 11; Number of flights: 2; Duration: 2 days 03 hours 04 minutes 55 seconds; Pilot-cosmonaut, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, engineer-colonel. The commander of the world's first crew of a spacecraft, and at once from three people. He flew twice on the first ships of a new type: Voskhod-1 and Soyuz-1.
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Leonov Alexey Arkhipovich (1934- gg.) Cosmonaut of the USSR: No. 11; Cosmonaut of the world: No. 15; Number of flights: 2; Duration: 7 days 00 hours 33 minutes 08 seconds; Number of spacewalks: 1. Soviet cosmonaut, the first man to go into space. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union. Laureate of the State Prize of the USSR. Member of the Supreme Council of the United Russia party.
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Avdeev Sergey Vasilievich (1956- gg.) Cosmonaut of Russia: No. 74; Cosmonaut of the world: No. 274; Number of flights: 3; EVAs: 10; Duration: 747 days 14 hours 14 minutes. 74th cosmonaut, Hero of Russia. Ex is the world record holder for the total time spent in space.
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Volkov Alexander Alexandrovich (1948- gg.) Cosmonaut of the USSR: No. 60; Cosmonaut of the world: No. 183; Number of flights: 3; Duration: 391 days 11 hours 52 minutes 16 seconds; Number of spacewalks: 2. Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, Hero of the Soviet Union. His son Sergei is also an astronaut.
Among all the achievements of mankind that cause pride, a special place is occupied by the exploits of Russian cosmonauts. About which of our compatriots set space records and what the first steps in the development of airless space cost them, we will tell in our material.
Yuri Gagarin
April 12, 1961 is a historic day marked by the first manned flight into space. The Vostok-1 spacecraft, launched from Baikonur, successfully entered the Earth's orbit. Tied to the catapult seat was Yuri Gagarin, the son of a village carpenter from the Smolensk province, who dreamed of the sky from a young age.In 1955, he learned to fly the Yak-18 aircraft and was admitted to the Orenburg flight school, from which he graduated 2 years later. In 1958, he was among 60 pilots selected to participate in the space program. Of these, only 12 made it to the Star City training facility. Each of these dozen pilots was subjected to numerous tests of mental stability and physical endurance. According to the results of the selection, it was Gagarin who was chosen as the pioneer of space.
Having made a revolution around his native planet at an altitude of 188 kilometers and having spent a total of 108 minutes in space, Yuri ejected in the Saratov region at a distance of seven kilometers from the earth. Some skeptics argue that "Gagarin did not accomplish the feat, because he just lay there and did not even control the ship," but his example proved that a person can survive in space and return safely to Earth. In addition, only a true hero can dare to take the first step into the absolute unknown.
Valentina Tereshkova
The first female cosmonaut and the greatest woman of the 20th century, Valentina Tereshkova, got into space thanks to her passion for parachuting. Having made more than 150 jumps in the flying club of Yaroslavl, she achieved admission to the women's cosmonaut corps, where, among other things, she was taught how to fly an airplane. 
Each of the five women who got into the detachment could fly into space, but Tereshkova was chosen by Nikita Khrushchev himself. On June 16, 1963, she uttered the legendary words “Hey sky! Hats off" before getting into the cockpit of Vostok-6. The girl with the call sign "Seagull" spent 70 hours and 50 minutes in a vacuum.
The influence of space on the female body has not been studied: during the flight, Tereshkov felt sick, it was difficult and almost immobile. And because of the miscalculation of the engineers, she had to land the ship on her own, but the chief designer forbade her to “clean dirty linen in public” and spread about this incident.
Tereshkova's recovery took a month, and the result of an almost three-day flight was increased bone fragility. Witnesses of those events did not even imagine how much effort Valentina had to go out and demonstrate iron health.
Vladimir Komarov
Vladimir Komarov became the first person to travel into space twice. His first flight was made in October 1964 - he led the crew of a new type of ship, the multi-seat Voskhod-1. This flight, which lasted 24 hours and 17 minutes, entered the history of space exploration as the first flight without spacesuits. 
Komarov's next flight took place in April 1967. He was appointed pilot of the Soyuz-1 spacecraft, Gagarin became Komarov's understudy, who opposed the flight and advised the ship to be finalized. Komarov was also aware of the imperfection of the ship: at the state commission, 4 days before the start, he informed the management: “The ship is damp, you can’t fly on it.” However, driven by constant rivalry with the United States, the commission accused him of cowardice, and Komarov was forced to agree to the flight.
Malfunctions made themselves felt in the very first hours: after entering orbit, one of the solar panels did not open; without it, the Soyuz-1 batteries were inexorably discharged. Then the orientation sensors failed. The astronaut decided to return to Earth and proceeded to a manual landing.
Only the skill of Komarov made it possible to make the correct orientation. The process was carried out literally blind. Everything went well, but when the vehicle entered the dense atmosphere, the main parachute of the ship did not open, and the spare lines became tangled due to rotation. The module crashed into the ground at a speed of 40 meters per second and burned out, Vladimir Komarov died, posthumously becoming twice a hero of the Soviet Union.
Alexey Leonov
On March 18, 1965, the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, piloted by Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyaev, entered the Earth's orbit. When the ship reached the set point, Leonov left the ship, becoming the first man in history to go into outer space. He spent 12 minutes and 9 seconds outside the ship, 535 centimeters away from the apparatus. 
The first spacewalk was accompanied by emergency situations that almost cost two cosmonauts their lives. At first, due to the sudden increase in pressure, the spacesuit "swollen" and Leonov had problems returning to the ship. It was pointless to report the incident to Earth, so the astronaut decided to act independently. Getting rid of excess oxygen, he reduced the volume of the suit, risking decompression sickness. From excitement and overload, the pulse increased to 190 beats per minute. In addition, the glass of his helmet was fogged up, and Leonov had to make his way into the airlock almost blindly.
Ahead of the partners was an even more dangerous situation: a tiny hole appeared in the ship, releasing oxygen to the outside. The life support system automatically began pumping oxygen into the cockpit, causing its partial pressure to reach 920 mm (whereas 460 mm is considered the state of detonating gas). The slightest spark would cause an explosion. Leonov and Belyaev had to intervene in the work of the ship, fighting drowsiness and hallucinations caused by oxygen poisoning.
Documentary film about the feat of Alexei Leonov
The Control Center did not expect that the astronauts would have to land Voskhod-2 manually, but the navigation system failed. I had to control the landing capsule manually with an overload that reached 10 G.
The landing went off safely, albeit not in the agreed place, but 180 kilometers from it, in the remote taiga in the northern region of the Perm region. The temperature reached -30 degrees, and the broken module quickly iced up. Those who arrived on Earth almost died from the cold; found them a day later. For two more days after the arrival of help, the astronauts waited until a landing was cleared in the forest for the helicopter to land. To get to the rescue transport, I had to make a 9-kilometer forced march on skis.
The first steps of man in outer space so impressed the world community that even a special verb appeared in the German language - leonovieren, which means "to soar in space like Leonov." And in 2017, a full-length film about the feat of Leonov and Belyaev, played by Yevgeny Mironov and Konstantin Khabensky, was released in Russian distribution. Alexey Leonov himself became the main consultant of the film.
Sergey Krikalev
This person is the absolute leader of the planet in terms of the total time spent in space. Sergey took part in six starts and spent 803 days outside the planet. During the first two sorties from the Earth, the cosmonaut spent more than a year on the Mir orbital station, having made 7 spacewalks during this period. 
Valery Polyakov
In 1994-1995, Polyakov made the longest single flight into space, the time of which was 437 days and 18 hours. Polyakov has only two space odysseys, but his total time spent in airless space is 678 days 16 hours and 34 minutes - only three cosmonauts beat Polyakov: Sergey Krikalev, Alexander Kaleri and Sergey Avdeev. 
The editors of the site offer to read an article about the most unusual trips around the world.
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The twentieth century gave us the world's first man in space, the first woman astronaut and the first man to go into space. In the same period of time, man took the first steps on the moon.
First man on the moon
The first spacecraft to bring humans to the surface of the moon was the American manned research spacecraft Apollo 11. The flight began on July 16 and ended on July 24, 1969.Almost a day on the surface of the moon spent the pilot and crew commander: Edwin Aldrin and Neil Armstrong. Their time there was twenty-one hours, thirty-six minutes and twenty-one seconds. All this time, the command module was controlled by Michael Collins, who, while in orbit, was waiting for a signal.
Astronauts made one exit to the surface of the Moon. Its duration is almost two and a half hours. The first step to the surface of this planet was taken by the commander of the crew, Armstrong. Fifteen minutes later, Aldrin joined him. During the exit to the surface, the astronauts planted the US flag on the moon, took several kilograms of soil for further research, and also installed research instruments. They took the first photographs of the landscape. Thanks to the installed equipment, it became possible to determine with maximum accuracy the distance between the Moon and the Earth. This significant event happened on July 20, 1969.
Thus, America won the lunar race by being the first to land on the surface of the earth's satellite, and the national goal set by John F. Kennedy was considered fulfilled.
It should be noted that some researchers call the landing of American astronauts on a natural satellite of the Earth the biggest hoax of the twentieth century. They also provide a number of evidence that there was no such landing at all.
First man in outer space
Man first went into outer space in 1965. It's about the Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov. On that significant flight, he set off on March 18 together with his partner Pavel Belyaev on the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. 
Upon reaching orbit, Leonov donned a spacesuit designed for spacewalks. The supply of oxygen in it was enough for forty-five minutes. Belyaev at that time began to install a flexible lock chamber, through which Leonov was supposed to carry out a spacewalk. Having taken all the necessary precautions, Leonov left the ship. In total, the astronaut spent 12 minutes 9 seconds outside of it. At this time, Leonov's partner transmitted a message to Earth that a man had gone into outer space. An image of an astronaut hovering against the background of the Earth was broadcast on television.
During the return, I had to worry, because in the vacuum conditions the suit swelled up greatly, because of which Leonov did not fit into the airlock. Being a prisoner of outer space, he independently found a way out of this situation, realizing that in this case, advice from the Earth would not help him. To reduce the size of the suit, the astronaut vented excess oxygen. He did this gradually, at the same time trying to squeeze into the cell. Every minute counted. Leonov prefers not to tell anyone about his experiences at that moment.
Difficulties with the suit were not the last troubles of that significant flight. It turned out that the orientation system did not work, and for landing the astronauts were forced to switch to manual control. The result of such a landing was that Belyaev and Leonov landed in the wrong place where it was supposed. The capsule ended up in the taiga, 180 kilometers from Perm. Two days later, the astronauts were discovered. This successful flight was marked by Leonov and Belyaev being awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
First female astronaut
The first woman to travel in space was Valentina Tereshkova. She made her flight alone, which in itself is an unprecedented case. Tereshkova for this flight was chosen from a large number of paratroopers. 
The ship "Vostok-6" was in Earth's orbit on June 16, 1963. The Soviet Union became not only the first country to send its cosmonaut into space, but also the first country to send a woman into space. This move was politically motivated.
Surprisingly, the relatives of the world's first female astronaut learned about her flight into space from radio messages only after she made a successful landing. Knowing that the flight could well have ended in tragedy, the girl chose to keep the upcoming event a secret.
Tereshkova's flight lasted 22 hours 41 minutes. During this time, the first female astronaut made forty-eight orbits around our planet. Her call sign is "Seagull".
First person in space
Yuri Gagarin is known to be the first person to go into space. His historic flight, which thundered all over the world, was made on April 12, 1961. This date is called "Cosmonautics Day". The first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had the call sign KedrDuring the time spent in orbit, Gagarin completed the entire planned program. According to his recollections, he carefully recorded all his observations, examined the Earth and even ate.
Well, to the largest star in the universe, whose radius is one and a half thousand times greater than the radius of the sun, not a single astronaut will go in the near future. According to the site, there are no plans to send people outside the solar system yet.
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The history of astronautics, unfortunately, is full of not only dizzying ups, but also terrible falls. Dead cosmonauts, rockets that did not take off or exploded, tragic accidents - all this is also our property, and to forget about it means to erase 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 cosmonautics of the USSR that we will talk in this article.
Cosmonautics in the USSR
Until the 20th century, space flights were considered something completely fantastic. But already in 1903, K. Tsiolkovsky put forward the idea of flying into space on a rocket. From that moment, 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 began related to rocket science.
However, before a man for the first time overcame the gravity of the Earth and ended up in space, it took more years and years. Do not forget about the mistakes that cost the life of the testers. First of all, these are the dead. According to official figures, there are only five of them, including Yuri Gagarin, who, strictly speaking, did not die in space, but after returning to Earth. Nevertheless, the cosmonaut also died during the tests, being a military pilot, which allows us to include him in the list presented here.
Komarov
Soviet cosmonauts who died in space made an incomparable contribution to the development of their country. Such a person was Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov, a pilot-cosmonaut and colonel engineer, who was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Born in Moscow on April 14, 1927. He was a member of the first crew of a spacecraft in the history of the world and was its commander. Been to space twice.
In 1943, the future cosmonaut graduated from the seven-year period, and then entered the special school of the Air Force, wanting to master it. He graduated from it in 1945, and then went to the cadets of the Sasovskaya 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 selected for the first detachment of astronauts.
Space flights
To answer the question of how many cosmonauts died, it is necessary first to highlight the very topic of flights.
So, the first flight of Komarov into space took place on the Voskhod spacecraft on October 12, 1964. It was the world's first multi-seat expedition: the crew also included a doctor and an engineer. The flight lasted 24 hours and ended with a successful landing.
The second and last flight of Komarov took place on the night of April 23-24, 1967. The cosmonaut died at the end of the flight: during the descent, the main parachute did not work, and the lines of the reserve twisted due to the strong rotation of the device. The ship collided with the ground and caught fire. So because of a fatal accident, Vladimir Komarov died. He is the first Soviet 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, born March 9, 1934. His childhood passed in the village of Kashino. He went to school in 1941, but German troops invaded the village and his studies were interrupted. And in the house of the Gagarin family, the SS men set up a workshop, driving the owners out into the street. Only in 1943 the village was liberated, and Yuri's studies continued.
Then Gagarin enters the Saratov Technical School in 1951, where he begins to visit the flying club. In 1955, he was drafted into the army and sent to an aviation school. After graduating, he served in the Air Force and by 1959 had approximately 265 flight hours. He received the rank of military pilot of the third class and the rank of senior lieutenant.
First flight and death
The dead astronauts are people who were well aware of the risk they were taking, but nevertheless this did not stop them. So did 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 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 celebrated today.
For the whole world, the first flight was an incredible event, and the pilot who made it quickly became famous. Gagarin visited by invitation more than thirty countries. The years following the flight were marked for the astronaut by active social and political activity.
But soon Gagarin again returned to the helm of the aircraft. This decision turned out to be tragic for him. And in 1968, he died during a training flight in the cockpit of a MiG-15 UTI. The causes of the disaster are still unknown.
Nevertheless, the dead 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 dealing with rockets. He goes to work at the Korolyov Design Bureau and helps in the creation of space technology. At the same time, he begins attending pilot-athlete courses at the Kolomna Aeroclub.
In 1966, Volkov became a member of the cosmonaut corps, and three years later he 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 Nikolayevich, the team included Patsaev and Dobrovolsky, whom we will discuss below. During the landing of the ship, depressurization occurred, and all participants in the flight died. The deceased cosmonauts of the USSR were cremated, and their ashes were placed in the Kremlin wall.
Dobrovolsky
Which we have already mentioned above, was born in Odessa in 1928, June 1. Pilot, cosmonaut and colonel of the Air Force, posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
During the war, he ended up in the territory occupied by the Romanian authorities and was arrested for possession of weapons. For the crime, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison, but the locals managed to ransom him. And after the end of the Second World War, Georgy Dobrovolsky enters the Odessa Air Force School. At that moment, he did not yet know what fate awaited him. However, astronauts who died in space, like pilots, prepare in advance for death.
In 1948, Dobrovolsky became a student at a military school in Chuguevsk, and two years later began serving in the USSR Air Force. During the 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 in the role of commander. The astronauts visited the Solyut-1 space station, where they conducted several scientific studies. But at the time of return 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 secondary school teacher, remained alone. And if the eldest daughter managed to remember her father, then 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 Gold Star, and the medal For Military Merit. In addition, the 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 to play the Dobrovolsky Cup, which is awarded for the best trampoline jump.
Patsaev
So, continuing to answer the question of how many astronauts died in space, we move on to the next Hero of the Secular Union. was born in Aktyubinsk (Kazakhstan) in 1933, on June 19. This man is known for being the first astronaut in the world 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 the Kaliningrad region, where the future cosmonaut went to school for the first time. As his sister wrote in her memoirs, Victor became interested in space even then - he got hold of K. Tsiolkovsky's Journey to the Moon.
In 1950, Patsaev entered the Penza Industrial Institute, which he graduated from, 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 dead Soviet cosmonauts (Volkov, Dobrovolsky and Patsaev) met. However, only after 10 years will a detachment of cosmonauts be formed, in whose ranks Patsaev will be. Its preparation will last three years. Unfortunately, the first flight of an astronaut will end in tragedy and the death of the entire crew.
How many astronauts have died in space?
This question cannot be answered unambiguously. The fact is that some of the information about space flights remains classified to this day. There are many assumptions and conjectures, but no one has concrete evidence yet.
As for official data, the number of dead cosmonauts and astronauts of 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, it is worth mentioning Francis Richard, Michael Smith, Judith Resnick (one of the first female astronauts), Ronald McNair.
Other dead
If you are interested in the dead, then at the moment they do not exist. Not once since the collapse of the USSR and the formation of Russia as a separate state, not a single case of the crash of a spacecraft and the death of its crew has been announced.
Throughout the article, we talked about those who died directly in space, but we cannot ignore those astronauts who never had a chance to take off. Death overtook them on Earth.
Such was the one who was part of the group of the first astronauts and died during training. During his stay in the chamber, where the cosmonaut had to be alone for about 10 days, he made a mistake. I unfastened the vital signs from the body and wiped them with cotton soaked in alcohol, then threw it away. A cotton swab fell into a coil of a hot electric stove, which caused 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 dead cosmonauts.
