What types of astronauts are there? Space exploration: space explorers, scientists, discoveries

More than 60 years have passed since the first man went into space. Since then, more than 500 people have visited there, more than 50 of them were women. Representatives of 36 countries visited our planet in orbit. Unfortunately, there were victims along this glorious path of humanity.

In Russia and the USA, the first cosmonauts were recruited from among military pilots. But it soon became clear that other professions were also in demand in space. Doctors, engineers, and biologists visited there. Every astronaut is, without a doubt, a hero. However, in this detachment there are the most famous people, whose fame is truly worldwide.

Yuri Gagarin (1934-1968). On April 12, 1961, the Vostok-1 spacecraft launched from Baikonur with the first cosmonaut in history on board. In orbit, Gagarin did simple experiments - ate, drank, took notes. Control of the ship was almost completely automatic - after all, no one knew how a person would behave in new conditions. The astronaut completed 1 revolution around the Earth, which took 108 minutes. The landing took place in the Saratov region. Thanks to this flight, Gagarin gained worldwide fame. He was awarded the extraordinary rank of major, as well as the title of Hero Soviet Union. The day of the historical flight began to be celebrated as Cosmonautics Day. April 12, 1961 forever changed the life of mankind and Gagarin himself. He became a living symbol. The first cosmonaut visited about 30 countries and received many prizes and awards. Social activity affected flight practice. In 1968, Gagarin began to make up for lost time, but on March 27, his plane lost contact and crashed into the ground. Instructor Seregin also died along with the first cosmonaut.

Valentina Tereshkova (born 1937). The first successful flights of Soviet cosmonauts gave rise to the idea of ​​chief designer Sergei Korolev to launch a woman into space. Since 1962, applicants have been selected throughout the country. Of the five prepared candidates, Tereshkova was chosen, also due to her working background. The female cosmonaut made her first flight on June 16, 1963 on the Vostok-6 spacecraft. The stay in space took three days. But during the flight, problems arose with the orientation of the ship. It turned out that Tereshkova was not feeling well, since in space female physiology makes itself felt. Scientists knew about this, and because of this, they placed Valentina only in 5th place on the list of candidates. However, Khrushchev and Korolev did not listen to the medical commission. Vostok-6 landed in the Altai region. Until 1997, Valentina Tereshkova served as an astronaut instructor. She then moved to the Cosmonaut Training Center. The first female astronaut led a wealthy social and government activities, being a people's deputy in higher authorities various convocations. Tereshkova manages to remain the only woman who made a space flight alone.

Alexey Leonov (born 1934). He is number 11 on the list of Soviet cosmonauts. Leonov gained fame from his flight into space as a co-pilot on the Voskhod-2 spacecraft on March 18-19, 1965. The astronaut made the first ever spacewalk open space, which lasted 12 minutes 9 seconds. During those historical moments, Leonov showed exceptional composure - after all, his spacesuit was swollen, which made it difficult to go into space. The ship landed in the remote taiga, and the cosmonauts spent two days in the cold. From 1965 to 1969, Leonov was part of a group of cosmonauts preparing to fly around the Moon and land on it. It was this astronaut who was planned to be the first to set foot on the surface of the Earth’s satellite. But the USSR lost that race, and the project was canceled. In 1971, Leonov was supposed to fly into space on Soyuz 11, but the crew was replaced due to health problems in one of its members. The flight of the backups - Dobrovolsky, Volkov and Patsayev - ended in their death. But in 1975, Leonov was in space again, he supervised the docking of ships of two countries (the Soyuz-Apollo project). In 1970-1991, Leonov worked at the Cosmonaut Training Center. This man also became famous for his talent as an artist. He created a whole series of stamps on a space theme. Leonov became twice Hero of the Soviet Union, several documentaries were made about him. A crater on the Moon is named after the astronaut.

Neil Armstrong (b. 1930). By the time he was enrolled in the cosmonaut group, Armstrong had already fought in the Korean War, winning military awards. In March 1968, Armstrong first went into space as commander of the Gemini 8 spacecraft. During that flight, docking with another spacecraft, the Agena rocket, was made for the first time. In July 1969, Apollo 11 was launched with the historic mission of landing on the Moon. On July 20, Neil Armstrong and pilot Edwin Aldrin landed their lunar module in the Sea of ​​Tranquility area. The main module with Michael Collins was waiting for them in orbit. The stay on the surface of the Moon took 21.5 hours. The astronauts also made a walk on the lunar surface, lasting 2.5 hours. The first person to set foot there was Neil Armstrong. Standing on the surface, the astronaut uttered the historical phrase: “This is only one small step for a person, but a huge leap for all humanity." The USAT flag was planted on the Moon, soil samples were collected and scientific instruments were installed. Aldrin became the second man to walk on the moon. Upon returning to Earth, the astronauts were destined for world fame. Armstrong himself served at NASA until 1971, after which he taught at the university and served on the National Space Committee.

Vladimir Komarov (1927-1967). The profession of an astronaut is quite dangerous. Since the beginning of the flights, 22 cosmonauts have died during preparation, takeoffs and landings. The first of them, Valentin Bondarenko, burned in a fire in a pressure chamber 20 days before Gagarin’s flight. The most shocking thing was the death of Challenger in 1986. took a life immediately 7 American astronauts. However, the first cosmonaut to die directly during the flight was Vladimir Komarov. His first flight took place in 1964 together with Konstantin Feoktistov and Boris Egorov. For the first time, the crew of the ship did without spacesuits, and on board, in addition to the pilot, there was an engineer and a doctor. In 1965, Komarov was part of the preparation group for the Soyuz program. Gagarin himself became the understudy. Those years were marked by a crazy political space race. "Soyuz" became its victim, having many shortcomings. On April 23, 1967, Soyuz-1 with Komarov on board took off into space. But upon completion, the main parachute did not open, and the descent module crashed into the ground at high speed in the Orenburg region. Even the remains of the astronaut were not immediately recognized. The urn with Komarov's ashes was buried in the Kremlin wall on Red Square.

Toyohiro Akiyama (born 1942). There is no doubt that in the future astronautics will take a commercial route. The idea of ​​sending non-governmental tourists into space has been in the sky for a long time. The first sign could have been the American Christa McAuliffe, but during her first and last launch she died while aboard the Challenger on January 28, 1986. The first space tourist to pay for his own flight was Dennis Tito in 2001. However, the era of paid travel beyond the Earth began even earlier. On December 2, 1990, Soyuz TM-11 took off into the sky, on board of which, along with Soviet cosmonauts Afanasyev and Manarov, was the Japanese journalist Toyohiro Akiyama. He became the first representative of his country in space and the first for whose flight a non-governmental organization paid money. The television company TBS celebrated its 40th anniversary in this way, paying from 25 to 38 million dollars for the stay of its employee in orbit. The Japanese flight lasted almost 8 days. During this time, he showed insufficient training, which manifested itself in a disorder of the vestibular apparatus. Akiyama also conducted several reports for Japan, television lessons for schoolchildren and biological experiments.

Yang Liwei (born 1965). Another superpower, China, could not interfere in the space race between the USSR and SA. The first ethnic Chinese to go into space was Taylor Wang back in 1985. However, Beijing for a long time ran his own program, starting it back in 1956. At the end of the summer of 2003, three cosmonauts were selected and prepared for the first launch. The public learned the name of the first taikonaut only a day before the flight. On October 15, 2003, the Long March (Long March) launch vehicle launched the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft into orbit. The next day, the astronaut landed in the Inner Mongolia region. During this time, he made 14 revolutions around the Earth. Yang Liwei immediately became national hero China. He received the title “Hero of Space”, and an asteroid was even named in his honor. This flight showed the seriousness of China's plans. Thus, in 2011, an orbital station was launched, and even the United States was left behind in the number of space object launches.

John Glenn (b. 1921). This pilot also took part in the Korean War, even achieving three victories in the sky. In 1957, Glenn set a transcontinental flight record. But that is not what he is remembered for. The glory of the first American astronaut is divided between John Glenn and Alan Shepard. But his flight on May 5, 1961, although the first, was suborbital. And Glenn, on July 21, 1961, made the first full-fledged orbital flight for the United States. His Mercury 6 made three revolutions around the Earth in 5 hours. Upon his return, Glenn became a US national hero. In 1964, he left the astronaut corps and went into business and politics. From 1974 to 1999, Glenn served as a senator from Ohio, and in 1984 he even became a presidential candidate. On October 29, 1998, the astronaut took to space again, serving as a payload specialist. At that time, John Glenn was 77 years old. He not only became the oldest cosmonaut, but also set a record for the time between flights - 36 years. The flight of a crew of 7 people took almost 9 days, during which time the Shuttle made 135 revolutions around the Earth.

Sergei Krikalev (born 1958). Two people, Jerry Ross and Franklin Chang-Diaz, have been in space 7 times. But the record for time spent in orbit belongs to Soviet and Russian cosmonauts. He launched into the sky 6 times, spending a total of 803 days in space. Having received higher education, Krikalev worked in ground flight control services. In 1985, he was already selected for space flights. His first launch took place in 1988 as part of an international crew with Alexander Volkov and the Frenchman Jean-Louis Chrétien. They worked at the Mir station for almost six months. The second flight took place in 1991. Krikalev remained on the Mir, contrary to the original plans, remaining to work with the new crew. As a result, during the first two flights, the astronaut had already spent more than a year and three months in space. During this time, he also completed 7 spacewalks. In February 1994, Krikalev became the first Russian to take to the skies on the American Shuttle. It was our compatriot who was appointed to the first crew of the ISS, having visited there in 1998 on the shuttle Endeavor. Sergei Krikalev even met the new, 21st century in orbit. The astronaut made his last flight in 2005, having lived on the ISS for six months.

Valery Polyakov (born 1942). Polyakov's profession is a doctor, he became a doctor of medical sciences and a professor. In the history of the USSR and Russia, Polyakov became cosmonaut No. 66. It is he who holds the record for the most long stay in space. Polyakov spent 437 days and 18 hours in Earth orbit during 1994-1995. And the astronaut made his first flight back in 1988, being above the Earth from August 29, 1988 to April 27, 1989. That flight lasted 240 days, for which Valery Polyakov received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The second record was already a record, for which the cosmonaut received the title of Hero of Russia. In total, Polyakov spent 678 days in space, second only to three people - Krikalev, Kaleri and Avdeev.

The most famous and famous cosmonauts in the world are almost all those who made one or another discovery, feat, or did something for the first time in the world.

Undoubtedly, the most famous is the first person to fly into space - Yuri Gagarin. Soviet pilot took a huge step for humanity on April 12, 1961, when he reached space and completed one orbit around the Earth. It is noteworthy that the man whose smile is known throughout the world collected cacti and was fond of water skiing. Unfortunately, the life of the outstanding cosmonaut ended prematurely during a training flight on March 27, 1968. On August 1, 1971, the Apollo 15 crew erected a memorial on the Moon called “Fallen Astronaut.” The memorial is an aluminum plate with engraved names of 14 cosmonauts, including Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin.

Tereshkova Valentina Vladimirovna

In Russian-speaking society the second famous cosmonaut is the first female astronaut - . Despite the difficult life, which required a lot of effort from Valentina Vladimirovna, from work in a fabric factory to grueling general space training, Valentina made the dream of every Soviet child come true. On June 16, 1963, the first female cosmonaut and the 10th cosmonaut in the world, Valentina Tereshkova, reached space aboard the Vostok-6 spacecraft and circled our planet 48 times.

Leonov Alexey Arkhipovich

Since time immemorial, humanity has strived to fly. This was probably their most desired dream. With the formation modern civilization, people wanted not just to fly, but to reach the enchanting darkness outer space. And finally we were able to realize humanity’s desire to go into outer space!

The first cosmonaut of the Soviet Union was, and thus entered forever world history. Preparations for the flight of the world's first man lasted a little over a year and, on April 12, 1961, this historical moment took place. We met the pilot on Earth, as befits one to meet the heroes of the fatherland. Gagarin was later awarded many ranks and awards. The flight into space was soon repeated by an astronaut from the United States. After this, the struggle began to launch the first female astronaut into space.

An event of unprecedented scale was the flight of the first girl of the Soviet cosmonaut. Her journey to the stars began when, at the age of 25, she was enrolled in the ranks of astronauts and, along with other girls, was preparing to fly into orbit. During the training, the project leaders noticed Valentina Tereshkova’s activity and hard work, as a result of which she was appointed senior in the women’s group. After just 1 year of preparation, she went to space trip, left forever in the history books - the first flight into outer space 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 humanity as a whole. were the first in everything related to astronautics. Our state had the most the best technologies in the field of astronautics. We were the first not only in launching astronauts. The state continued to maintain world leadership in the field of launching manned flights and operating orbital stations.

We must pay tribute to the heroes of the Soviet Union - the cosmonauts for their courage and dedication to their dream. They marked the beginning new era humanity - cosmic. But we should not forget about those outstanding ones who invested not only work and time into this business, but also a part of their soul. The achievements of Russian cosmonautics are worthy of being written about in textbooks.

Boris Valentinovich Volynov (b. 1934) - Soviet pilot-cosmonaut, twice awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

early years

Boris Volynov was born in Irkutsk on 12/18/1934. However, his mother was soon transferred to another place of work - to the city of Prokopyevsk Kemerovo region, and the whole family moved there. Until 1952, the boy studied in a regular high school, and already in his youth he became obsessed with the idea of ​​becoming 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 Soviet-Japanese War 1945.

early years

Pavel Belyaev was born in the village of Chelishchevo, which today belongs to the Vologda region on June 26, 1925. He studied at 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 Far East military operations were still underway against Japan, and the young pilot went there.

Vladimir Dzhanibekov (Krysin) (b. 05/13/1942) - very interesting representative domestic cosmonautics.

This is a man who has achieved 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 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 was repeated only by James Weatherby, 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 Soyuz-Apollo program, during which the docking was carried out space stations two "superpowers".

Biography

Valery Kubasov was born in the city of Vyazniki, which Vladimir region. He also attended school there. Since childhood, he dreamed of building airplanes, so after school he went to Moscow aviation institute. Like many cosmonauts, Kubasov early stages I was an aviator my whole 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, was the first woman to go into outer space and carried out work there, and became the only woman twice awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union award. But first things first.

Viktor Gorbatko pilot cosmonaut of the USSR, major general of aviation.

Quite recently, on May 17, 2017, pilot cosmonaut Viktor Vasilyevich Gorbatko, famous not only in Russia but also abroad, passed away.

This man participated in three space expeditions during his life, and was one of the first chess players to play games between space and Earth. He is the 21st Soviet pilot-cosmonaut, twice Hero of the Soviet Union.

In addition to the huge number Soviet awards, received awards from five countries, and for the last 16 years of his life he was president of the Russian Philatelists Union.

Komarov Vladimir Mikhailovich (1927 - 1967) cosmonaut, twice Hero of the USSR, test pilot

Childhood and years of education

Vladimir Mikhailovich was born on March 16, 1927. He grew up in a poor family of janitors. From an early age I watched airplanes flying in the sky and flew kites from the roof of my house. Hometown- Moscow.

From the age of 7 he has been studying at school 235, which currently bears the number 2107. Having completed a seven-year course there general education in 1943, at the height of the Great Patriotic War, he makes the fateful decision to become a pilot.

He made two space flights and stayed in space for 28 days and just over 17 hours.

short biography

Vladislav Nikolaevich Volkov was born on November 23, 1935 in Moscow into a family whose members were all professional aviation professionals. His father was a leading design engineer at a major aviation enterprise, and his mother worked there in a design bureau.

It is natural that Vladislav dreamed of aviation since childhood. Having graduated from Moscow school number 212 in 1953, he simultaneously entered the famous MAI - the forge of Soviet aviation engineers and 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 in Ukraine. His parents were simple people.

Father Roman Porfirievich Popovich comes from a peasant family; all his life he worked as a fireman at a local sugar factory. Mother Feodosia Kasyanovna was born into a wealthy family, but wealthy relatives abandoned her after her marriage, and large family Popovich had a pretty hard time.

From early childhood, Pavel learned what hard work was - he had to work as a shepherd, be a nanny in someone else's family. The difficult years of the German occupation left their mark on Pavel's appearance - at the age of 13 he became gray-haired. But, despite all the hardships of his post-war childhood, the boy grew up very smart, inquisitive and was an excellent student.

The twentieth century gave us the world's first person in space, the first woman astronaut and the first person to walk in outer space. During the same period of time, man took his first steps on the Moon.

First man on the moon

The first spacecraft to bring people to the surface of the Moon was the American manned exploration spacecraft Apollo 11. The flight began on July 16 and ended on July 24, 1969.

The pilot and crew commander: Edwin Aldrin and Neil Armstrong spent almost a day on the surface of the Moon. The time they spent 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 onto the surface of this planet was taken by crew commander Armstrong. Fifteen minutes later, Aldrin joined him. During the surface exit, the astronauts planted a 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 definition with maximum accuracy of the distance between the Moon and the Earth. This significant event took place on July 20, 1969.

Thus, America won the lunar race, being the first to land on the surface of the earth's satellite, and the national goal set by John Kennedy was considered fulfilled.

It should be noted that some researchers call the landing of American astronauts on natural satellite Earth is the biggest hoax of the twentieth century. They also provide a number of evidence that the above-described landing did not take place at all.

First man in outer space

Man first went into outer space in 1965. We are talking about the Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov. He set off on that significant flight on March 18 together with his partner Pavel Belyaev on the Voskhod-2 spacecraft.

Having reached orbit, Leonov donned a spacesuit designed for spacewalks. The oxygen supply in it was enough for forty-five minutes. Belyaev at this time began to install a flexible airlock chamber, through which Leonov was supposed to enter space. Having accepted everything necessary measures precautions, Leonov left the ship. In total, the astronaut spent 12 minutes 9 seconds outside of it. At this time, Leonov’s partner sent a message to Earth that the 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 was greatly inflated, which is why Leonov did not fit into the airlock chamber. Finding himself a prisoner of outer space, he independently found a way out of this situation, realizing that in this case, advice from Earth would not help him. To reduce the size of the spacesuit, 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 spacesuit were not the last troubles of that significant flight. It turned out that the orientation system did not work, and the astronauts were forced to switch to manual control to land. The result of such a landing was that Belyaev and Leonov landed in a different place than expected. The capsule ended up in the taiga, 180 kilometers from Perm. Two days later, the astronauts were discovered. This successful flight was marked by awarding Leonov and Belyaev the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

First woman astronaut

The first woman to go into space was Valentina Tereshkova. She carried out her flight alone, which in itself is an unprecedented case. Tereshkova was chosen for this flight from a large number of parachutists.

The Vostok-6 spacecraft found itself in Earth orbit on June 16, 1963. The Soviet Union became not only the first country to send an astronaut into space, but also the first country to send a woman into space. This step was politically motivated.

It is surprising that 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 very well end in tragedy, the girl chose to keep the upcoming event a secret.

Tereshkova's flight lasted 22 hours and 41 minutes. During this time, the first female cosmonaut made forty-eight orbits around our planet. Her call sign is “Seagull”.

The first man to go into space

As you know, the first person to go into space is Yuri Gagarin. His historic flight, which thundered throughout the world, took place on April 12, 1961. This date is called “Cosmonautics Day”. The first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had the call sign Kedr

During 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, not a single astronaut will go to the largest star in the universe, the radius of which is one and a half thousand times greater than the radius of the sun. According to the website, there are no plans to send people outside yet. solar system.
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By a resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR in 1959, a decision was made on the selection and preparation of cosmonauts for the first flight on the Vostok spacecraft. The Center of the Military Research National Hospital was entrusted with this task. It was decided to select from fighter pilots, since they were assumed to have the most suitable characteristics for this purpose. The selection was strict both according to medical criteria and physical characteristics - the candidate should not be older than 35 years, height up to 175 cm and weight up to 75 kg. No one was told why they were being selected; it was reported that they were allegedly testing new equipment.

The commission received 3,461 applications from pilots and selected 347 people for the initial interview. Since the medical examination was very thorough, and the upcoming loads were serious, not everyone decided to become astronauts, and 72 pilots refused to participate in the program. 206 people were cleared for further testing. Completely all stages medical examination Only 29 people were able to pass.

A squad preparing for a flight into space. (wikimedia.org)

Sitting in the photo (from left to right): P. Popovich, V. Gorbatko, S. Khrunov, Yu. Gagarin, S. Korolev, N. Koroleva with Popovich’s daughter Natasha, 1st Head of the Cosmonaut Training Center E. Karpov, N. Nikitin , head of department of TsNIIAC E. Fedorov. Middle row: A. Leonov, A. Nikolaev, M. Rafikov, D. Zaikin, B. Volynov, G. Titov, G. Nelyubov, V. Bykovsky, G. Shonin. Top row: V. Filatiev, I. Anikeev, P. Belyaev.

On January 11, 1960, special military unit 26266 was created, which is now the Cosmonaut Training Center. Colonel of the medical service Evgeny Karpov was appointed head. And the future cosmonauts formed Air Force Group No. 1.

On March 7, 1960, 12 people were enrolled in the first cosmonaut corps: Yuri Gagarin, Valery Bykovsky, Ivan Anikeev, Boris Volynov, Viktor Gorbatko, Vladimir Komarov, Alexei Leonov, Grigory Nelyubov, Andriyan Nikolaev, German Titov, Georgy Shonin and Pavel Popovich. Later they were joined by 8 more pilots: Dmitry Zaikin, Evgeny Khrunov, Valentin Filatiev, Valentin Varlamov, Valentin Bondarenko, Pavel Belyaev, Mars Rafikov and Anatoly Kartashov. For training, they invited the pilot who saved the Chelyuskinites, a Hero of the Soviet Union and a participant in the Great Patriotic War Nikolai Kamanin.

By April 1961, three were selected for the flight: Titov, Gagarin and Nelyubov. They recorded the appeal of the first cosmonauts to the Soviet people and on April 12 all three were at Baikonur. Titov was Gagarin's backup; Nelyubov was supposed to replace his comrades in the event of force majeure.

Gagarin at Baikonur before his flight. (wikimedia.org)

Nelyubov never flew into space. Due to his hot temper, he was expelled from the unit and ended his life very sadly - in 1966, while drunk, he was hit by a train.

This is not the only time the life of cosmonauts from the first detachment was tragically cut short. Gagarin crashed during an unsuccessful training flight on the plane in 1968, a year earlier while landing spaceship Soyuz-1 killed Vladimir Komarov.

G. Titov and A. Nikolaev during training, 1964. (wikimedia.org)

The youngest member of the squad, Valentin Bondarenko, burned down in a pressure chamber. On March 23, 1961, he completed his 10-day stay in the cell and, after wiping the areas on his body where the sensors were attached, with alcohol, he threw away the cotton wool. It hit the hot spiral and burst into flames; rather, the entire chamber was filled with fire. When Bondarenko was taken out, his body was badly burned. Doctors tried to save the astronaut, but to no avail.

Most of those who never flew into space continued their careers in aviation or remained working in the space field. The same 12, who were lucky enough to become the first cosmonauts, made flights in this order:

According to the “East” program: Yuri Gagarin April 12, 1961, German Titov August 6−7, 1961, Andriyan Nikolaev August 11−15, 1962, Pavel Popovich August 12−15, 1962, Valery Bykovsky June 14−19, 1963.

According to the Voskhod program: Vladimir Komarov October 12, 1964, Pavel Belyaev and Alexey Leonov March 18-19, 1965.

Under the Soyuz program: Boris Volynov and Evgeny Khrunov January 15−18, 1969, Georgy Shonin October 11−16, 1969, Viktor Gorbatko October 12−17, 1969.

V. Volkov and V. Gorbatko during training. (wikimedia.org)

It so happened that Gorbatko was the last of the squad to fly into space for the first time. However, unlike the others, who had only one or two flights, Viktor Gorbatko, like Valery Bykovsky, was lucky enough to fly into space three times - also on February 7-25, 1977 on Soyuz-24 and July 23-31, 1980 on Soyuz-37. Two years after his third flight, Gorbatko retired, like many of his comrades in the early 80s. Boris Volynov had the longest experience among the members of the first detachment; he served until 1990, giving 30 years to space. Together with Valery Bykovsky and the first man to walk into outer space, Alexei Leonov, Volynov remains one of the living members of the first cosmonaut corps of the USSR.