by Soviet-era cosmonaut Vladimir Aksyonovwho flew into space twice — once aboard a refurbished spacecraft and then on the first crew test of a new model — has died aged 89.
Roscosmos, Russia’s federal space corporation, announced Aksyonov’s death on Tuesday (April 9).
“On behalf of the Roscosmos state corporation and on my own behalf, I would like to express deep condolences on the death of the two-time Hero of the Soviet Union, pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, lieutenant colonel-engineer Vladimir Viktorovich Aksyonov,” said Yuri Borisov , the agency’s director general. “The path of his life was filled with honest service to the Motherland, creative work and enthusiasm for the cause he chose.”
Selected to become a cosmonaut with the Soviet Union’s fifth group of civil flight engineers, Aksyonov completed the first of his two spaceflights aboard Soyuz 22, a backup spacecraft for the Soviet side of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. (ASTP), the first mission flown by the United States. Instead of being fitted with a docking collar, the capsule had a specialized camera.
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Departing with mission commander Valery Bykovsky on September 15, 1976, Aksyonov spent more than a week photographing the planet from orbit. During the Earth observation mission, Bykovsky and Aksyonov took 2,400 photographs while flying over 30 geographic areas, including Siberia, Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Areas within the Soviet Union, according to contemporary media reports, were other targets that had not previously been taken from space.
Bykovsky and Aksyonov also observed fish swimming in an onboard aquarium, grew plants in a centrifuge and monitored the effects of cosmic rays on their vision, a concern first raised by the United States after the Apollo astronauts share experience flying to and from the moon.
On September 23, eight days after launching his first mission, Aksyonov landed with Bykovsky on the Kazakh steppe.
Aksyonov’s next flight came four years later. Soyuz T-2 was the 12th mission to the Soviet space station Salyut 6 and the 10th to successfully dock at the orbiting outpost.
Although he was the more experienced cosmonaut, Aksyonov flew again as a flight engineer, this time paired with the first flight and commander Yuri Malyshev. The nearly four-day mission ended on June 5, 1980, and he spent only two days at the station, where Malyshev and Aksyonov visited with the Salyut’s resident crew, Leonid Popov and Valery Ryumin.
The rest of the flight – before and after connecting with Salyut 6 – was a shakeout cruise for the Soyuz T-class spacecraft, which had an upgraded computer, solid-state electronics and solar arrays back to enable longer flights. Malyshev and Aksyonov were the first to fly the Soyuz T, after an unmanned test flight.
The pair returned to Earth on June 9, 1980, marking Aksyonov’s last time aboard a spacecraft. He logged a total of 11 days, 20 hours and 11 minutes in space during his two missions and 189 revolutions around the planet.
Vladimir Viktorovich Aksyonov was born on February 1, 1935, in Giblitsy, within the Kasimovsky District of the former Soviet Union. He graduated from Mytishchi College of Engineering in 1953, the 10th Military Aviation School of Primary Pilot Training 1955 and All-Union Correspondence Polytechnic Institute with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1963.
In 1962, Aksyonov started working for OKB-1 (today, RSC Energia), where he tested aircraft and performed zero-gravity simulations. In 1966, the Soviet government decided that civilians (and ex-military personnel) could be crew members on Soyuz space flights, which led to Aksyonov joining the cosmonaut corps.
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Aksyonov retired from the corps on October 17, 1988, and became director of the State Research Center for the Study of Natural Resources of the State Hydrometeorological Service. He then worked as general director of NPO Planeta, before serving as deputy chairman of the executive committee of the Cosmos Society.
Aksyonov also served in leadership roles for the Soviet Peace Fund, the public organization “Russian Spiritual Movement” and the Science Foundation’s Institute for Security and Sustainable Development.
For his service to the space program, Aksyonov was twice named a Hero of the Soviet Union and awarded two Orders of Lenin, a “For Merit in Space Exploration” medal and the title Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR, among his other honors.
Aksyonov was married to Marina Fyodorova, and together they had two children, Valeri and Sergei.
“He will remain in our memory as an honest, hardworking, fair and loyal man,” said Borisov. “The good memory of Vladimir Viktorovich Aksenov will remain in our hearts forever, and his life will be a worthy example for future generations of space explorers.”
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