Pavel Popovich

Missions:

• Vostok 4
• Soyuz 14

Additional information Pavel Popovich

Pavel Romanovich Popovich (Russian: Па́вел Рома́нович Попо́вич, Ukrainian: Павло Романович Попович, Pavlo Romanovych Popovych) (October 5, 1930 – September 29, 2009) was a Soviet cosmonaut. He 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. Military In 1952 he graduated from a course at the Stalingrad Military Aviation School near Novosibirsk. He then went on to train at the Military Officers of the Air Force Aviation Training School in Grozny, until 1954 when he joined the Soviet Air Force. Service Details are from Space Encyclopedia ASTROnote, unless otherwise noted Date Role Location 25 Dec 1954 Pilot 265 Fighter Regiment (IAP) 336th Fighter Aviation Division (IAD) (later the IAD 64-Fighter Air Corps (IAC) 22nd Air Army) 19 Jun 1957 Senior Pilot/Squadron Adjutant 27 Feb 1958 Senior Airman 772-IAP IAS 22nd 26th VA. 31 May 1958 234-Guards Regiment Proskurov 9th IN IAD Moscow (Kubinka) 31 Jan 1959 Adjutant of the squadron Jan 1982 Deputy Chief Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center 29 Dec 1989 Secondment State Committee of the USSR Agro 20 Aug 1993 Retired by order of the Defense Ministry Aircraft types flown: Yakovlev Yak-11 Yakovlev Yak-18 Lavochkin La-9 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 Training Details are from Space Encyclopedia ASTROnote, unless otherwise noted[4] Date Cyrillic English 12 May 1959 Военный летчик 3-го класса Military Pilot, 3rd class 15 Aug 1962 Военный летчик 1-го класса Military Pilot, 1st class 10 Nov 1960 Инструктор парашютно-десантной подготовки (ПДП) ВВС Parachute Instructor (PDP) Air Force 30 Nov 1962 Космонавт 3-го класса Astronaut 3rd class 24 Jul 1974 Космонавт 2-го класса Astronaut 2nd Class Promotions Details are from Space Encyclopedia ASTROnote, unless otherwise noted Date Insignia Cyrillic English 30 Oct 1954 RAF A F1-2Lt 2010.png Лейтенант Lieutenant 24 Apr 1957 RAF A F1FstLt 2010.png Старший лейтенант Senior Lieutenant 30 Mar 1959 RAF A FCap 2010.png Капитан Captain 05 Nov 1961 RAF A F3Maj 2010.png Майор Major 11 Aug 1962 RAF A F4LtCol 2010.png Подполковник (Podpolkovnik) Lieutenant Colonel 30 Apr 1965 RAF A F5Col 2010.png Полковник (Polkovnik) Colonel 5 May 1976 RAF A F6MajGen 2010.png Генерал-майор авиации Major-General (Aviation) 20 Aug 1993 Retired from the Air Force Cosmonaut In 1960, he was selected as one of the first group of twenty air force pilots that would train as the first cosmonauts for the Soviet space program. The training took place between March 1960 and January 1961, and Popovich passed his final exams in Cosmonaut Basic Training on 17/18 January 1961. He was appointed as an astronaut on 25 January 1961. He was considered as a strong candidate for the first spaceflight – but while Yuri Gagarin was ultimately chosen for the Vostok 1 flight, Popovich served as the flight's capcom. From May to August 1961, he trained to fly on spacecraft "Vostok-2" in a group of astronauts, followed (between September and November 1961) with training to fly "Vostok-3". This flight was cancelled. Between November 1961 and May 1962, he trained as a pilot for "Vostok-4". Between June and August of that year, he received further training in the maintenance of this spacecraft. He commanded the space flight Vostok 4 (Russian: Восток-4) in 1962 which, along with Andrian Nikolayev on Vostok 3, was the first time that more than one manned spacecraft were in orbit at the same time. His call sign for this flight was Golden eagle (Бе́ркут). In January 1964, he became a cosmonaut instructor, becoming deputy commander to the 2nd group of cosmonauts. Popovich was selected to command one of the Soviet Union's planned moon landings, and trained for this between 1966 and 1968, when the Soviet moon landing plans were scrapped. In 1968, he was selected as captain for Soyuz 2, but after the death of Vladimir Komarov during the reentry of Soyuz 1, Soyuz 2 was launched without a crew. In 1969 he was a senior cosmonaut instructor, and became (by 1972) the Chief of cosmonaut training. In 1974, he commanded his second (and final) space flight Soyuz 14 (Russian: Союз 14) in 1974. Again, his call sign for this flight was Golden eagle (Бе́ркут). This flight was the first to the Salyut 3 space station. In 1977, he received a post-graduate degree in technical sciences. In March 1978, he was on duty in the Flight Control Center for Vladimír Remek's flight aboard Soyuz 28. From 1978 he was the deputy chief of the Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center responsible for research and testing work. From 1980 to 1989, he was Deputy chief of the Cosmonaut Training Center. In January 1982, he was removed from the list of active cosmonauts, so that he could serve as Deputy Chief for Scientific Testing and Research at the Center.