- Valery Bykovsky
Infobox Astronaut
name =Valery Fyodorovich Bykovsky
type =Cosmonaut
status =Retired
nationality =Soviet
date_birth =August 1934
place_birth =Pavlovsky Posad ,Russia
occupation =Pilot
rank =Major General ,Soviet Air Force
selection =1960 Air Force Group 1
time =20d 17h 48m
mission =Vostok 5 ,Soyuz 22 ,Soyuz 31
insignia =|Valery Fyodorovich Bykovsky ( _ru. Валерий Фёдорович Быковский; born 2 August 1934,
Pavlovsky Posad ) was aSoviet cosmonaut who flew three manned space mission space flights:Vostok 5 ,Soyuz 22 , andSoyuz 31 . He was also backup forVostok 3 andSoyuz 37 .Bykovsky set a new space endurance record when he spent five days in orbit aboard Vostok 5 in 1963, and although this record has been long surpassed, to this day, it remains the space endurance record for a solo flight.
Bykovsky was to have commanded the original Soyuz 2 mission, which was cancelled due to problems with
Soyuz 1 . After the parachutes failed on that mission, killing Vladimir Komarov, the same problem was found with the Soyuz 2 capsule, which meant if the mission had flown, Bykovsky and his crew would also have been killed.Many of his later years in the space programme were involved with promoting the
Intercosmos programme amongst the world'sSocialist nations. He retired in 1988 and then spent three years as the Director of theHouse of Soviet Science and Culture inBerlin .Valery Bykovsky was awarded the
Hero of the Soviet Union (1963), theOrder of Lenin , theOrder of the Red Star , and numerous other medals and foreign orders.
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