Leonid Kadeniuk

Infobox Astronaut
name =Leonid Kostyantynovych Kadenyuk

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type =Astronaut
nationality =Ukrainian
date_birth =28 January, 1951
place_birth =Klishkivtsi, Ukraine
occupation =Test Pilot
rank =Major General, UAF
selection =1976 Air Force Group 6
time =15d 16h 34 m
mission =STS-87
insignia =|

Leonid Kostyantynovych Kadenyuk ( _uk. "Леонід Костянтинович Каденюк"), born 28 January, 1951 in Klishkivtsi, Chernivetska oblast of the Ukrainian SSR) is the first and as of 2005 the only astronaut of independent Ukraine. He made his flight on NASA's Columbia in 1997 as part of the international mission STS-87. Kadeniuk holds the rank of Ukrainian Air Force Major General.

Kadeniuk has been a career Soviet military pilot and cosmonaut since 1976. He began his service in the Soviet Air Force and later the Cosmonaut Group. With the break-up of the Soviet Union, Kadeniuk remained in the Russian Space Forces and adopted Russian citizenship. In 1995, during the preparation of the first Ukrainian space mission, he volunteered to take part and returned to his homeland.

There were two main candidates for the mission, the other being Yaroslav Pustovyi, a civil Ukrainian scientist in space research. Kadeniuk was chosen as better-trained and accustomed to space mission organization.

After the flight, Leonid Kadeniuk continued his career in the NKAU.

In the 2002 parliamentary election, he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada in the list of pro-Kuchma United Ukraine Bloc. Later, Kadeniuk joined the "Trudova Ukrayina - Industrialists and Entrepreneurs" faction, but hasn't been politically active. He worked within parliament's Committee on Defense and National Security.

In the 2006 parliamentary election, Kadenyuk was #3 in the electoral party list of Lytvyn's People's Bloc, but the block won only 2.44% of the popular vote (short of the required 3%) and no seats in the parliament.

See also

*Space exploration
*Soviet space program

References

*uk icon [http://www.zn.kiev.ua/nn/show/479/45401/ 2004 interview with Leonid Kadeniuk] in "Dzerkalo Tyzhnya" weekly
*en icon [http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/PS/kadenyuk.html NASA biography]