Marina Popovich

Marina Popovich
Born	Марина Лаврентьевна Васильева July 20, 1931 (1931-07-20) (age 80) Leonenki, Smolenskaya oblast USSR
Nationality	Russian
Occupation	pilot, author
Known for	102 world records

Marina Popovich (Mari′na Lavre′ntievna Popo′vich, nee Vasi′liyeva, born July 20, 1931 in v. Leonenki, Smolenskaya oblast) is a retired Soviet Air Force colonel, engineer, and legendary Soviet test pilot who holds 107 aviation world records set on over 40 types of aircraft. She is one of the most famous pilots in Russian history, and one of the most important female pilots of all-time.^[1]

Biography

Marina Vasilieva became a Soviet Air Force pilot and in 1964, a military test pilot. She authored nine books and two screenplays. Among many other awards, she has been honored as Hero of Socialist Labor, the Order of Courage (presented personally by Vladimir Putin in June 2007)^[2] and a star in the Cancer constellation bears her name.^[3]

Popovich and UFOs

Marina Popovich has been outspoken about UFO reality. She wrote a book called UFO Glasnost (published in 2003 in Germany) and given public lectures and interviews. She has mentioned over 3000 UFO sightings by Soviet military and civilian pilots. Although qualifying that her statements are not official, she says that the Soviet Air Force and KGB have fragments of five crashed UFOs in their possession. The crash sites mentioned were Tunguska (1908), Novosibirsk, Tallinn/Estonia, Ordzhonikidze/Caucasus, and Dalnegorsk (1986). Popovich said debris was analyzed and the conclusion was that it wasn't manufactured on Earth with terrestrial technology.

In 1991, she also displayed what she claims is the last photo taken by the Russian probe Phobos 2, before it lost contact with Earth and disappeared. This photo shows an unexplained cylindrical figure, which could be a camera artifact.

She was married to Pavel Popovich, a former Soviet cosmonaut, until they divorced,^[4] with Pavel Popovich later remarrying.^[5] They have two daughters.

Honours and awards

This article incorporates information from the Russian Wikipedia.

• Order of the Red Banner
• Order of the Red Star
• Order of the Badge of Honour
• Order of Courage (2007)
• Honoured Master of Sports
• Winner of the Great Gold Medal "FAI" for the distribution of aeronautical knowledge

Videos

• The Silver Bird (documentary)
• Marina Popovich (Soviet Aviation)
• Nebo So Mnoy (1974)

References

1. ^ "Марина Лаврентьевна Повович (Васильева)". www.astronaut.ru. http://www.astronaut.ru/as_rusia/lady62/text/popovich.htm. Retrieved 2010-08-13. 
2. ^ Marina Popovich at Best People of Russia site.
3. ^ "Попович Марина Лаврентьевна". admin-smolensk.ru. http://admin-smolensk.ru/~pkns/pkns/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2171&Itemid=61. Retrieved 2011-01-01. 
4. ^ "Pavel Romanovich Popovich" (in Russian). Space Encyclopedia ASTROnote. 11 June 2009. http://www.astronaut.ru/as_rusia/vvs/text/popovich.htm?reload_coolmenus. Retrieved 2009-09-30. 
5. ^ "Pavel Popovich, sixth man in orbit, dies". collectSPACE. 30 September 2009. http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-093009b.html. Retrieved 2009-09-30. 

Persondata
Name	Popovich, Marina
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	20 July 1931
Place of birth	Smolensk Oblast
Date of death
Place of death