Anatoly Semyonovich Levchenko

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Anatoly Levchenko
Country: USSR
selected on 1st February 1979
Calls: 1 space flight
Begin: December 21, 1987
Landing: December 29, 1987
Time in space: 7d 21h 58min
retired on August 6, 1988
Space flights

Anatoly Semjonowitsch Levtschenko ( Russian Анатолий Семёнович Левченко ; born May 21, 1941 in Krasnokutsk , Kharkiv Oblast , Ukrainian SSR ; † August 6, 1988 in Moscow ) was a Soviet cosmonaut .

Life

Activity as a pilot

Levchenko joined the Air Force in 1959 and graduated from the Chernigov Officers' College for Military Pilots in 1964 , after which he served as an Air Force pilot in the Lipetsk region and in the Turkmen SSR . In 1970 he went to the test pilot school of the Institute for Flight Research (LII), where he achieved four degrees between 1971 and 1979. He flew fighter planes, bombers and transport machines. Among other things, worked on the expansion and improvement of combat aircraft. In total, he flew 87 different types of aircraft.

Cosmonaut activity

From July 1977 he took part in a preparatory course for the planned space glider Buran , in August 1978 he had passed all medical tests, so that in February 1979 he was accepted into a newly founded cosmonaut group. His basic training as a cosmonaut took place from April 1979 to December 1980 at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Svyosdny Gorodok near Moscow . Levchenko received the title of "test cosmonaut" after passing exams on February 12, 1982.

From September 1982 to May 1983 Levchenko prepared with Vladimir Wasjutin and Viktor Savinych for a flight to the Salyut 7 space station , but the flight plans were changed and Levchenko lost this assignment.

Buran tests

From December 1983 Levchenko worked again on the Buran program, which was delayed further and further.

Together with Alexander Shchukin , Levchenko formed one of the three Buran teams for test flights within the atmosphere. For this purpose, a special OK-GLI version of the space glider was equipped with engines that enabled a horizontal take-off, the landing then also took place horizontally, as planned for the space-flight Buran. Between April 1986 and May 1987 Levchenko and Shchukin carried out three taxi tests and four flight tests.

Spaceflight

From May 1987 Levchenko was preparing for a flight to the Mir space station . Levchenko should make a short-term flight during the team replacement. Levchenko took off aboard Soyuz TM-4 on December 21, 1987 . Vladimir Titov was in command, and Musa Manarov was the flight engineer . These two should form the third long-term crew of the Mir. Two days later they docked with the Mir, where they were greeted by the previous crew, Yuri Romanenko and Alexander Alexandrow .

Levchenko's task on this mission was to examine his ability to fly during the adaptation phase to weightlessness . For this he had special facilities in the orbital section of Soyuz TM-4.

After six days on the Mir, Levchenko returned to Earth with Romanenko and Alexandrov on board Soyuz TM-3 . His time in space was just under eight days. Immediately after landing Levchenko had to prove his ability to fly under earth conditions. Igor Wolk carried out a similar mission on Salyut 7 in July 1984 .

Since Levchenko changed commanders on this mission, he also had two callsigns. Under Titov he was "Okean 3", under Romanenko "Taimyr 3"

death

Levchenko died of a brain tumor in Moscow just seven months later at the age of 47 . His grave is in the Bykowo cemetery in Zhukovsky, right next to the grave of Alexander Shchukin, who died in a plane crash just 12 days after him.

Honors

Levchenko became Hero of the Soviet Union in 1987 and received the Order of Lenin .

Private

Levchenko was married and had a son.

See also

swell

personal data
SURNAME Levchenko, Anatoly Semyonovich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Левченко, Анатолий Семёнович (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION soviet cosmonaut
DATE OF BIRTH May 21, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Krasnokutsk , Kharkov Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
DATE OF DEATH August 6, 1988
Place of death Moscow