Boris Dmitrijewitsch Andrejew

Boris Andreyev
Country:	Soviet Union
Organization:	ZKBEM
selected on	March 22, 1972
Calls:	0 space flights
retired on	5th September 1983

Boris Dmitrijewitsch Andrejew ( Russian Борис Дмитриевич Андреев ; born October 6, 1940 in Moscow , Russian SFSR ) is a former Soviet cosmonaut who was a substitute on several space flights, but was never deployed.

ZKBEM and application as a cosmonaut

Andrejew studied at the Moscow State Technical University "NE Bauman" , which he left in 1964 as a graduate engineer. From November 18, 1965 he worked in the Central Design Office for Experimental Mechanical Engineering (ZKBEM) , the former OKB -1, which at that time was still headed by Sergei Koroljow , and where the Soyuz spaceship was designed.

Some engineers at the ZKBEM had already switched to the cosmonaut corps, and five of them ( Konstantin Feoktistow , Alexei Yelissejew , Valeri Kubasow , Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Pazajew ) had come to space flights when Andreev applied to be a cosmonaut in 1971. He was adopted on March 22, 1972 along with three other engineers and three doctors.

The time as a cosmonaut

The Apollo Soyuz Test Project

After basic training, Andreyev was assigned to the Apollo Soyuz Test Project (ASTP), the first international spaceflight cooperation, in December 1972 , which was at the time in the planning phase. The Soviet space agency put together four groups of two, each consisting of a pilot and an engineer. Andrejew formed a team with the pilot Vladimir Dschanibekow .

Preparation also included a stay at the Johnson Space Center in Houston in July 1973 , where Andrejew trained with American astronauts.

After the ASTP variant 7K-TM of the Soyuz spacecraft had carried out two unmanned test flights, a manned preparatory flight was planned with Soyuz 16 , during which the entire ASTP program was simulated by the Soviet side. Dschanibekow and Andrejew formed the substitute team for the crew Filipchenko and Rukawischnikow . The flight took place in December 1974. During the actual ASTP flight with Soyuz 19 in July 1975, Andreyev was part of the support team.

Soyuz 22

For the Apollo-Soyuz test project, the Soviet Union had produced several copies of the 7K-TM variant of the Soyuz spacecraft, which were not suitable for coupling with a Salyut space station. After completion of the ASTP, the last remaining specimen was used for the Soyuz 22 Earth observation mission . Andreev was assigned to the pilot Leonid Popov and together with him formed the support team from January 1976. Both the cosmonaut Vladimir Aksyonov , who flew the mission in September 1976, and his substitute Gennady Strekalov were engineers from the same development office as Andreyev, but only joined the cosmonaut corps a year after him.

Salyut 6

From October 1976 on, Popov and Andreev were preparing for a flight to the new Salyut 6 space station . But since the first approach with Soyuz 25 failed in October 1977, a new rule was introduced that at least one of the cosmonauts had to have spaceflight experience on Soyuz flights. Since neither Popov nor Andreyev were already in space, this team of two was disbanded. Andreev was assigned Vyacheslav Sudov as the new commanding officer. Sudow and Andreyev formed the support team for the third regular crew of Salyut 6, Salyut 6 EO-3 , which started in February 1979 from January 1978 . Then they moved up to the substitute team of the fourth crew Salyut 6 EO-4 . After the planned flight engineer Valentin Lebedev injured himself during the preparation, Sudow and Andrejew were even planned as the main crew at times, but were replaced by Popov and Valeri Ryumin shortly before the start . Due to the condition of the space station, however, the more experienced replacement crew was brought forward, so that Sudow and Andrejew only formed the reserve crew.

Sudow and Andreyev were out of the question as the fifth crew of the space station because the new three-seater version of the Soyuz spaceship and a specially trained crew that flew the Soyuz T-3 mission in November 1980 were intended for this . However, Sudow and Andreyev were to be the main crew for the next Soyuz T-4 mission. As a result of the training, but shortly before the start in March 1981, the original replacement team Kowaljonok / Savinych was selected as the first team. This was the last crew on the Salyut 6.

After leaving

After an accident while skydiving, Andreyev had to leave the cosmonaut corps in September 1983. He had participated in six space flights without being used once. As the liaison spokesman in the control center, he remained with the space program until he retired in August 1993.

Private

Andreev is married for the second time and has two children.

Web links

• Short biography on spacefacts.de
• Boris Dmitrijewitsch Andrejew in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)
• Astronaut.ru: Борис Дмитриевич Андреев (Russian)