Boris Walentinowitsch Wolynow

Boris Volynov
Boris Volynov 1963
Country:	Soviet Union
Organization:	PWO
Call sign:	Байкал (Baikal - " Lake Baikal ")
selected on	March 7, 1960 (1st cosmonaut group)
Calls:	2 space flights
Start of the first space flight:	15th January 1969
Landing of the last space flight:	August 24, 1976
Time in space:	52d 7h 17min
retired on	1990
Space flights
Soyuz 5 (1969) Soyuz 21 (1976)

Boris Walentinowitsch Wolynow ( Russian Борис Валентинович Волынов , scientific transliteration Boris Valentinovič Volynov ; born December 18, 1934 in Irkutsk , Siberia ) is a former Soviet cosmonaut .

He was trained as a jet pilot in the Soviet Air Force at the military aviation pilot school in Novosibirsk until 1955 and was selected for the first cosmonaut group in the Soviet Union in 1960 . After Alexei Leonov passed away in October 2019, he became the last surviving member of this group.

Vostok

Of the twenty members of the first cosmonaut group, Wolynow did not belong to the first guard like Yuri Gagarin and German Titow , but recommended himself as a candidate for later Vostok flights .

During the first double flight in space history in August 1962, Volynov was a substitute pilot for Vostok 3 and Vostok 4 . Wolynow was also a candidate for the next Vostok flight, but for Vostok 5 in June 1963 the decision was made on Valeri Bykowski , while Vostok 6 was to be controlled by a woman.

Vozhod

Since Wolynow had already been a substitute for Vostok flights but had not yet flown, he was not transferred to the newly founded Soyuz group in 1964 . However, the next manned space flights would take place with Vozhod spacecraft , which consisted of modified Vostok spacecraft.

Again and again there were efforts from higher authorities to prefer Georgi Beregowoi , a pilot who moved up in 1964. However, the head of cosmonaut training, Nikolai Kamanin insisted that the next flights should be controlled by pilots who had been waiting for their nomination for a long time.

In July 1964, Volynov was given command of the Vozhod 1 space flight . A multi-seat spaceship was to be used for the first time. The scientists Georgi Katys and Boris Jegorow were planned as companions .

Due to internal conflicts, however, the crew was redeployed several times. Finally, Vozhod 1 started in October 1964 with Vladimir Komarov as commandant. Volynov was again just a reserve.

For the next available flight, Vozhod 3 , Volynov was again a strong candidate for the post of commander. However, in Beregovoi he still had a rival supported by a higher level, and the idea of ​​starting a Vozhod flight with an all-female crew was still in the air. After Valentina Tereshkova , there were two more cosmonauts waiting to be deployed. In addition, Volynov's Jewish mother did not fit into the Soviet image of a cosmonaut.

For various reasons, the flight from Vozhod 3 continued to be delayed. The Americans had now set a new world record of 14 days in Earth orbit with Gemini 7 , and had rendezvous and docked for the first time . Since the Soviet leadership was mainly interested in records and first performances, Vozhod 3 lost more and more importance. Eventually all forces were concentrated on the Soyuz spaceship and the Voshod flight was neglected. However, this space flight was never officially canceled.

Volynov, who always had a good chance of actually becoming the commander of this flight, had stood ready for it in vain.

Soyuz

From September 1966 Wolynow was trained within the Soviet lunar program for a lunar orbit, but the training groups changed frequently, with Wolynow always remaining in the lunar program.

After the Soyuz 1 disaster in April 1967, it was decided that Volynov and Beregovoy would conduct the next two manned Soyuz flights. A coupling in earth orbit and a transfer of cosmonauts from one spaceship to the other were planned.

The next manned flight was Soyuz 3 in October 1968, during which a coupling, but no transfer, was to be carried out. Volynov was a substitute for Beregovoy, although the Central Committee was still opposed to him.

In December 1968 Volynov received his diploma from the Military Engineering Academy of the Air Force "Nikolai J. Zhukovsky" along with some other cosmonauts . Two days later he passed the crew's cosmonaut test for the upcoming Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 flights . Volynov had one of the best results, but higher officials were not happy with his nomination.

On January 15, 1969, Boris Wolynov finally took off on his first space flight. Under the callsign Baikal (after Lake Baikal in Siberia ) he commanded the Soyuz 5 spacecraft . On board were Alexei Yelissejew and Yevgeny Khrunov .

In Earth orbit, Soyuz 5 served as a passive partner of the coupling with Soyuz 4 , which had started with Vladimir Shatalov the day before. Chrunov and Jelissejew left the spaceship and hanged themselves over to Soyuz 4 to land with Shatalov on January 17th. This was the first change in space.

Volynov landed a day after Soyuz 4, where he narrowly escaped death. The service module of the spaceship did not separate completely and remained connected to the landing capsule upon reentry . Upon re-entry, the spaceship assumed the most aerodynamically stable position with the nose of the landing capsule first. This is where the access hatch to the orbital module is located on the Soyuz, without adequate heat protection. Volynov was not pressed into its contoured seat as intended, but into the belts. Gases poured from the overheated hatch seal into the interior of the landing unit, eventually leading to Wolynov's unconsciousness . Next, the hermetic seal would have been lost, which Volynov, who was not wearing a spacesuit, would not have survived.

Before the decompression, the service module was torn off the landing capsule by the aerodynamic forces and the heat effect on the remaining connection. The capsule then assumed the most stable (and intended) position in this configuration due to the aerodynamic forces. Due to the unfavorable aerodynamics at the first entry, the landing capsule did not perform a two-part descent, but was braked on a ballistic path, thereby the braking deceleration reached up to 9 g. The braking missiles failed immediately on landing and caused a very hard touchdown. Volynov lost some teeth. It was freezing cold. Volynov walked to a nearby settlement. Since the landing site was quite far from the original target point, the rescue forces arrived relatively late and found a damaged but empty landing capsule. As a result of his physical and psychological injuries, his active flight status was revoked for two years. He himself said of the near-disaster: "I was not afraid, but I had a deep and strong desire to stay alive, although there was actually no chance."

Volynov was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on January 22, 1969 .

Salyut

After the Soviet Union lost the race to the moon, efforts focused on space stations in orbit. The first of these stations, Salyut 1 , was launched on April 19, 1971.

Volynov was under discussion as the commander of the third crew of Salyut 1, but after the fatal outcome of Soyuz 11 in June 1971, the space station was no longer manned because the Soyuz spacecraft had to be redesigned.

In April 1973 Salyut 2 was launched. Volynov was on the backup team for the first crew and would have had a good chance of leading the next crew, but the space station could not be brought under control in orbit and burned up without being approached.

When another space station, Salyut 3 , was brought into space in June 1974, Volynov could again hope for a second space flight. He was part of the support team for the first crew, who were on board the station for 16 days with Soyuz 14 . During the second occupation with Soyuz 15 in August 1974, he was part of the reserve team and was designated as the commander of Soyuz 16. However, the flight from Soyuz 15 to Salyut 3 failed because the coupling system failed. It had to be heavily revised for the next flight, the time required for this exceeded the remaining life of the space station, so the flight of Soyuz 16 was canceled. Once again Volynov had prepared in vain.

Volynov made his second space flight in 1976, 16 years after his selection and seven years after his last flight. On July 6, 1976, he took off with Vitaly Scholobow in the Soyuz 21 spacecraft . The goal was the military space station Almas-3 , which was operated under the cover name Salyut 5 .

A stay on board the station was planned for 60 days. Several systems failed on the 42nd day. The lighting, the situation control and the life support system failed. Evacuation of the station was temporarily considered, but after several hours Wolynow and Sholobow succeeded in stabilizing the Salyut-5 in orbit and gradually putting all systems back into operation. This accident put both cosmonauts under great physical and mental stress after staying on board the station for several weeks. The mission was continued for the time being, but after a few days it was shortened. Wolynow and Shobolow landed after 49 days on August 24, 1976 in poor physical and mental condition. The flight control team made the decision to abort it on the ground. Details of the decision and the procedure for the early return were not disclosed at the time. Poisonous gases or Sholobov's physical and mental problems may have played a role.

From 1982 Volynov was head of the cosmonaut department.

From 1985 onwards, Volynov prepared again for a long-term mission. He had with Anatoly Levchenko and Mussa Manarov with T-15 Soyuz to the space station Salyut 7 should start. In November 1985, however, the crew at the time left the station and returned to Earth with the Soyuz T-14 . The commander Vladimir Wasjutin had been ill for a long time, so that the mission had to be canceled, whereupon the flight of Soyuz T-15 was suspended.

The Soyuz T-15 flight actually took place from March 1986, but with a different crew that had already been trained for the Mir space station , which was in orbit from February 1986.

It was characteristic of Wolynov's career that his last flight was also canceled.

Only in 1990 did Volynov leave the Soviet space program. Since Wiktor Gorbatko's departure in August 1982, he was the last remaining cosmonaut from the first selection group .

Wolynow is married and has two children.

literature

• Boris Wolynow , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 17/1969 of April 14, 1969, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)

Web links

Commons : Boris Volynov  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• spacefacts.de: Short biography