Valentina Leonidovna Ponomaryova

This article deals with the space flight candidate, on the Soviet-Russian singer Valentina Ponomarjowa, see Valentina Dmitrijewna Ponomarjowa .

Valentina Leonidowna Ponomarjowa ( Russian Валентина Леонидовна Пономарёва ; born Kovalevskaya, born September 18, 1933 in Moscow ) is a Soviet aspirant cosmonaut who did not make a space flight. She was the 2nd replacement for Valentina Tereschkowa on the flight from Vostok 6 .

Already in school, Ponomarjowa completed a parachute jump training. In 1957, she graduated from the MAI Aviation Institute in Moscow . Subsequently, she worked in the Department of Applied Mathematics of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR . In 1951 she learned to fly on the Po-2 , in 1952 she became a member of the Central Aero Club Chkalov. There she flew the Jak-18 and the MiG-15 . In 1956 she took part in the air parade in Tushino .

In April 1962 she was selected as a cosmonaut trainee and completed basic training from April to November 1962. After completing her training, she was made a sub-lieutenant. She was the only female pilot among the Soviet space flight candidates and achieved the best training results of the five candidates. During trial interviews, however, the selection committee's answers did not appear to be sufficiently relevant to the state. It was therefore decided that Valentina Tereschkowa with Vostok 5 should carry out the first flight with a woman on board, Valentina Ponomarjowa was next to Shanna Yorkina a candidate for the second spaceship of the planned group flight. In March 1963, however, the decision was made that only two Vostok flights should take place, as a group flight of a man and a woman. Valery Bykowski flew with Vostok 5 and Valentina Tereschkowa with Vostok 6. Valentina Ponomarjowa was the 2nd substitute pilot for Vostok 6. She was also scheduled as the commander for Voßchod 5 , which included a 10 to 15 day flight with a completely female crew an exit should have carried out. The flight was canceled after the death of Sergei Korolev .

In 1967 she graduated from the military academy for engineers of the air force "Prof. NJ Schukowski ” in Monino. On October 1, 1969, like all female cosmonauts, she retired from the active cosmonaut corps and then worked in various positions at the Juri Gagarin cosmonaut training center until 1988 . In 1974 she received her doctorate as a candidate in technical sciences. Since September 1988, she worked at the Institute for the History of Science and Technology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (now Russia) in exploring the ideas Tsiolkovsky .

Valentina Ponomarjowa had been married to the cosmonaut aspirant Yuri Ponomarjow since 1972 and has two children. The marriage ended in divorce.

Web links

• Short biography on spacefacts.de , accessed on October 31, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kamanin diaries, entries from November 19 and 29, 1962 in the Encyclopedia Astronautica , accessed on November 6, 2017 (English).
2. ↑ Kamanin Diaries, entry from March 21, 1963 in the Encyclopedia Astronautica, accessed on November 5, 2017 (English).