Vladimir Vasilyevich Kovaljonok

Vladimir Kovalyonok
Country:	Soviet Union
selected on	May 7, 1967
Calls:	3 space flights
Start of the first space flight:	October 9, 1977
Landing of the last space flight:	May 26, 1981
Time in space:	216d 9h 8min
retired on	June 1984
Space flights
Soyuz 25 (1977) Soyuz 29 / Soyuz 31 (1978) Salyut 6 EO-2 Salyut 6 EO-6 Soyuz T-4 (1981)

Vladimir Kovalyonok ( Russian Владимир Васильевич Ковалёнок , Belarusian Уладзімір Васільевіч Кавалёнак , Uladzimir Vasilievich Kawaljonak; *  3. March 1942 Beloje, Raion Krupki, Minsk Region , Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic ) is a former Soviet cosmonaut .

Astronaut activity

Kowaljonok became a cosmonaut in 1967 and was trained as a space station crew. He was a substitute for the space flight from Soyuz 18 in May 1975 to the Salyut 4 space station .

He began his first space flight on October 9, 1977 as commander of Soyuz 25 . Together with Valery Ryumin he flew to the Salyut 6 space station . The two cosmonauts were supposed to become the first crew of the new space station, but the coupling failed and the spacecraft had to return to Earth prematurely. This was the last Soyuz flight until Soyuz TM-19 in 1994 in which all crew members were space novices.

Already for the successor flight Soyuz 26 in December 1977 he was again substitute commander, also for Soyuz 27 in January 1978. Soyuz 28 was only a short space flight with a guest crew, so that Kowaljonok was not planned for this.

On June 15, 1978, Vladimir Kowaljonok flew as commander of Soyuz 29 together with Alexander Ivanchenkov to Salyut 6. This time the coupling worked without any problems. During their time on board Salyut 6, they received visitors from Soyuz 30 ( Pjotr ​​Klimuk and Mirosław Hermaszewski ). As the life of the Soyuz 29 spacecraft was nearing the end of its life, the next visiting crew, space veteran Valeri Bykowski and the first German in space , Sigmund Jähn with Soyuz 31, brought a new spacecraft and took Soyuz 29 back to Earth. Kowaljonok and Ivanchenkov landed with Soyuz 31 after 139 days in space. With that they had set a new all-time record in space.

For the Soyuz T-3 flight in November 1980, Kowaljonok was again the substitute commander.

Kowaljonok took off for his third space flight on March 12, 1981 with Soyuz T-4 . Again the trip led to Salyut 6, this time with Viktor Savinych as flight engineer. The two cosmonauts were the sixth and last permanent crew of the space station. They received the visiting teams of Soyuz 39 and Soyuz 40 before they left Salyut 6 again after 74 days.

After Kowaljonok quit active service as a cosmonaut in June 1984, he became director of the Air Force Engineering Academy. In 1986 he defended his dissertation and received the title Doctor of Military Science.

With the last rank of Colonel General, he has been a senior since June 18, 2002. D.

He is married and has two children.

Awards (selection)

• 1978: Hero of the GDR
• 1979: Leibniz Medal

Web links

• Short biography on spacefacts.de
• Владимир Васильевич Ковалёнок on astronaut.ru