Valery Bykovsky

Valery Fyodorovich Bykovsky (Вале́рий Фёдорович Быко́вский; 2 August 1934 – 27 March 2019) was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on three space flights: Vostok 5, Soyuz 22, and Soyuz 31.

He was also backup for Vostok 3 and Soyuz 37.

Born in Pavlovsky Posad, Russia, on 2 August 1934, Bykovsky was the son of Fyodor Fyodorovich Bykovsky and Klavdia Ivanova.

He had an older sister named Margarita, born three years earlier.

When he was four years old, World War II began, forcing the family to move to Kuybyshev, and later again to Syzran, before moving back to near Moscow.

By the age of 14, Bykovsky wanted to attend naval school; however, his father was not a proponent of this idea and encouraged him to stay at his school.

A few days later, Bykovsky attended a lecture on the Soviet Air Force Club which inspired him to pursue his dream of becoming a pilot.

He began flight theory lessons when he was 16 at the Moscow City Aviation Club.

Bykovsky graduated from aviation school aged 18 and enrolled in the Kachinsk Military Aviation Academy.

He served as a fighter pilot and later as an instructor pilot, training other pilots on fighter aircraft.

During his military service, Bykovsky logged over 5,000 hours of flying time on various types of aircraft, including jet fighters and bombers.

Bykovsky also had a passion for aviation research and experimentation.

He was involved in several research programs aimed at improving the performance and safety of military aircraft.

One of the programs he participated in was the development of the Tupolev Tu-16 jet bomber, which was used by the Soviet Air Force from the 1950s to the 1980s.

Bykovsky was also involved in the testing of new jet engines and aviation equipment.

In the 1950s, he participated in the testing of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 jet fighter, which was the first Soviet production aircraft capable of supersonic flight.

He graduated from the academy at 21 years old and received the rank of lieutenant.

By the time he began his cosmonaut training, he had done over 72 parachute jumps.

At 26 years old, he started his cosmonaut training at Zhukovsky Military Engineering academy.

Although an exceptional pilot in his own right Bykovsky was not part of the original "Vanguard Six" assigned to the Vostok mission, however, due to a back injury sustained by Valentin Varlamov, Bykovksy was added to the group.

His first assignment was as the backup pilot to the Vostok 3 mission.

He launched on the Vostok 5 mission from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 14 June 1963.

During the flight he conducted experiments, such as photographing the Earth's horizon and documenting the growth of peas.

He also floated about in the cabin and adjusted the spacecraft orientation numerous times.

Two days into his flight, Valentina Tereshkova flew the Vostok 6 spacecraft within five kilometres of Bykovsky's. Bykovsky set a space endurance record of five days in orbit where his call-sign was "Hawk" (Russian: Ястреб).

Although this duration has been surpassed by multi-crew flights, it remains the record for a solo spaceflight.

He also performed the first human bowel movement in space, at 9 hours and 5 minutes into the mission.

He was given his nation's highest honour, "Hero of The Soviet Union" for his contribution to Soviet spaceflight.

During his Vostok 5 mission, Bykovsky was also made a member of the Communist Party.

On June 25, 1963, Bykovsky and Tereshkova went to Moscow University for a press conference where Bykovsky was quoted by The Times describing how weightlessness affected him: "The muscles of the arms feel extremely light; you lift a hand without any effort, you pick up something-and it weighs nothing. You get accustomed to this, but not at once."

Bykovsky was assigned to be the commander of the original Soyuz 2 mission, which was planned to be launched soon after Soyuz 1.

Two of the three crewmen from Soyuz 2 were to conduct an extravehicular activity (EVA) and enter Soyuz 1.

During the Soyuz 1 flight, many concurrent problems forced mission control to command an early reentry of the spacecraft.

This also caused them to cancel the Soyuz 2 flight as no rendezvous could occur.

On Soyuz 1, tube holding the main parachute was too rough, which created enough friction that the drogue parachute was unable to pull it out.

The spacecraft struck the ground at approximately 93 miles per hour, killing Vladimir Komarov.

As the Soyuz 2 capsule was made with the same specifications as Soyuz 1, if the mission had flown Bykovsky and his crew would have been killed.

He flew the Soyuz 22 mission with Vladimir Aksyonov.

He was promoted to colonel on 30 April 1966.

The mission launched on 15 September 1976.