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Georgy Beregovoy | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1921-04-15)15 April 1921 |
| Died | 30 June 1995(1995-06-30) (aged 74) Moscow, Russia |
| Occupation | Pilot |
| Awards | Hero of the Soviet Union (twice) |
| Space career | |
| Cosmonaut | |
| Rank | Lieutenant General,Soviet Air Forces (1938–1987) |
Time in space | 3d 22h 50m |
| Selection | 1962 |
| Missions | Soyuz 3 |
| Retirement | 1987 |
Georgy Timofeyevich Beregovoy (Russian:Гео́ргий Тимофе́евич Берегово́й,Ukrainian:Гео́ргій Тимофі́йович Берегови́й; 15 April 1921 – 30 June 1995) was aSovietcosmonaut who commanded thespace missionSoyuz 3 in 1968.[1] From 1972 to 1987, he headed theYuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.
At the time of his space flight, Beregovoy was 47 years of age: he was the earliest-born human to go to orbit, being born three months and three days earlier than the second earliest-born man in orbit –John Glenn, but later thanX-15 pilotJoe Walker who made 2 (or 3, according toUSAF definition) suborbital space flights.
Beregovoy was born on 15 April 1921 in Fedorivka,Poltava Oblast,Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (nowUkraine). His father worked as a telegraph operator on the railways.[2] He had two older brothers; the eldest, Viktor, also became a pilot and the younger,Mikhail, an officer in theSoviet Air Defence Forces. Viktor was caught in theGreat Purge of the late 1930s, and was arrested and executed in 1938. He was subsequentlyrehabilitated.[2] Georgy graduated from a school in 1938 atYenakieve,Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. He joined theSoviet Air Forces (VVS) in 1941, and was soon assigned to a ground-attack unit flying theIlyushin Il-2 "Shturmovik". He flew some 185 combat sorties during the course ofWorld War II and rose quickly through the ranks, finishing the war as a captain and squadron commander. His corps commander was then-colonelNikolai Kamanin, a celebrated polar aviator and a future head of the cosmonaut training in theSoviet space program, which would turn important later.[citation needed]
Following the war, he became a test pilot, and over the next sixteen years test-flew some sixty different aircraft, rising to the rank of colonel and the position of deputy chief of the air force's flight-testing department. In 1962, he applied and was accepted for cosmonaut training, sponsored by his former WWII commander, General Kamanin, who was the head of the cosmonaut training at the time.[citation needed]
In 1956 he graduated from theAir Force Academy.[citation needed]
In 1965, Colonel Beregovoy was scheduled to fly the following year inVoskhod 3, but the mission was never launched.[3]
On 25 October 1968 Beregovoy took the Soyuz 3 intoouter space: he orbited the Earth for almost four days at an altitude of up to 252 km. As part of his mission, Beregovoy twice maneuvered his craft into rendezvous positions with the uncrewed Soyuz 2 satellite[4] but was unable to establish a direct physical link to the craft[5] before returning on 30 October 1968.[citation needed]
Nonetheless, Beregovoy's flight was in some ways an encouraging success for the Soviet crewed space program,[6] and the colonel was celebrated as a hero upon his return. Soyuz 3 was Beregovoy's only spaceflight and soon after it he retired from active duty, having been promoted to Major General.[citation needed]
At a public ceremony in honor of the Soviet cosmonaut team, Beregovoy was lightly wounded during the1969 assassination attempt uponLeonid Brezhnev.[7]
In October 1969, Konstantin Feoktistov and Georgi Beregovoi traveled as guests of NASA throughout the US, visiting any city they chose and theDisneyland amusement park in California - they were joined on the trip by US astronauts as hosts, including Eugene Cernan, Neil Armstrong and others. Kirk Douglas and others hosted receptions for them in Hollywood[8] - they were protected by Special Agents of the US State Department on request of NASA. Almost every place they went when accompanied by Eugene Cernan, if a band was present the song "Fly Me To The moon" was played - when they visited Disney Park they enjoyed the ride Trip To The Moon, then joked with the US Astronauts that they went to Disneyland and not the moon. It was a trip that all enjoyed and international friendships were made.[citation needed]
Beregovoy took up a position at theCentre for Cosmonaut Training, and in 1972 was made Director of that facility.[citation needed]
He is a consultant for the film directed byArvazd Peleshyan "Our Century" (1983).
After retirement, Beregovoy became a Soviet parliament member representing theDonbas region of theUkrainian SSR. In this capacity, he reportedly helpedViktor Yanukovych to start a new life, getting his two criminal convictions expunged from the court records. Many years later, Yanukovych becameprime minister and thenpresident of modern independentUkraine.[citation needed]
Georgy Beregovoy died during heart surgery on 30 June 1995,[9] and is buried in theNovodevichy Cemetery inMoscow.[10]
Beregovoy was awarded the title of theHero of the Soviet Union twice, the first time on 26 October 1944, for his military service duringWorld War II, and a second time for his space flight. He was the only Soviet cosmonaut who undertook space flight being the Hero of the Soviet Union (the highest Soviet distinction) for a previous achievement unrelated to space travel.
He was also awarded:
Foreign awards:
Among many other Russian commemorations, Beregovoy is memorialized in Moscow with a statue onCosmonauts Alley. Beregovoy was celebrated internationally and received a unique award from theInternational Aeronautical Federation. At the Federation's 62nd general conference held in Helsinki, Finland, Beregovoy was awarded the firstYuri A. Gagarin Gold Medal for achievements in space; Finnish PresidentUrho Kekkonen was the honorary presenter on July 14, 1968.[11] The award was a new design created in memory of Gagarin who had died the previous March, and it continues to be awarded to this day.[12]
