Aleksei Aleksandrovich Gubarev was a Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 cosmonaut

Astronaut

An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....

 who flew on two space flights: Soyuz 17

Soyuz 17

Soyuz 17 was the first of two long-duration missions to the Soviet Union's Salyut 4 space station in 1975. The flight set a Soviet mission-duration record of 29 days, surpassing the 23-day record set by the ill-fated Soyuz 11 crew aboard Salyut 1 in 1971....

 and Soyuz 28

Soyuz 28

-Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 51.65°*Period: 88.95 minutes-Mission highlights:...

.

Gubarev graduated from the Soviet Naval Aviation School in 1952 and went on to serve with the Soviet Air Force

Soviet Air Force

The Soviet Air Force, officially known in Russian as Военно-воздушные силы or Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily and often abbreviated VVS was the official designation of one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces...

. He undertook further studies at the Gagarin Air Force Academy

Gagarin Air Force Academy

Gagarin Air Force Academy is the name of a Russian military aviation academy located in Monino , Moscow Region.Gagarin Air Force Academy is one of the leading military educational institutions preparing high ranking military personnel for the Russian Air Force.Among the academy alumni are around...

 before acceptance into the space programme.

He was originally trained for the Soviet lunar programme and for military Soyuz

Soyuz programme

The Soyuz programme is a human spaceflight programme that was initiated by the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, originally part of a Moon landing project intended to put a Soviet cosmonaut on the Moon...

 flights before training for Salyut

Salyut

The Salyut program was the first space station program undertaken by the Soviet Union, which consisted of a series of nine space stations launched over a period of eleven years from 1971 to 1982...

 missions. His next mission, in 1978, was Soyuz 28, the first Intercosmos

Intercosmos

Interkosmos was a space program of the Soviet Union designed to include members of military forces of allied Warsaw Pact countries in manned and unmanned missions...

 flight, where he was accompanied by Vladimír Remek

Vladimír Remek

Vladimír Remek is the first Czechoslovak in space and the first cosmonaut from a country other than the Soviet Union or the United States. As of 2004, with the entry of the Czech Republic into the European Union Vladimír Remek is considered to be the first astronaut from the EU...

 from Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

.

He resigned as a cosmonaut in 1981 and took up an administrative position at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre.

His awards include Hero of the Soviet Union

Hero of the Soviet Union

The title Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society.-Overview:...

 (twice), Hero of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic

Hero of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic

The title of the Hero of the Czechoslovak Republic was established 1955. The name of the title was changed to Hero of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in 1960...

, and the Gagarin Gold Medal. He is an honorary citizen of Kaluga

Kaluga

Kaluga is a city and the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River southwest of Moscow. Population: It is served by Grabtsevo Airport.-History:...

, Arkalyk

Arkalyk

Arkalyk is a city in Kostanay Province, northern Kazakhstan. Earlier, it was the centre of Torgay province, which was abolished in 1997. Today, it is the administrative centre of Torgay region, Kostanay province....

, Tselinograd, and Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

.

Gubarev published a book, The Attraction of Weightlessness, in 1982.