Boris Volynov
Encyclopedia
Boris Valentinovich Volynov ' onMouseout='HidePop("20967")' href="/topics/Irkutsk">Irkutsk
) is a Soviet
cosmonaut
who flew two space missions of the Soyuz programme
: Soyuz 5
, and Soyuz 21
. He was the first Jewish cosmonaut.
. After resigning from the space programme in 1982, he spent eight years as a senior administrator at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre. After 30 years of service in Star City he retired. In June 2006, he visited the Kennedy Space Center
.
in 1964, but he and his fellow crewmembers Georgi Katys and Boris Yegorov
were dumped three days before the scheduled launch date despite being the prime crew. This was due to the State Commission discovering that Volynov's mother was Jewish; Sergey Korolyov
was reportedly furious about this decision, but was told by Nikita Khrushchev
"Don't rock the boat - it's not worth it!"
discovered his father had been executed in one of Stalin's purges. He was then teamed up with Viktor Gorbatko
and then Georgi Shonin
, but following the death of Sergey Korolyov on 14 January 1966, the Voskhod 3 flight was cancelled just 10 days before launch. Korolyov's successor, Vasily Mishin
, cancelled the mission as he was intent on concentrating on Soyuz
instead. Volynov was subsequently transferred to the Soyuz group and later assigned as a backup for Soyuz 3
.
, and Yevgeni Khrunov. On 16 January Yeliseyev and Khrunov transferred to Soyuz 4
, crewed by Commander Vladimir Shatalov
, following an orbital rendezvous and docking. Soyuz 4 undocked from Soyuz 5 the following day and Volynov prepared for a solo re-entry.
Soyuz 5's equipment module failed to separate properly following retrofire due to the misfiring of explosive bolts, and consequently blocked the re-entry heat shield on the base of the descent module. As a result of the added mass of the equipment module, Volynov lost control of Soyuz 5 which began to tumble, finally stabilizing itself with the thinnest part of the spacecraft facing forward. As the assembly entered the atmosphere, the stress and heat on the supporting struts between the modules finally made them burn through and part, allowing the equipment module to fall away and burn up on re-entry. Volynov could only wait while the descent module's automatic orientation system tried to regain control, which fortunately it managed to do with the heat shield facing forward.
Following re-entry, the module's parachutes deployed only partially, and a failure of the soft-landing retrorockets in the base of the descent module caused a hard landing which almost wrecked the module, and broke some of Volynov's teeth.
Volynov was subsequently awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union
on January 22, 1969, and the Order of Lenin
.
to spend 18 days aboard the space station Salyut 5
. Following a deterioration in the health of Zholobov, who was making his first spaceflight, the decision was made to return the crew at the earliest available opportunity and they boarded their Soyuz on 24 August. However, as Volynov tried to undock from Salyut, the latch failed to release properly. As he fired the jets to move the spacecraft away, the docking mechanism jammed, resulting in the Soyuz being undocked but still linked to Salyut. As the two spacecraft moved out of range of ground communications, only the first set of emergency procedures was received. Volynov tried a second time to undock but managed only to slightly loosen the latches. This situation persisted for an entire orbit (90 minutes), then the final set of emergency procedures were received and the latches finally disengaged.
Because Soyuz 21 was returning early, it was outside the normal recovery window, and encountered strong winds as it descended, which caused uneven firing of the retrorockets. It made a hard landing around midnight 200 km southwest of Kokchetav, Kazakhstan
. Zholobov's illness was apparently caused by nitric acid
fumes leaking from the Salyut's propellant tanks. However, other reports indicate that the crew failed to properly follow their physical exercise program and suffered from lack of sleep.
Irkutsk
Irkutsk is a city and the administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, one of the largest cities in Siberia. Population: .-History:In 1652, Ivan Pokhabov built a zimovye near the site of Irkutsk for gold trading and for the collection of fur taxes from the Buryats. In 1661, Yakov Pokhabov...
) is 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 two space missions of the Soyuz programme
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...
: Soyuz 5
Soyuz 5
Soyuz 5 was a Soyuz mission using the Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union on January 15, 1969, which docked with Soyuz 4 in orbit...
, and Soyuz 21
Soyuz 21
Soyuz 21 was a 1976 Soviet manned mission to the Salyut 5 space station, the first of three flights to the station. The mission's objectives were mainly military in scope, but included other scientific work. The mission ended abruptly with cosmonauts Boris Volynov and Vitaly Zholobov returning to...
. He was the first Jewish cosmonaut.
Biography
He is a graduate of the Soviet Military Engineering Academy and held the rank of Colonel in the Soviet Air ForceSoviet 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...
. After resigning from the space programme in 1982, he spent eight years as a senior administrator at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre. After 30 years of service in Star City he retired. In June 2006, he visited the Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center
The John F. Kennedy Space Center is the NASA installation that has been the launch site for every United States human space flight since 1968. Although such flights are currently on hiatus, KSC continues to manage and operate unmanned rocket launch facilities for America's civilian space program...
.
Voskhod 1
Volynov was assigned as one of two possible commanders training for Voskhod 1Voskhod 1
Voskhod 1 was the seventh manned Soviet space flight. It achieved a number of "firsts" in the history of manned spaceflight, being the first space flight to carry more than one crewman into orbit, the first flight without the use of spacesuits, and the first to carry either an engineer or a...
in 1964, but he and his fellow crewmembers Georgi Katys and Boris Yegorov
Boris Yegorov
Boris Borisovich Yegorov was a Soviet physician-cosmonaut and he became the first physician to make a space flight.Yegorov came from a medical background, with his father a prominent heart surgeon, and his mother an ophthalmologist. He also selected medicine as a career and graduated from the...
were dumped three days before the scheduled launch date despite being the prime crew. This was due to the State Commission discovering that Volynov's mother was Jewish; Sergey Korolyov
Sergey Korolyov
Sergei Pavlovich Korolev ; died 14 January 1966 in Moscow, Russia) was the lead Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer in the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the 1950s and 1960s...
was reportedly furious about this decision, but was told by Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
"Don't rock the boat - it's not worth it!"
Voskhod 3
Having lost his chance to fly on the first Voskhod mission, Volynov spent a year training for Voskhod 3. He first trained with Georgi Katys, but Katys was dropped from active status when the KGBKGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
discovered his father had been executed in one of Stalin's purges. He was then teamed up with Viktor Gorbatko
Viktor Gorbatko
Viktor Vasilyevich Gorbatko was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 7, Soyuz 24, and Soyuz 37 missions.After leaving the space program in 1982 he taught at the Air Force Engineering Academy in Moscow.-References:...
and then Georgi Shonin
Georgi Shonin
Georgy Stepanovich Shonin was a Soviet cosmonaut, who flew on the Soyuz 6 space mission....
, but following the death of Sergey Korolyov on 14 January 1966, the Voskhod 3 flight was cancelled just 10 days before launch. Korolyov's successor, Vasily Mishin
Vasily Mishin
Vasily Pavlovich Mishin was a Soviet engineer and a prominent rocketry pioneer....
, cancelled the mission as he was intent on concentrating on Soyuz
Soyuz spacecraft
Soyuz , Union) is a series of spacecraft initially designed for the Soviet space programme by the Korolyov Design Bureau in the 1960s, and still in service today...
instead. Volynov was subsequently transferred to the Soyuz group and later assigned as a backup for Soyuz 3
Soyuz 3
Soyuz 3 was a spaceflight mission launched by the Soviet Union on October 26, 1968. For four consecutive days, Commander Georgy Beregovoy piloted the Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft through eighty-one orbits of Earth.-Crew:-Backup crew:...
.
Soyuz 5
Soyuz 5 was launched on 15 January 1969, crewed by Volynov, Aleksei YeliseyevAleksei Yeliseyev
Aleksei Stanislavovich Yeliseyev is a retired Soviet cosmonaut who flew on three missions in the Soyuz programme as a flight engineer: Soyuz 5, Soyuz 8, and Soyuz 10....
, and Yevgeni Khrunov. On 16 January Yeliseyev and Khrunov transferred to Soyuz 4
Soyuz 4
Soyuz 4 was launched on January 14, 1969. On board the Soyuz 7K-OK spacecraft was cosmonaut Vladimir Shatalov on his first flight. The aim of the mission was to dock with Soyuz 5, transfer two crew members from that spacecraft, and return to Earth...
, crewed by Commander Vladimir Shatalov
Vladimir Shatalov
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Shatalov is a former Soviet cosmonaut who flew three space missions of the Soyuz programme: Soyuz 4, Soyuz 8, and Soyuz 10....
, following an orbital rendezvous and docking. Soyuz 4 undocked from Soyuz 5 the following day and Volynov prepared for a solo re-entry.
Soyuz 5's equipment module failed to separate properly following retrofire due to the misfiring of explosive bolts, and consequently blocked the re-entry heat shield on the base of the descent module. As a result of the added mass of the equipment module, Volynov lost control of Soyuz 5 which began to tumble, finally stabilizing itself with the thinnest part of the spacecraft facing forward. As the assembly entered the atmosphere, the stress and heat on the supporting struts between the modules finally made them burn through and part, allowing the equipment module to fall away and burn up on re-entry. Volynov could only wait while the descent module's automatic orientation system tried to regain control, which fortunately it managed to do with the heat shield facing forward.
Following re-entry, the module's parachutes deployed only partially, and a failure of the soft-landing retrorockets in the base of the descent module caused a hard landing which almost wrecked the module, and broke some of Volynov's teeth.
Volynov was subsequently awarded the 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:...
on January 22, 1969, and the Order of Lenin
Order of Lenin
The Order of Lenin , named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union...
.
Soyuz 21
On 6 July 1976 Volynov and Flight Engineer Vitaliy Zholobov were launched on board Soyuz 21Soyuz 21
Soyuz 21 was a 1976 Soviet manned mission to the Salyut 5 space station, the first of three flights to the station. The mission's objectives were mainly military in scope, but included other scientific work. The mission ended abruptly with cosmonauts Boris Volynov and Vitaly Zholobov returning to...
to spend 18 days aboard the space station Salyut 5
Salyut 5
Salyut 5 , also known as OPS-3, was a Soviet space station. Launched in 1976 as part of the Salyut programme, it was the third and last Almaz space station to be launched for the Soviet military. Two Soyuz missions visited the station, each manned by two cosmonauts...
. Following a deterioration in the health of Zholobov, who was making his first spaceflight, the decision was made to return the crew at the earliest available opportunity and they boarded their Soyuz on 24 August. However, as Volynov tried to undock from Salyut, the latch failed to release properly. As he fired the jets to move the spacecraft away, the docking mechanism jammed, resulting in the Soyuz being undocked but still linked to Salyut. As the two spacecraft moved out of range of ground communications, only the first set of emergency procedures was received. Volynov tried a second time to undock but managed only to slightly loosen the latches. This situation persisted for an entire orbit (90 minutes), then the final set of emergency procedures were received and the latches finally disengaged.
Because Soyuz 21 was returning early, it was outside the normal recovery window, and encountered strong winds as it descended, which caused uneven firing of the retrorockets. It made a hard landing around midnight 200 km southwest of Kokchetav, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
. Zholobov's illness was apparently caused by nitric acid
Nitric acid
Nitric acid , also known as aqua fortis and spirit of nitre, is a highly corrosive and toxic strong acid.Colorless when pure, older samples tend to acquire a yellow cast due to the accumulation of oxides of nitrogen. If the solution contains more than 86% nitric acid, it is referred to as fuming...
fumes leaking from the Salyut's propellant tanks. However, other reports indicate that the crew failed to properly follow their physical exercise program and suffered from lack of sleep.