Monday, January 21, 2019

Would-be cosmonaut Valentin Filatyev born 1930


Valentin Filatyev, born January 21, 1930 in Russia, was selected as an original cosmonaut in March 1960 in the same class as Yuri Gagarin. About three years later, Filatyev and fellow cosmonauts Grigori Nelyubov and Ivan Anikeyev got drunk and arrested for disorderly conduct by militia.  Since they were cosmonauts, the patrol was willing to let them go if they apologized.  Filatyev and Anikeyev agreed but Nelyubov did not and they were reported.  Since they had previous incidents they were dismissed.  Filatyev never went into space.

The Soviets made efforts to cover up Filatyev's dismissal and his image was airbrushed out of cosmonaut photos.

Filatyev passed away in September 1990.

No comments: