Oleg Grigoryevich Makarov, born January 6, 1933 in the former Soviet Union, was a veteran of four trips into space.
His first trip into space was aboard Soyuz 12 in September 1973. After the tragedy of Soyuz 11, the Soviets reduced crew capacity of the capsule to two (from three) to allow pressure suits to be worn during take off, re-entry and landing. Makarov and fellow cosmonaut Vasily Lazarev spent two days testing the new suits.
His second mission was the unsuccessful launch of Soyuz 18a in April 1975. The mission was scheduled to dock with Salyut 4 space station, but the crew failed to make orbit, due to the failure of the launch vehicle.
His third attempt was successful. He flew as flight engineer for Soyuz 27, which docked with Salyut 6 space station in January 1978. Makarov and cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov made up the crew of expedition EP-1. They spent five days aboard the space station and returned in Soyuz 26.
Makarov's fourth and final flight was aboard Soyuz T-3 November-December 1980 as flight engineer. The mission flew to the Salyut 6 space station and was the first Soyuz spacecraft to carry three cosmonauts since Soyuz 11 in 1971.
He died May 2003 in Moscow from a heart attack.
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