Happy birthday, cosmonaut Anatoly Filipchenko!

Anatoly Filipchenko, born February 26, 1928 in the former Soviet Union, has been in space twice. 

His first trip was aboard Soyuz 7 as commander in October 1969.  The mission was to rendezvous with Soyuz 6 and Soyuz 8 but the project was unsuccessful.

His second and final trip was aboard Soyuz 16 as commander in December 1974.  It was a manned test flight in preparation for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project the following year.

Cosmonaut Valeri Kubasov born 1935

Valeri Kubasov, born January 7, 1935 in the former Soviet Union, was a veteran of three space flights. He spent over 18 days in space.

His first mission was aboard Soyuz 6 with fellow cosmonaut Georgy Shonin.  They conducted the first welding experiments in space but planned docking and rendezvous maneuvers with Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 8 failed.

His second mission was aboard Soyuz 19 with Alexey Leonov in July 1975.  They docked with NASA's Apollo spacecraft for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Program, a joint project between NASA and the Soviet space program.

Kuvasov's third and final mission was aboard Soyuz 36 as commander to the Salyut 6 space station in May 1980. He returned to Earth in June.

He passed away of natural causes in February 2014.

Soyuz 6 launched 1969

Soyuz 6 crew (L-R): Valeri Kubasov, Georgy Shonin

Mission patch

Soyuz 6, launched October 11, 1969, was the first of three consecutive launches which would see three spacecraft in orbit at once for the first time in history.  Soyuz 6's crew consisted of Commander Georgy Shonin and Valeri Kubasov.  They were supposed to take high-quality photography of Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 8 docking.  Due to unknown problems, the rendezvous never took place.

They returned to Earth on October 16.

Georgy Shonin, Soyuz 6 cosmonaut, born 1935

Georgy Shonin, born August 3, 1935 in the former Soviet Union, was a cosmonaut who went into space on Soyuz 6, which was launched in October 1969.  The mission was part of a joint exercise with Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 8, the first time three Soviet spacecraft were in orbit at the same time.

Shonin left the space program in 1979 for medical reasons.

He passed away of a heart attack in 1997.

Happy birthday, cosmonaut Vladimir Shatalov!

Vladimir Shatalov, born December 8, 1927 in the former Soviet Union, is a veteran of three Soyuz missions.  His first flight  was aboard Soyuz 4 where he was the only cosmonaut launched in the spacecraft.  Soyuz 4 rendezvoused with Soyuz 5 in January 1969 and performed the first successful docking between two spacecraft.

His second mission was as commander of Soyuz 8, with fellow cosmonaut Aleksei Yeliseyev.  It was a joint mission with Soyuz 6 and Soyuz 7, the first time three Soyuz spacecraft were in orbit simultaneously with a total of 7 cosmonauts.

Shatalov's third and final mission was on Soyuz 10, with Yeliseyev and Nikolai Rukavishnikov on what would be the first mission to the first space station, Salyut 1 in April 1971.

Viktor Gorbatko, Soyuz cosmonaut, born 1934

Viktor Gorbatko, born December 3, 1934 in the Black Sea area of the Soviet Union, was a veteran of three Soyuz missions. His first flight was aboard Soyuz 7 in October 1969.  Soyuz 7 was to rendezvous with Soyuz 8 but failed to occur due to equipment malfunctions.

His second mission was Soyuz 24 in February 1977.  It was the third and final mission to the Salyut 5 space station.  Gorbatko and fellow cosmonaut Yuri Glazkov reactivated the station after toxic fumes apparently ended the previous crew's mission.

His third and final flight was on Soyuz 37 July-October 1981 to Salyut 6.  This mission made history since Gorbatko's fellow cosmonaut was Pham Tuan, the first Vietnamese and first Asian cosmonaut.

Gorbatko passed away May 2017.

Soyuz 7 blasts off 1969

Anatoly Filipchenko, Vladislav Volkov, Viktor Gorbatko

As part of a joint mission, Soyuz 7 launched from Baikonur (where else) October 12, 1969 in the former Soviet Union to redezvous with Soyuz 6 and Soyuz 8.  It was the first time seven people were in space at once.  The Soyuz 7 crew consisted of Commander Anatoly Filipchenko, Flight Engineer Vladislav Volkov and research cosmonaut Viktor Gorbatko.  They were to dock with Soyuz 8 and transfer crew while Soyuz 6 was to film the maneuver.

Due to equipment failures, the Soyuz cosmonauts did not achieve their objective.  The failure of this mission is probably what killed the Soviet program to send a man to the moon.

Happy birthday, Aleksei Yeliseyev, first Lithuanian cosmonaut, 1934

Aleksei Stanislavovich Yeliseyev was born July 13, 1934, in Zhizdra, Russia, to a Lithuanian father and Russian mother.  Although he was born in Russia and uses his mother's name, Yeliseyev, he is considered to be the first cosmonaut of Lithuanian heritage.  He served as flight engineer on three missions: Soyuz 5, Soyuz 8 and Soyuz 10 before retiring from the Soviet space program in 1985.

The first U.S. astronaut of Lithuanian heritage is Karol Joseph Bobko, who has flown three space shuttle flights.

Soyuz 8 launches 1969

Commander Vladimir Shatalov and Flight Engineer Aleksei Yeliseyev blasted off in Soyuz 8, October 13, 1969, with all intent to dock with Soyuz 7, which launched the previous day.  Soyuz 6 took off just two days before.  It was the first time seven cosmonauts were in orbit at the same time. 

The “official” plan was to dock with Soyuz 7 and transfer one cosmonaut via EVA while Soyuz 6 filmed the whole operation.  However, due to mechanical failures, the docking procedure never happened.  In all, three attempts were made but none were successful.  Therefore, the Soviets stated they never really meant to dock.

Shatalov and Yeliseyev returned to Earth on schedule October 18.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_8

http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/soyuz-8.htm

http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/trackind/soyuz678/soyuz678.html