Bion 10 (Kosmos 2229) launched 1992

 

Bion 10, or Kosmos 2229, a Russian spacecraft as part of a multinational effort, was launched December 29, 1992.  It carried two monkeys, plants, cell cultures, insects, and amphibians. The Rhesus monkeys were trained to activate food and juice dispensers, to operate a foot pedal to study muscles responses, and to make hand and head movements in response to visual stimuli.

The countries involved were Canada, France, Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands, China, Russia, Ukraine, US, Uzbekistan, and the European Space Agency.

The spacecraft orbited Earth for almost 12 days, before landing successfully on January 10, 1993.

Columbia (STS-87) launched 1997

STS-87 crew

Front row (L-R): Kalpana Chawla, Steve Lindsey, Kevin Kregel, Leonid Kadeniuk

Back row (L-R): Winston Scott, Takao Doi

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-87), launched November 19, 1997, was the first EVA conducted by a Japanese astronaut.  Its crew consisted of Commander Kevin Kregel, Pilot Steve Lindsey, Kalpana Chawla, Winston Scott, Takao Doi (JAXA), and Leonid Kadeniuk (first Ukrainian astronaut).  

Scott and Doi conducted two EVAs, which lasted almost 13 hours total.

They returned to Earth December 5.

Leonid Kizim, cosmonaut, born 1941

Leonid Kizim, born August 5, 1941 in present-day Ukraine, was a veteran of three space flights.

His first flight was aboard Soyuz T-3 to the Salyut 6 space station in November 1980.  He stayed in space for almost 13 days before returning to Earth.

His second flight was on Soyuz T-10 to the Salyut 7 space station in February 1984.  He and his fellow cosmonauts had to enter Salyut 7 with flashlights until they could reactivate the station.  He returned to Earth aboard Soyuz T-11 in October 1984

His third and final flight was aboard Soyuz T-15 to Salyut 7 and Mir space stations in March 1986.  It was the first time a spacecraft visited two space stations in the same mission.  He returned to Earth in July 1986.

He spent more than 374 days in space.

He passed away in June 2010.

Leonid Kadenyuk, first Ukranian astronaut, born 1951

Leonid Kadenyuk, born January 28, 1951, is the first astronaut from Ukraine.  He was selected for the Soviet space program to be a test pilot for the Soviet Buran program, but that didn't last.

He flew on Columbia (STS-87) as a payload specialist in November-December 1997. He did not return to space.

Asteroid 399673 Kadenyuk was named in his honor in 2004

He passed away in January 2018. .

Happy birthday, Polish cosmonaut Miroslaw Hermaszewski!

Miroslaw Hermaszewski, born September 15, 1941 in Poland (now Ukraine), is the only Polish citizen to go to space.  He traveled aboard Soyuz 30 to the space station Salyut 6 with fellow cosmonaut Pyotr Klimuk as part of expedition EP-3 in June 1978.

He returned to Earth almost 8 days later.

Vladimir Vasyutin, Soyuz and Salyut cosmonaut, born 1952

Vladimir Vasyutin, born March 8, 1952 in the Ukraine, spent just under 65 days in space on Salyut 7.  He flew into space as commander of Soyuz T-14 in September 1985 with Georgi Grechko and Alexander Volkov as part of the EO-4 expedition. 

Shortly after his arrival, Vasyutin became ill, probably due to a prostate infection, and they had to cut their mission short, because he couldn't perform his duties.  Vasyutin, Volkov and Savinykh returned to Earth November 21, 1985.

He did not go into space again.  He died of cancer July 2002.

Happy birthday, cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko!

Yuri Ivanovich Malenchenko, born December 22, 1951 in the Ukraine, has spent more time in space than anybody, except for fellow cosmonaut Gennady Padalka.  He is a veteran of 5 Soyuz missions and one Space Shuttle flight.  He has been aboard Mir and the International Space Station.  As of June 2016, he has spent a little over 827 days in space.

His first flight was as commander aboard Soyuz TM-19 to Mir in July 1994, where he spent 4 months. 

His next mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-106) in September 2000 as mission specialist.

His third flight was on Soyuz TMA-2 in April 2003 to the ISS.  While on board, he got married got married to Ekaterina Dmitrieva August 10, 2003. She was in Texas and he was 240 miles over New Zealand.  He is the first person to get married while in space.


Malenchenko's fourth flight was on Soyuz TMA-11 as commander in October 2007 to the International Space Station.  His fellow astronauts were Peggy Whitson, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor (first Malaysian astronaut) and Yi So-yeon (the first Korean astronaut).

On the 37th anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Program, he blasted off on Soyuz TMA-05M July 2012.

His final flight was on Soyuz TMA-19M in December 2015.