Cosmonaut Anatoli Berezovoy born 1942

Anatoli Berezovoy, born April 11, 1942 in Moscow, Russia, made one record-setting trip into space. He trained as a fighter pilot and reached the rank of colonel in the Soviet Air Force.

He launched in Soyuz T-5 as commander to Salyut 7 in May 1982.  It was the first mission to the new Salyut space station. 

He returned to Earth aboard Soyuz T-7 in December 1982, after 211 days in space, setting a record at the time for longest stay in space with fellow cosmonaut, Valentin Lebedev.

Berezovoy passed away in September 2014.

Happy birthday, cosmonaut Valentin Lebedev!

Valentin Lebedev, born April 14, 1942 in Moscow, Russia, went into space twice.

His first flight was aboard Soyuz 13 in December 1973 as flight engineer.  The flight lasted almost 8 days.

His second flight was aboard Soyuz T-5 as flight engineer to Salyut 7 in August 1982.  He stayed aboard until December, when he returned to Earth aboard Soyuz T-7.  

Soyuz T-7 launched 1982

Soyuz T-7, launched August 19, 1982, was the third mission to the Salyut 7 space station.  Its crew consisted of Commander Leonid Popov, Aleksandr Serebrov and Svetlana Savitskaya.  They swapped places with the Salyut 7 crew and remained aboard.

Soyuz T-7 returned to Earth in December 1982 with Anatoli Berezovoy and Valentin Lebedev.

Soyuz T-5 launched 1982

Soyuz T-5 crew (L-R): Valentin Lebedev, Anatolis Berezovoy

Soyuz T-5, launched May 13, 1982, was the first mission to the new Salyut 7 space station.  Its crew consisted of Commander Anatoli Berezovoy and Flight Engineer Valentin Lebedev.  While docked with Salyut 7, Soyuz T-6 (with Jean-Loup Chretien, first French astronaut) and Soyuz T-7 (with Svetlana Savitskaya, the first female astronaut in 20 years).

Soyuz T-5 returned to Earth August 27.  The return crew consisted of Commander Leonid Popov, Flight Engineer Aleksandr Serebrov and Research Cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya.

Soyuz 13 launched 1973

Soyuz 13, launched December 18, 1973, was modified to carry the Orion 2 Space Observatory, becoming the first manned space observatory and the Soviet Union's first mission dedicated to science.  Soyuz 13's crew consisted of Commander  Pyotr Klimuk and Flight Engineering Valentin Lebedev, both rookies.

They observed spectral lines of aluminum and titanium in the spectrogram of a planetary nebula.  They also studied Comet Kohoutek.

Klimuk and Lebedev returned to Earth December 26.