RKK Energiya im S Koroleva : 80 years since the birth of cosmonaut Vladislav Volkov

Vladislav Nikolaevich Volkov, pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, member of the first selection of civil cosmonauts-engineers of OKB-1 (now it is RSC Energia), who tragically died on Soyuz-11 descent module landing, was born on November 23, 1935 in Moscow. Today he would be 80 years.

V.N. Blokov graduated from Moscow Aviation Institute as a mechanical engineer for forward firing aircraft guided projectiles. He began to work as a technician and later as an engineer at OKB-1. Participated in the development of Voskhod LV and intercontinental ballistic missile R-9, Carried out duties of Deputy Lead Designer of the Vostok spacecraft. Vladislav Volkov took part in the spacecraft design, development, testing and launches. Since 1962 he worked as Deputy Lead Designer of the Vostok and Voskhod spacecraft.

In July 1965 he passed a medical examination as a member of the first cosmonaut selection for OKB-1 detachment. S.P. Korolev was the first who formed a test cosmonaut detachment. On May 23, 1966 his successor V.P. Mishin issued Order No. 43 according to which a test cosmonaut team was organized at TsKBM to participate in flight tests of a new Soyuz spacecraft and lunar vehicles L-1 and L-3. The team consisted of S.N. Anokhin, V.E. Bugrov, G.M. Grechko, G.A. Dolgopolov, A.S. Yeliseev, V.N. Kubasov, O.G. Makarov. Vladislav Volkov was also a member of a civil engineer-cosmonaut detachment (the first selection made in our country). In the detachment he was usually called Vadim or jokingly - Marcello because of his resemblance to film-star Marcello Mastroianni.

From September 1966 to December 1968 Vladislav Volkov passed training as a flight engineer of the Soyuz spacecraft under the Docking program first in the team and since January 1967 in the third (backup) crew.

Vladislav Volkov performed his first flight into orbit at a period of October 12-17, 1969 as a flight engineer of the Soyuz-7 spacecraft together with A.V. Filipchenko and V.V. Gorbatko. The flight objective was the following: Soyuz-7 and Soyuz-8 docking and transfer of one cosmonaut from the Soyuz-7 spacecraft to the Soyuz-8 spacecraft and one in the reverse direction. The Soyuz-6 cosmonauts should be nearby (about 50 meters) and make the docking film. However, because of the failure of the Igla automatic docking electronic system the docking did not occur. The attempted manual doking failed - the spacecraft relative velocity was too high and they had to move apart urgently. On October 17 the Soyuz-7 spacecraft successfully landed.

Vladislav Volkov performed his first flight into orbit at a period of October 12-17, 1969 as a flight engineer of the Soyuz-7 spacecraft together with A.V. Filipchenko and V.V. Gorbatko. The flight objective was the following: Soyuz-7 and Soyuz-8 docking and transfer of one cosmonaut from the Soyuz-7 spacecraft to the Soyuz-8 spacecraft and one in the reverse direction. The Soyuz-6 cosmonauts should be nearby (about 50 meters) and make the docking film. However, because of the failure of the Igla automatic docking electronic system the docking did not occur. The attempted manual doking failed - the spacecraft relative velocity was too high and they had to move apart urgently. On October 17 the Soyuz-7 spacecraft successfully landed.

On June 6, 1971 the Soyuz-11 spacecraft was launched. For the first time in the world the crew was delivered to the scientific orbital station by the transport spacecraft. In his memoirs Rockets and People Academician B.E. Chertok says that before that period there were no such mass launches into space. Speaking about the crew training for performing a flight and the crew work in orbit, B.E. Chertok describes Vladislav Volkov as a mobile, cheerful, lively man; in this case he puts a special emphasis on his rousing voice.

The crew of the first manned orbital scientific station broke the absolute world record of that time with regard to the space flight duration and range. For 23 days, 18 hours and 21 minutes (the expedition duration) Dobrovolsky, Volkov and Patsaev exceeded the world achievements established earlier by their friends Andrian Nikolaev and Vitaly Sevastyanov onboard the Soyuz-9 spacecraft. Altogether the crew of the Soyuz-11 spacecraft and the Salyut station performed about 340 orbits around our planet, stayed in space more than 480 hours and passed a distance equal to 13 440 000 kilometers.

During the crew return to the ground (on the night of June 30) the descent module depressurization occurred (the respiratory ventilation valve which bled the air opened prematually) and the cosmonauts died.

Newspaper Pravda of July 2, 1971 was dedicated to the heroism of the crew consisting of Dobrovolsky, Volkov and Patsaev. The article In the name of the future which the cosmonauts devoted to their dead colleagues, the Soyuz-11 mission importance was emphasized. 'Creation of an orbital station with cosmonauts onboard is one of the most important tasks of cosmonautics, it is a natural phase in the development of our space technology. The manned orbital stations will allow to raise the space research to a new level. And today, this sad day for all of us, we think how in a fitting manner to take up the torch from Yury Gagarin who was the first and carry it further'.

The urn with ashes of Vladislav Volkov was immured in the Kremlin wall on the Red Square in Moscow. There are the streets named after Volkov in Moscow, Vladivostok, Rostov-on-Don. A crator on the Moon, a minor planet 1790 Volkov bear his name.

RSC Energia Press-Center