Boris Volynov Russian cosmonaut Date of Birth: 18.12.1934 Country: Russia

Biography of Boris Volynov

Boris Valentinovich Volynov was born on December 18, 1934, in the city of Irkutsk, Russia. However, he spent his childhood and youth in Prokopyevsk, Kemerovo Oblast. Since his school years, Volynov was obsessed with the dream of becoming a pilot. In 1952, he graduated from high school and went on to complete aviation school. In 1956, he graduated from the Stalingrad (now Volgograd) Military Aviation School. After completing his education, Volynov served in the aviation units of the Moscow District Air Defense (as a pilot and senior pilot), flying the MiG-17 aircraft.

In 1960, Volynov was selected to join the Soviet cosmonaut squad. He underwent extensive training for flights on Vostok spacecraft. He was one of the backup crew members for the Vostok-3 and Vostok-4 spaceflights in August 1962 and the backup pilot for the Vostok-5 mission in June 1963. He also prepared for flights on the Voskhod spacecraft.

In October 1964, Volynov served as the commander of the backup crew for the Voskhod-1 spacecraft. He was later appointed as the commander of the main crew for the Voskhod-3 mission, which was planned for the end of 1965. However, the Voskhod-3 mission was canceled, and the Voskhod program was closed. Volynov was then transferred to prepare for flights as part of the Soviet lunar program.

In 1968, Volynov graduated from the N.E. Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. He was also the backup crew member for the Soyuz-3 mission in October 1968.

On January 15-18, 1969, Volynov made his first spaceflight as the commander of the Soyuz-5 spacecraft. During the flight, the world's first docking of two manned spacecraft, Soyuz-4 and Soyuz-5, took place. Two crew members of Soyuz-5, Alexei Eliseev and Evgeny Khrunov, performed a spacewalk and transferred to Soyuz-4. The mission lasted for 3 days, 54 minutes, and 15 seconds.

After his first spaceflight, Volynov continued his training for future missions on Soyuz spacecraft and military orbital stations like Almaz. In 1974, he was part of the support crew for the Soyuz-14 mission and the backup crew for the Soyuz-15 mission.

From July 6 to August 24, 1976, Volynov made his second spaceflight as the commander of the Soyuz-21 spacecraft. He worked onboard the military orbital station Salyut-5 (Almaz type). The mission lasted for 49 days, 6 hours, 23 minutes, and 32 seconds. In total, Volynov accumulated 52 days, 7 hours, 17 minutes, and 47 seconds of spaceflight experience.

After his space missions, Volynov served as the head of the cosmonaut squad at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. In 1980, he defended his candidate dissertation and obtained a degree in technical sciences. After leaving the cosmonaut squad in 1990, Volynov became the vice-president of the Russian Association of International Cooperation. Currently, he works in a large commercial organization.

Volynov is a two-time Hero of the Soviet Union and has been awarded two Orders of Lenin and an Order of the Red Star. He has also received the Golden Medal named after Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, the Honorary Diploma named after Vladimir Komarov (FAI), and the Golden Sign named after Jan Krasicki (Poland). He is an honorary citizen of the cities Kaluga, Prokopyevsk, Vorkuta, Magadan (Russia), and Kostanay (Kazakhstan).