Vladislav Nikolayevich Volkov (russian: Владисла́в Никола́евич Во́лков; 23 November 193529 June 1971) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

who flew on the

Soyuz 7 Soyuz 7 (russian: Союз 7, ''Union 7'') was part of an October, 1969, joint mission with Soyuz 6 and Soyuz 8 that saw three Soyuz spacecraft in orbit together at the same time, carrying a total of seven cosmonauts. The crew consisted of c ...

and

Soyuz 11 Soyuz 11 (russian: link=no, Союз 11, lit=Union 11) was the only crewed mission to board the world's first space station, Salyut 1 ( Soyuz 10 had soft-docked, but had not been able to enter due to latching problems). The crew, Georgy Dob ...

missions. The second mission terminated fatally.Volkov
at peoples.ru Volkov and the two other crew members were

asphyxiated Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that can ...

on reentry, the only three people to have died in outer space.

Biography

Volkov graduated from the

Moscow Aviation Institute Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University) (MAI; russian: Московский авиационный институт, МАИ) is one of the major engineering institutes in Moscow, Russia. Since its inception MAI has been spearh ...

, 1959. As an aviation engineer at Korolyov Design Bureau, he was involved in the development of the Vostok and Voskhod spacecraft prior to his selection as a cosmonaut. He flew aboard Soyuz 7 in 1969. Volkov, on his second space mission in 1971, was assigned to Soyuz 11. The three cosmonauts on this flight spent 23 days on Salyut 1, the world's first space station. After three relatively placid weeks in orbit, however, Soyuz 11 became the second Soviet space flight to terminate fatally, after Soyuz 1. After a normal re-entry, the Soyuz 11 capsule was opened and the corpses of the three crew members were found inside. It was discovered that a valve had opened just prior to leaving orbit that had allowed the capsule's atmosphere to vent away into space, causing Volkov and his two flight companions to suffer fatal hypoxia as their cabin descended toward the earth's atmosphere.

Awards and remembrance

Vladislav Volkov was decorated twice as the

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union (russian: Герой Советского Союза, translit=Geroy Sovietskogo Soyuza) was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for ...

(first on 22 October 1969 and posthumously on 30 June 1971). He was also awarded the two Orders of Lenin and the title of Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR. His ashes were interred in the Kremlin Wall on

Red Square Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːətʲ) is one of the oldest and largest squares in Moscow, the capital of Russia. Owing to its historical significance and the adjacent historical build ...

in Moscow. The lunar crater '' Volkov'' and the minor planet 1790 Volkov are named in his honor. A street in Moscow is named after him. The "Yeniseyles" Soviet research/survey ship was renamed "Kosmonavt Vladislav Volkov" in his honor in 1974. A tomato variety from Ukraine was named Cosmonaut Volkov in his memory by his friend the space scientist and gardener Mikhailovich Maslov. Volkov is an

honorary citizen Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honour usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

Kaluga Kaluga ( rus, Калу́га, p=kɐˈɫuɡə), a city and the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast in Russia, stands on the Oka River southwest of Moscow. Population: Kaluga's most famous resident, the space travel pioneer Konstantin Tsi ...

and Kirov. 1973 to 2015 the ''Pilotcosmonaut-Volkov-Award'' (later ''Volkov-Cup'') was given for the best sportsacrobatics, since 2016 called ''Zolotov-Cup''; while alive, Volkov had become the first chairman of the Soviet Society of Sportsacrobatics in 1970.''Владислав «Вадим» Николаевич Волков''http://www.astronaut.ru/as_rusia/energia/text/volkov.htm?reload_coolmenus (in Russian) In ''Russia in Space'', Brian Harvey described a fleet of communication vessels or "comships", used to track Soviet space missions. The fleet included a ship known as the ''Vladislav Volkov'', built during the 1970s. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, several of the fleet's ships were either sold to other governments, or left idle in harbor. An account of Volkov's life and space career appears in the 2003 book ''Fallen Astronauts: Heroes Who Died Reaching for the Moon'' by Colin Burgess.

In popular culture

In the movie ''Virus'', an alien intelligence infects the computer system of the research vessel "Akademic Vladislav Volkov" via a transmission from space. The was redecorated for the film.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Volkov, Vladislav 1935 births 1971 deaths 1969 in spaceflight 1971 in spaceflight Heroes of the Soviet Union Burials at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis Engineers from Moscow Soviet cosmonauts Moscow Aviation Institute alumni Soviet engineers Deaths in space Deaths from hypoxia Salyut program cosmonauts