Dmitry Alekseevich Zaikin (; 29 April 1932 – 20 October 2013) was a Soviet

cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

trainer. Zaikin was born in Yekaterinovka,

Rostov Oblast Rostov Oblast ( rus, Росто́вская о́бласть, r=Rostovskaya oblastʹ, p=rɐˈstofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Southern Federal District. The oblast ...

. He graduated from Military Fighter Pilot School, Armavir (

Krasnodar Krai Krasnodar Krai (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia and is administratively a part of the Southern Federal District. Its administrative center is the t ...

) and Frunze (now

Bishkek Bishkek, formerly known as Pishpek (until 1926), and then Frunze (1926–1991), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek is also the administrative centre of the Chüy Region. Bishkek is situated near the Kazakhstan ...

), in 1955. He was selected for the cosmonaut training in 1960, as one of a group of the twenty Air Force pilots who would train as the first cosmonauts. Zayikin was assigned as backup commander for

Voskhod 2 Voskhod 2 () was a Soviet crewed space mission in March 1965. The Vostok-based Voskhod 3KD spacecraft with two crew members on board, Pavel Belyayev and Alexei Leonov, was equipped with an inflatable airlock. It established another milestone ...

. He then went on to graduate from the Zhukovsky Military Engineering Academy of

Monino Monino () is an urban locality (a work settlement) in Shchyolkovsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, located east of Moscow. Population: History Monino was founded in the Muninskaya Wasteland () on August 23, 1792. The name "Monino" or "M ...

in 1968. He left the space service on 25 October 1969 for medical reasons while training for

Soyuz Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз (Russian language, Russian and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Soviet Union, Union of Soviet Socialist Republi ...

missions. He then became an instructor and lead engineer at the

Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center The Yuri A. Gagarin State Scientific Research-and-Testing Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC; Russian: Центр подготовки космонавтов имени Ю. А. Гагарина) is a Russian training facility responsible for trai ...

. He left the space program in 1982, and retired from active military duty in 1987. He was married with two children. Zaikin died of natural causes on 20 October 2013, as reported by Star City, the Yuri Gagarin Training Centre.

References

Bibliography

* * 1932 births 2013 deaths Soviet cosmonauts Soviet Air Force officers People from Salsky District {{Astronaut-stub