Dumitru Dediu (12 May 1942 in Galaţi – July 2013) was a pilot in the

Romanian Air Force The Romanian Air Force (RoAF) () is the air force branch of the Romanian Armed Forces. It has an air force headquarters, an operational command, five air bases, a logistics base, an air defense brigade, an air defense regiment and an ISR (Intel ...

and cosmonaut candidate that was assigned as the backup for

Dumitru Prunariu Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu (; born 27 September 1952) is a Romanian cosmonaut. He flew in space aboard Soyuz 40 spacecraft and Salyut 6 space laboratory. He teamed with the Soviet cosmonaut Leonid Popov. The backup crew was made of Romanian candidat ...

Information

In 1978, Dediu was selected as the backup for

for the

Soyuz 40 The Soyuz 40 mission was a 1981 Soviet Union, Soviet human spaceflight, crewed spaceflight and the final flight of the Soyuz 7K-T spacecraft. It was a collaboration between the Soviet Union and Romania. Crew Backup crew Mission parameters *M ...

mission. He served in the

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces () is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. Since 2007, full professionalization and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Land Forces. The Romanian Land Forc ...

and lived in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

. He died in early July 2013 after a serious illness (Alzheimer's and Parkinson's). He was buried on July 11, 2013.

References

1942 births 2013 deaths People from Galați Romanian Air Force officers Romanian cosmonauts {{Romania-mil-bio-stub