Mars Zakirovich Rafikov (, 29 September 1933 – 23 July 2000) 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 ...

who was dismissed from the

Soviet space program The Soviet space program () was the state space program of the Soviet Union, active from 1951 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Contrary to its competitors (NASA in the United States, the European Space Agency in Western Euro ...

for disciplinary reasons.

Career

Senior Lieutenant Rafikov, age 26, was selected as one of the original 20 cosmonauts on 7 March 1960 along with

Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who, aboard the first successful Human spaceflight, crewed sp ...

. On 24 March 1962, Rafikov was dismissed from the cosmonaut corps, officially for "a variety of offenses, including womanizing and 'gallivanting' in Moscow restaurants, and so forth". Other cosmonauts (notably Gagarin) had exhibited similar behavior, but could not be officially disciplined because of their stature and international reputation.

Gherman Titov Gherman Stepanovich Titov (; 11 September 1935 – 20 September 2000) was a Soviet and Russian cosmonaut who, on 6 August 1961, became the second human to orbit the Earth, aboard Vostok 2, preceded by Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1. He was the fou ...

later suggested that the real reason for his dismissal was because he and his wife had divorced. He remained in the military, serving as a pilot in the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War took place in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 46-year-long Afghan conflict, it saw the Soviet Union and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic o ...

. To protect the image of the space program, efforts were made to cover up the reason for Rafikov's dismissal. His image, like that of others who were dismissed, was airbrushed out of cosmonaut photos. This airbrushing led to speculation about "

lost cosmonauts The Lost Cosmonauts or Phantom Cosmonauts are subjects of a conspiracy theory, which alleges that Soviet and Russian space authorities have concealed the deaths of some cosmonauts in outer space. Proponents of the Lost Cosmonauts theory argue ...

" even though the actual reasons were often mundane.

References

External links

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Biographical details

1933 births 2000 deaths Soviet cosmonauts Soviet Air Force officers Soviet military personnel of the Soviet–Afghan War Syzran Higher Military Aviation School alumni {{Russia-bio-stub