Nikolai Nikolayevich Rukavishnikov (; 18 September 1932 – 19 October 2002) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the 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 flew three

space missions Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly objects, usually spacecraft, into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as ...

of the

Soyuz programme The Soyuz programme ( , ; , meaning "Union") is a human spaceflight programme initiated by the Soviet Union in the early 1960s. The Soyuz spacecraft was originally part of a Moon landing project intended to put a Soviet cosmonaut on the Moon ...

Soyuz 10 Soyuz 10 (, ''Union 10'') was launched on 22 April 1971 as the world's first mission to the world's first space station, the Soviet Salyut 1. The docking was not successful and the crew, Vladimir Shatalov, Aleksei Yeliseyev, and Nikolai Ru ...

Soyuz 16 Soyuz 16 (, ''Union 16'') was a December, 1974, crewed test flight for a joint Soviet-United States space flight which culminated in the Apollo–Soyuz mission in July 1975. The two-man Soviet crew, Anatoly Filipchenko and Nikolai Rukavishnik ...

, and

Soyuz 33 Soyuz 33 (, ''Union 33'') was an April, 1979, Soviet Union, Soviet crewed space flight to the Salyut 6 space station. It was the ninth mission to the orbiting facility, but an engine failure forced the mission to be aborted, and the crew had to r ...

. Two of these missions, Soyuz 10 and Soyuz 33, were intended to dock with

Salyut The ''Salyut'' programme (, , meaning "salute" or "fireworks") was the first space station programme, undertaken by the Soviet Union. It involved a series of four crewed scientific research space stations and two crewed military reconnaissa ...

space station A space station (or orbital station) is a spacecraft which remains orbital spaceflight, in orbit and human spaceflight, hosts humans for extended periods of time. It therefore is an artificial satellite featuring space habitat (facility), habitat ...

s, but failed to do so.

Biography

Rukavishnikov studied at the Moscow Engineering and Physics Institute and after graduation worked for

Sergey Korolev Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (14 January 1966) was the lead Soviet Aerospace engineering, rocket engineer and spacecraft designer during the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s. He invented the R-7 Sem ...

's design bureau. He was selected for cosmonaut training in 1967. Rukavishnikov became the 50th human to fly in space on 23 April 1971, the launch date of

. The mission, along with Vladimir Shatalov and

Aleksei Yeliseyev Aleksei Stanislavovich Yeliseyev (; born 13 July 1934) is a retired Soviet cosmonaut who flew on three missions in the Soyuz programme as a flight engineer: Soyuz 5, Soyuz 8, and Soyuz 10. He made the world's eighth spacewalk during Soyuz 5 in 19 ...

, was intended to dock with the

Salyut 1 Salyut 1 (), also known as DOS-1 (Durable Orbital Station 1), was the world's first space station. It was launched into low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on April 19, 1971. The Salyut programme, ''Salyut'' program subsequently achieved five m ...

space station. They were unable to dock, and returned to Earth two days later. He began his second flight,

, on 2 December 1974, with

Anatoly Filipchenko Major General Anatoly Vasilyevich Filipchenko (26 February 1928 – 7 August 2022) was a Soviet cosmonaut of Ukrainian descent. He flew on the Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 16 missions. He was born in Davydovka, Voronezh Governorate, RSFSR. After lea ...

. The mission was a test of the Soyuz 7K-TM hardware being used in the

Apollo–Soyuz Test Project Apollo–Soyuz was the first crewed international space mission, carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union in July 1975. Millions of people around the world watched on television as an American Apollo spacecraft docked wit ...

. The mission lasted six days, and was a complete success. His third flight,

, was an

Intercosmos Interkosmos () was a Soviet space program, designed to help the Soviet Union's allies with crewed and uncrewed space missions. The program was formed in April 1967 in Moscow. All members of the program from USSR were given the Hero of the Sov ...

flight to the

Salyut 6 Salyut 6 () was a Soviet orbital space station, the eighth station of the Salyut programme, and alternatively known DOS-5 as it was the fifth of the Durable Orbital Station series of civilian space stations. It was launched on 29 September 19 ...

space station on 10 April 1979 with Bulgarian cosmonaut Georgi Ivanov. On its final approach, the spacecraft's main engine failed, and the docking was aborted. They were able to return to Earth with the backup engine, but an overly-long re-entry burn led to a 10-''g'' ballistic re-entry. The crew was recovered safely. Rukavishnikov resigned from the space programme in 1987, and returned to work for the same bureau he started with, by then known as Energia. He died of a heart attack on 19 October 2002. He was awarded: *Twice

Hero of the Soviet Union The title Hero of the Soviet Union () was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society. The title was awarded both ...

Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR The honorary title Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR () was a state award of the Soviet Union presented to all cosmonauts who flew for the Soviet Space Agency. Usually accompanying the distinction was the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, the hi ...

*Four

Orders of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

Hero of the Mongolian People's Republic The title Hero of the Mongolian People's Republic was the highest distinction in the Mongolian People's Republic (MPR). It was modeled on the Soviet Union's highest award, the Hero of the Soviet Union title. History Soon after the victory of th ...

Hero of the People's Republic of Bulgaria The Hero of the People's Republic of Bulgaria () was awarded to Bulgarian and foreign citizens for merits in defending Bulgaria and other countries allied to Bulgaria. Established on 15 June 1948, it was awarded until 1990. It was the highest hon ...

* Order of Sukhbaatar (People's Republic of Mongolia) *

Order of Georgi Dimitrov The Order of Georgi Dimitrov (or Order of Georgy Dimitrov, ) was the highest award of the People's Republic of Bulgaria. It was instituted on 17 June 1950 and awarded to Bulgarians and foreigners for outstanding services to the defence and freedom ...

(People's Republic of Bulgaria)

References

1932 births 2002 deaths 1971 in spaceflight Soviet cosmonauts Heroes of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Lenin Heroes of the People's Republic of Bulgaria Soviet physicists People from Tomsk Moscow Engineering Physics Institute alumni {{hero-USSR-stub