Valery Victorovich Ryumin (; 16 August 1939 – 6 June 2022) 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 ...

Biography

In 1958, he graduated from the Kaliningrad Mechanical Engineering Technical College with the specialty "Cold Working of Metal." In 1966, he graduated from the Department of Electronics and Computing Technology of the Moscow Forestry Engineering Institute with the specialty "Spacecraft Control Systems." From 1958 to 1961, Ryumin served in the army as a tank commander. From 1966 onwards he was employed at the Rocket Space Corporation Energia, holding the positions of Ground Electrical Test Engineer, Deputy Lead Designer for Orbital Stations, Department Head, and Deputy General Designer for Testing. He helped develop and prepare all orbital stations, beginning with

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 ...

. In 1973, he joined the RSC Energia cosmonaut corps. Ultimately he became a veteran of four space flights and logged a total of 371 days in space. In 1977, he spent two days aboard

Soyuz 25 Soyuz 25 (, ''Union 25'') was an October 1977 Soviet crewed space flight, the first to the new Salyut 6 space station, which had been launched 10 days earlier. However, the mission was aborted when cosmonauts Vladimir Kovalyonok and Valery Ryumi ...

, in 1979, he spent 175 days aboard Soyuz vehicles 32 and 34 and 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, and in 1980, he spent 185 days aboard Soyuz vehicles 35 and 37 and the Salyut 6 space station. USSR Stamp 1981 Salyut6 Cosmonauts

From 1981 to 1989, Ryumin was flight director for the

Salyut 7 Salyut 7 (), also known as DOS-6 (Durable Orbital Station 6) was a space station in low Earth orbit from April 1982 to February 1991. It was first crewed in May 1982 with two crew via Soyuz T-5, and last visited in June 1986, by Soyuz T-15. Va ...

space station and the Mir space station. Since 1992, he was the Director of the Russian portion of the Shuttle-Mir and NASA-Mir program. In January 1998, NASA announced Ryumin's selection to the crew of

STS-91 STS-91 was the 24th flight of Discovery, and the final Space Shuttle mission to the '' Mir'' space station. It was flown by Space Shuttle ''Discovery'', and launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 2 June 1998. Crew Crew seat assignme ...

. Ryumin served aboard STS-91 Discovery (2–12 June 1998) the 9th and final Shuttle-Mir docking mission, concluding the joint U.S./Russian Phase I Program. The

mission was accomplished in 154 Earth orbits, traveling 3.8 million miles in 235 hours and 54 seconds. Married to fellow cosmonaut

Yelena Kondakova Yelena Vladimirovna Kondakova (; born 30 March 1957) is the third Soviet or Russian female cosmonaut to travel to space and the first woman to make a long-duration spaceflight. Her first trip into space was on Soyuz TM-20 on 4 October 1994. She ...

, he had two daughters and a son. His hobbies included tennis, angling, hunting, walking through forests, and travel. Ryumin died on 6 June 2022, and was buried in the

Federal Military Memorial Cemetery The Federal Military Memorial Cemetery (Russian: Федеральное военное мемориальное кладбище) is a national cemetery of Russia, located in Mytishchinsky District, Moscow Oblast, on the north-eastern outskirts ...

on 9 June.

Awards

*Twice as

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 ...

(19 August 1979 and 11 October 1980) *

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 ...

Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" The Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" () is a state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was instituted on 2 March 1994 by Presidential Decree 442. Until the re-establishment of the Order of St. Andrew in 1998, it was the highest order of ...

4th class *Three

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 ...

(USSR) *

Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" The Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" () is a state decoration of the Russian Federation aimed at recognising achievements in the space program. It was established by Decree of the President of Russia, presidential decree №1099 of September ...

Hero of the Republic of Cuba The honorary title Hero of the Republic of Cuba () is the highest decoration awarded by the Republic of Cuba. It is equivalent to other hero titles common in the Socialist Bloc. The decoration is physically represented with the Gold Star Medal () ...

*Hero of Socialist Labour (Vietnam) *Order of Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam)

In popular culture

In the 2017 Russian film ''

'', a character Valery Shudin, played by Aleksandr Samoylenko, was based on Ryumin.

Sources

Biographical DataThe official website of the city administration Baikonur - Honorary citizens of Baikonur

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryumin, Valery 1939 births 2022 deaths People from Komsomolsk-on-Amur Soviet cosmonauts Heroes of the Soviet Union Soviet engineers Soviet Army officers Moscow State Forest University alumni Employees of RSC Energia Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 4th class Recipients of the Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" Recipients of the USSR State Prize Recipients of the Order of Ho Chi Minh Space Shuttle program astronauts Salyut program cosmonauts Spacewalkers Mir crew members Burials at the Federal Military Memorial Cemetery