Anatoly Semyonovich Levchenko (Russian: Анатолий Семёнович Левченко; May 5, 1941 – August 6, 1988) was a Soviet cosmonaut in the Buran programme.
Trained as a test pilot and selected as a cosmonaut on 12 July 1980,[1] Levchenko was planned to be the back-up commander of the first Buran space shuttle flight. As part of his preparations, he also accomplished test-flights with Buran's counterpart OK-GLI aircraft.
In March 1987, Levchenko began extensive training for a Soyuz spaceflight, intended to give him some experience in space.[2] In December 1987, he occupied the third seat aboard the spacecraft Soyuz TM-4 to the space station Mir, and returned to Earth about a week later on Soyuz TM-3. His mission is sometimes called Mir LII-1, after the Gromov Flight Research Institute shorthand.[3]
In the year following his spaceflight, Anatoly Levchenko died of a brain tumor, in the Nikolay Burdenko Neurosurgical Institute in Moscow.[4]
He was married with one child.[1]
Awards
He was awarded the titles of Hero of the Soviet Union and Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR and the Order of Lenin.
Commemoration
- Anatoly Levchenko is buried at the Bykovskoye Memorial Cemetery in Zhukovsky.
- There is a memorial plate with his image installed on the wall of house 2 at Chkalova Street where Anatoly once lived in Zhukovsky.
See also
References
- ^ a b "Cosmonaut Biography: Anatoli Levchenko". spacefacts.de. Archived from the original on 21 December 2010. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
- ^ Hendrickx, Bart; Bert Vis (2007-10-04). Energiya-Buran : The Soviet Space Shuttle. Praxis. p. 526. ISBN 978-0-387-69848-9.
- ^ "Mir LII-1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 30 November 2010. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
- ^ "Levchenko". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 20 October 2010. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
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