Biography:Vladimir Kovalyonok

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Short description: Soviet cosmonaut
Vladimir Vasilyevich Kovalyonok
Vladimir Kovalyonok 05.jpg
Cosmonaut Vladimir Kovalyonok in Vologda
Born (1942-03-03) 3 March 1942 (age 82)
Bielaye, Byelorussian SSR Soviet Union (now Belarus)
StatusRetired
NationalityBelarus ian
OccupationPilot-cosmonaut
AwardsHero of the Soviet Union (twice)
Space career
Cosmonaut
RankColonel General, Soviet Air Force
Time in space
216d 09h 08m
SelectionAir Force Group 4
MissionsSoyuz 25, Soyuz 29/Soyuz 31, Soyuz T-4

Vladimir Vasiliyevich Kovalyonok (Belarusian: Уладзі́мір Васі́льевіч Кавалёнак; Russian: Влади́мир Васи́льевич Ковалёнок; born 3 March 1942) is a retired Soviet cosmonaut.

He entered the Soviet space programme on July 5, 1967, and was commander of three missions. Together with Aleksandr Ivanchenkov he flew the long-endurance mission EO-2 which set a new record of 139 days in space. He retired from the cosmonaut team on June 23, 1984.

From 1990 to 1992 he was a Director of the 30th Central Scientific Research Institute, Ministry of Defence (Russia).

Missions

Honours and awards

  • Hero of the Soviet Union, twice (2 November 1978 and 26 May 1981)
  • Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR
  • Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 3rd class (16 May 1996)
  • Order of Military Merit (2000)
  • Three Orders of Lenin (15 November 1977, 2 November 1978 and 26 May 1981)
  • Order for Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR, 3rd class (12 August 1991)
  • Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" (12 April 2011) - for great achievements in the field of research, development and use of outer space, many years of diligent work, public activities
  • Hero of the German Democratic Republic (1978)
  • Order of Karl Marx (East Germany, 1978)
  • Hero of the MPR (Mongolia, 1981)
  • Order of Sukhbaatar (Mongolia, 1981)
  • Cross of Grunwald, 3rd class (Poland, 1978)
  • Order for Service to the Homeland, 2nd class (Belarus, 2002)

External links

Cosmonauts Vladimir Kovalyonok (left) and Viktor Savinykh (right) on a 1981 stamp of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics