View source for Biography:Igor Volk

{{Short description|Soviet/Russian test pilot and cosmonaut}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Igor Volk
| image              = Igor Volk 2.jpg
| alt                = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->
| caption            = Volk in 2008
| birth_name         = Igor Petrovich Volk
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1937|04|12|df=y}}
| birth_place        = Zmiiv, Kharkiv Oblast, [[Place:Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian SSR]], [[Place:Soviet Union|USSR]]
| death_date         = {{death date and age|2017|01|03|1937|04|12|df=y}}
| death_place        = [[Place:Plovdiv|Plovdiv]], Bulgaria
| nationality        = 
| other_names        = 
| education          = Kirovograd Military Aviation School of Pilots (1956)<br>[[Organization:Fedotov Test Pilot School|Fedotov Test Pilot School]] (1965)<br>[[Organization:Moscow Aviation Institute|Moscow Aviation Institute]] (1969)
| occupation         = test pilot, cosmonaut
| years_active       = 1956 {{endash}} 2016
| employer           = [[Organization:Gromov Flight Research Institute|Gromov Flight Research Institute]] (1965-2002)
| known_for          = 
| notable_works      = [[Engineering:List of Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 variants|MiG-21I testbed]] maiden flight
| signature          = Sign of I. P. Volk.png
| signature_size     = 200px
| signature_alt      = 
| awards             = Hero of the Soviet Union<br>Honoured Test Pilot of the USSR
{{Infobox astronaut
|embed = yes
| type          = Cosmonaut
| nationality   = 
| selection     = Air Force Group 5
| time          = 11d 19h 14min
| mission       = [[Engineering:Soyuz T-12|Soyuz T-12]]
| insignia      = 
}}
}}

'''Igor Petrovich Volk''' ({{lang-ru|Игорь Петрович Волк}}, {{Lang-uk|Ігор Петрович Волк}}; 12 April 1937&nbsp;– 3 January 2017) was a Russian test pilot and former Soviet [[Astronaut|cosmonaut]] in the [[Engineering:Buran programme|Buran programme]].
== Military and test pilot ==
Volk became a pilot in the {{wipe|Soviet Air Forces}} in 1956. After graduation from the [[Organization:Fedotov Test Pilot School|Fedotov Test Pilot School]] in 1965, he has joined the [[Organization:Gromov Flight Research Institute|Gromov Flight Research Institute]].<ref name="ShLI2002">{{cite book |date=2002 |editor-last=Знаменская |editor-first=Наталья |title=ШЛИ со временем |trans-title=ShLI in Time |url=https://search.rsl.ru/ru/search#yf=2002&yt=2002&q=%D1%88%D0%BB%D0%B8%20%D1%81%D0%BE%20%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%BC |language=RU |edition=2 |location=Жуковский |publisher=ООО "Редакция газеты "Жуковские вести" |pages=400 }}</ref><ref name="TTO2012">{{Cite book |last=Evans |first=Ben |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k_uZiCp5icUC&q=test+pilots+school&pg=PA176|title=Tragedy and Triumph in Orbit: The Eighties and Early Nineties |language=en |date=2012|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |pages=614 |isbn=9781461434306 |doi=10.1007/978-1-4614-3430-6}}</ref> He logged over 7000 flight hours in over 80 different aircraft types. Over the years, he flew on all types of Soviet fighters, bombers, and transport aircraft. He showed outstanding abilities in complex tests of various airplanes at critical angles of attack, stall, and spin. He was the first who tested aircraft behavior at high super-critical angles of attack (around 90°) and performed aerobatics such as the "cobra" maneuver.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book | title=Russia's Cosmonauts: Inside the Yuri Gagarin Training Center | last1=Hall | first1=Rex | last2=Shayler | first2=Davide | last3=Vis | first3=Bert | publisher=Praxis Publishing | year=2005 | isbn=0-387-21894-7 | location=Chichester, UK | pages=335–6}}</ref>

== Space program ==
[[Image:Igor Volk, Thomas Reiter, Charlie M. Duke, Technik-Museum.jpg|thumb|280px|left|Cosmonaut Igor Volk, European Astronaut Thomas Reiter, U.S. Astronaut Charlie Duke]]
Igor Volk was selected as a cosmonaut on 12 July 1977 and subsequently assigned to the [[Engineering:Buran programme|Buran programme]]. As part of his preparations for a [[Astronomy:Spaceplane|space shuttle]] flight, he also accomplished test-flights with Buran's counterpart [[Engineering:OK-GLI|OK-GLI]] aircraft. 

In July 1984, Volk flew aboard [[Engineering:Soyuz T-12|Soyuz T-12]], intended to give him some experience in space. With Volks's participation as Research Cosmonaut on the 7th expedition to [[Engineering:Salyut 7|Salyut 7]], one goal of the mission was to evaluate the effects of long-duration spaceflight on a pilot skills and ability to fly and land an aeroplane safely (in order to prove Volk's ability to control [[Engineering:Buran (spacecraft)|Space Shuttle Buran]] atmospheric segment of flight).<ref name=":0" /> At the time of the Soyuz T-12 mission the Buran program was still a state secret. The appearance of Volk as a crew member caused some, including the [[Organization:British Interplanetary Society|British Interplanetary Society]] magazine ''[[Engineering:Spaceflight (magazine)|Spaceflight]]'', to ask why a test pilot was occupying a Soyuz seat usually reserved for researchers or foreign cosmonauts.<ref name=VisBook>{{cite book | last = Hendrickx | first = Bart |author2=Bert Vis  | title = Energiya-Buran : The Soviet Space Shuttle | publisher = Praxis | date = 2007-10-04 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/energiyaburansov00hend_671/page/n542 526] | url =https://archive.org/details/energiyaburansov00hend_671| url-access = limited | isbn = 978-0-387-69848-9 }}</ref>

After his orbital flight, Volk served as the head of pilot-cosmonaut training department for the Buran program and later (after the project's cancellation) worked for the [[Organization:Gromov Flight Research Institute|Gromov Flight Research Institute]] as a Flight Tests Deputy Chief before retiring in 1996. He previously served as President of the National Aero Club of Russia and Vice President of the [[Organization:Fédération Aéronautique Internationale|Fédération Aéronautique Internationale]]. As recognition for his contributions as a test pilot and cosmonaut he was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union on 29 July 1984.

== Social work ==
*Member of the City Council of the city of Zhukovsky (1984-1987)
*President of the All-Union Tennis Federation of the USSR (1986-1990)
*President of the Federation of Aviation Fans (since 1988)
*Member of the Executive Committee of the Green Movement (since 1989). An active supporter of the environmental movement in the USSR and Russia.
*First Vice-President of the Federation of Cosmonautics of Russia (FKR), Chairman of the Executive Committee of the FKR (2003-2005)

Since April 1990, Volk has been a member of the editorial board of the Wings of the Motherland magazine. He participated in the transcontinental flight Moscow - [[Place:Canberra|Canberra]] - Moscow on a [[Engineering:Yakovlev Yak-18T|Yak-18T]] aircraft (November 12, 1991 - February 2, 1992).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lyakishev.ru/perelet-australia/ |title=Трансконтинентальный перелёт восьми одномоторных самолётов в Австралию |trans-title=Transcontinental flight of eight single-engine aircraft to Australia |author=Lyakishev O. S. |date=2001-12-05 |publisher=lyakishev.ru |accessdate=2017-05-07 |archive-date=2017-04-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170421211322/http://lyakishev.ru/perelet-australia/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

On 21 November 2013, he signed an open letter to the President criticizing the [[Company:United Aircraft Corporation|United Aircraft Corporation]] and its leader Mikhail Pogosyan for curtailing the program for the production of the [[Engineering:Tupolev Tu-334|Tu-334]] aircraft. Also, in this letter, the [[Engineering:Sukhoi Superjet 100|Superjet]] project is directly criticized.<ref>[http://argumenti.ru/politics/n415/299811 Open letter to President V. V. Putin] — ''Argumenty Nedeli''</ref>

In May 2016, Volk supported the program of environmentalists in the elections and primaries of United Russia in the Moscow Oblast.<ref>[http://ekogradmoscow.ru/vshody/eko-ekonomika/kosmonavty-propisali-ekologam-borbu-s-kriminalom Cosmonauts ordered environmentalists to fight crime] — EkoGrad Journal</ref> He actively supported the environmental projects of the EkoGrad magazine.<ref>[http://ekogradmoscow.ru/novosti/geroj-sovetskogo-soyuza-igor-volk-zaveshchal-prodolzhenie-proekta-roshcha-sta-slov Hero of the Soviet Union Igor Volk bequeathed the continuation of the Grove of a Hundred Words project] — EkoGrad Journal</ref>

== Other accomplishments ==
Volk was an inventor.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Patents of Igor Volk at Google Patents |url=https://patents.google.com/?inventor=%D0%98%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%8C+%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87+%D0%92%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BA |access-date=2023-04-22 |website=patents.google.com}}</ref> He also supported a number of startups like four-person [[Engineering:Concept car|concept]] [[Engineering:Flying car|flying car]], etc.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-03-23 |title=Lark-4 "Летающий автомобиль" |url=http://vtol.boom.ru/rus/Lark-4/index.html |lang=ru|access-date=2023-04-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080323185356/http://vtol.boom.ru/rus/Lark-4/index.html |archive-date=23 March 2008 }}</ref>

==Personal life==
Volk was married and had two children. He died on 3 January 2017 while on holiday in [[Place:Plovdiv|Plovdiv]], Bulgaria. He is buried together with his daughter at the Bykovskoye Memorial Cemetery in Zhukovsky.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/obituary/cosmonaut-igor-volk-dead-79/|title=Cosmonaut Igor Volk dead at 79|work=SpaceFlight Insider|date=4 January 2017|access-date=11 January 2017}}</ref>

==Honours and awards==
* Hero of the Soviet Union
* [[Biography:Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR|Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR]]
* Honoured Test Pilot of the USSR
* Zhukovsky Honorary Citizen 
* Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" 4th class
* Order of Lenin 
* Order of the Red Banner of Labour 
* Order of Friendship of Peoples 
* Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration"

==Memory==
[[File:Vladimir Dzhanibekov opens the memorial bust of Igor Volk 2020.jpg|thumb|Speech of [[Biography:Vladimir Dzhanibekov|Vladimir Dzhanibekov]] at the opening ceremony of Igor Volk memorial bust in Zhukovsky, Moscow Oblast]]
Bust of Igor Volk is installed at Solnechnaya Street in the city of Zhukovsky.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://lii.ru/novosti/ustanovka-byusta-letchika-kosmonavta-geroya-sssr-igorya-petrovicha-volka/|title=Установка бюста Героя СССР Игоря Петровича Волка|trans-title=Installation of a bust of the Hero of the USSR Igor Petrovich Volk|date=2020-04-13|website=[[Organization:Gromov Flight Research Institute|ЛИИ им. М.М. Громова]]|language=ru-RU|access-date=2020-04-15}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.buran-energia.com/interviews/igor-volk-biography.php Detailed biography of Igor Volk]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160820044942/http://www.astronautix.com/v/volk.html Biography at Astronautix]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Volk, Igor}}
[[Category:Buran program]]
[[Category:Soviet cosmonauts]]

{{Sourceattribution|Igor Volk}}