Dmitry Alekseevich Zaikin (russian: Дмитрий Алексеевич Заикин; 29 April 1932 – 20 October 2013) was a Soviet

cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

trainer. Zaikin was born in Yekaterinovka, Rostov Oblast. He graduated from Military Fighter Pilot School, Armavir (

Krasnodar Krai Krasnodar Krai (russian: Краснода́рский край, r=Krasnodarsky kray, p=krəsnɐˈdarskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia and administratively a part of ...

) and Frunze (now Bishkek), in 1955. He was selected for the cosmonaut training in 1960, as one of a group of the twenty Air Force pilots who would train as the first cosmonauts. Zayikin was assigned as backup commander for

Voskhod 2 Voskhod 2 (russian: Восход-2, , ''Sunrise-2'') was a Soviet crewed space mission in March 1965. The Vostok-based Voskhod 3KD spacecraft with two crew members on board, Pavel Belyayev and Alexei Leonov, was equipped with an inflatable ai ...

. He then went on to graduate from the Zhukovsky Military Engineering Academy of

Monino Monino (russian: Мо́нино) is an urban locality (a work settlement) in Shchyolkovsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, located east of Moscow. Population: History Monino was founded in the Muninskaya Wasteland (russian: Мунинс ...

in 1968. He left the space service on 25 October 1969 for medical reasons while training for

Soyuz Soyuz is a transliteration of the Cyrillic text Союз ( Russian and Ukrainian, 'Union'). It can refer to any union, such as a trade union (''profsoyuz'') or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Сою́з Сове́тских Социалис ...

missions. He then became an instructor and lead engineer at the

Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center The Yuri A. Gagarin State Scientific Research-and-Testing Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC; Russian language, Russian: Центр подготовки космонавтов имени Ю. А. Гагарина) is a Russian training facility res ...

. He left the space program in 1982, and retired from active military duty in 1987. He was married with two children. Zaikin died of natural causes on 20 October 2013, as reported by Star City, the Yuri Gagarin Training Centre.

References

Bibliography

* * 1932 births 2013 deaths Soviet cosmonauts Soviet Air Force officers {{Astronaut-stub