Georgy Timofeyevich Dobrovolsky (russian: Гео́ргий Тимофе́евич Доброво́льский; 1 June 192829 June 1971) was a
Soviet cosmonaut who commanded the three-man crew of the
Soyuz 11 spacecraft. They became the world's first space station crew aboard
Salyut 1, but died of
asphyxiation because of an accidentally opened valve. They were the first and only humans to have died in space.
Biography
Dobrovolsky,
Viktor Patsayev and
Vladislav Volkov flew on the
Soyuz 11 mission and were the world's third crew to
die during a space flight.
After a normal
re-entry, the capsule was opened and the crew was found dead. It was discovered that a valve had opened just prior to leaving orbit that had allowed the capsule's atmosphere to
vent away into space, suffocating the crew.
Dobrovolsky's ashes were placed in an urn in the
Kremlin Wall Necropolis on
Red Square in Moscow.
Among the pallbearers were
Alexei Leonov
Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov. (30 May 1934 – 11 October 2019) was a Soviet and Russian cosmonaut, Air Force major general, writer, and artist. On 18 March 1965, he became the first person to conduct a spacewalk, exiting the capsule during th ...
(who had been the prime-crew commander scheduled to launch on Soyuz 11),
Vladimir Shatalov,
Andriyan Nikolayev
Andriyan Grigoryevich Nikolayev ( Chuvash and russian: Андриян Григорьевич
Николаев; 5 September 1929 – 3 July 2004) was a Soviet cosmonaut. In 1962, aboard Vostok 3, he became the third Soviet cosmonaut to fly into s ...
, and American astronaut
Thomas P. Stafford
Thomas Patten Stafford (born September 17, 1930) is an American former Air Force officer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut, and one of 24 people who flew to the Moon. He also served as Chief of the Astronaut Office from 1969 to 1971.
After grad ...
.
[ Dobrovolsky was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, the Order of Lenin, and the title of Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.
]
References
Ukrainian Hero, School No. 10 entitled Dobrovol'skij, at the school a museum entitled
External links
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1928 births
1971 deaths
Military personnel from Odesa
1971 in spaceflight
Deaths in space
Heroes of the Soviet Union
Burials at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis
Soviet cosmonauts
Soviet Air Force officers
Deaths from hypoxia
Salyut program cosmonauts
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