Valery Victorovich Ryumin (russian: Валерий Викторович Рюмин; 16 August 1939 – 6 June 2022) was a
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
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 ...
.
Biography
In 1958, he graduated from the Kaliningrad Mechanical Engineering Technical College with the specialty "Cold Working of Metal." In 1966, he graduated from the Department of Electronics and Computing Technology of the Moscow Forestry Engineering Institute with the specialty "Spacecraft Control Systems."
From 1958 to 1961, Ryumin served in the army as a tank commander.
From 1966 onwards he was employed at the Rocket Space Corporation
Energia, holding the positions of Ground Electrical Test Engineer, Deputy Lead Designer for Orbital Stations, Department Head, and Deputy General Designer for Testing. He helped develop and prepare all orbital stations, beginning with
Salyut 1
Salyut 1 (DOS-1) (russian: Салют-1) was the world's first space station launched into low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on April 19, 1971. The Salyut program followed this with five more successful launches of seven more stations. The f ...
.
In 1973, he joined the RSC Energia cosmonaut corps. Ultimately he became a veteran of four space flights and logged a total of 371 days in space.
In 1977, he spent two days aboard
Soyuz 25
Soyuz 25 (russian: Союз 25, ''Union 25'') was an October, 1977, Soviet crewed space flight, the first to the new Salyut 6 space station, which had been launched 10 days earlier. However, the mission was aborted when cosmonauts Vladimir Koval ...
, in 1979, he spent 175 days aboard Soyuz vehicles 32 and 34 and the
Salyut 6
Salyut 6 (russian: Салют-6; lit. Salute 6), DOS-5, was a Soviet orbital space station, the eighth station of the Salyut programme. It was launched on 29 September 1977 by a Proton rocket. Salyut 6 was the first space station to recei ...
space station, and in 1980, he spent 185 days aboard Soyuz vehicles 35 and 37 and the Salyut 6 space station.
![USSR Stamp 1981 Salyut6 Cosmonauts](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/USSR_Stamp_1981_Salyut6_Cosmonauts.jpg)
From 1981 to 1989, Ryumin was flight director for the
Salyut 7 space station and the Mir space station. Since 1992, he was the Director of the Russian portion of the Shuttle-Mir and NASA-Mir program.
In January 1998, NASA announced Ryumin's selection to the crew of
STS-91
STS-91 was the final Space Shuttle mission to the ''Mir'' space station. It was flown by Space Shuttle ''Discovery'', and launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 2 June 1998.
Crew
Mission highlights
STS-91 marked the final Shuttle/''M ...
. Ryumin served aboard STS-91 Discovery (2–12 June 1998) the 9th and final Shuttle-Mir docking mission, concluding the joint U.S./Russian Phase I Program. The
STS-91
STS-91 was the final Space Shuttle mission to the ''Mir'' space station. It was flown by Space Shuttle ''Discovery'', and launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 2 June 1998.
Crew
Mission highlights
STS-91 marked the final Shuttle/''M ...
mission was accomplished in 154 Earth orbits, traveling 3.8 million miles in 235 hours and 54 seconds.
Married to fellow cosmonaut
Yelena Kondakova
Yelena Vladimirovna Kondakova (russian: link=no, Елена Владимировна Кондакóва; born March 30, 1957) is the third Soviet or Russian female cosmonaut to travel to space and the first woman to make a long-duration spaceflig ...
, he had two daughters and a son. His hobbies included tennis, angling, hunting, walking through forests, and travel.
Awards
*Twice as
Hero of the Soviet Union
The title Hero of the Soviet Union (russian: Герой Советского Союза, translit=Geroy Sovietskogo Soyuza) was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for ...
(19 August 1979 and 11 October 1980)
*
Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR
The honorary title Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR (russian: Летчик-космонавт СССР) was a state award of the Soviet Union presented to all cosmonauts who flew for the Soviet Space Agency. Usually accompanying the distinction ...
*
Order "For Merit to the Fatherland"
The Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" (russian: Орден «За заслуги перед Отечеством», ''Orden "Za zaslugi pered Otechestvom"'') is a state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was instituted on 2 March 1994 by P ...
4th class
*Three
Orders of Lenin
The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...
(USSR)
*
Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration"
The Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" (russian: Медаль "За заслуги в освоении космоса") is a state decoration of the Russian Federation aimed at recognising achievements in the space program. It was established ...
*
Hero of the Republic of Cuba
The honorary title Hero of the Republic of Cuba ( es, Héroe de la República de Cuba) is the highest decoration awarded by the Republic of Cuba. It is equivalent to other hero titles common in the Socialist Bloc. The decoration is physically rep ...
*Hero of Socialist Labour (Vietnam)
*Order of Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam)
In popular culture
In the 2017 Russian film ''
Salyut 7'', a character Valery Shudin, played by Aleksandr Samoylenko, was based on Ryumin.
Sources
Biographical DataThe official website of the city administration Baikonur - Honorary citizens of Baikonur
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryumin, Valery
1939 births
2022 deaths
People from Komsomolsk-on-Amur
Soviet cosmonauts
Heroes of the Soviet Union
Soviet engineers
Soviet Army officers
Moscow State Forest University alumni
Employees of RSC Energia
Recipients of the Order of Lenin
Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 4th class
Recipients of the Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration"
Recipients of the USSR State Prize
Recipients of the Order of Ho Chi Minh
Space Shuttle program astronauts
Salyut program cosmonauts
Spacewalkers
Mir crew members