Vasily Grigoryevich Lazarev (russian: Васи́лий Григо́рьевич Ла́зарев; 23 February 1928 31 December 1990) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

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 ...

who flew on the

Soyuz 12 Soyuz 12 (russian: Союз 12, ''Union 12'') was a September, 1973, crewed test flight by the Soviet Union of the newly redesigned Soyuz 7K-T spacecraft that was intended to provide greater crew safety in the wake of the Soyuz 11 tragedy. Th ...

spaceflight Spaceflight (or space flight) is an application of astronautics to fly spacecraft into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in or ...

as well as the abortive

Soyuz 18a Soyuz 7K-T No.39, (also named Soyuz 18a or Soyuz 18-1 by some sources and also known as the April 5 Anomaly) was an unsuccessful launch of a crewed Soyuz spacecraft by the Soviet Union in 1975. The mission was expected to dock with the orbiting ...

launch on 5 April 1975. He was injured by the high acceleration of the abort and landing and was initially denied his spaceflight bonus pay, having to appeal directly to

Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev; uk, links= no, Леонід Ілліч Брежнєв, . (19 December 1906– 10 November 1982) was a Soviet Union, Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Gener ...

to receive it. Brezhnev was at the time the

General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED O ...

. Lazarev held a degree in medicine and the rank of colonel in the Soviet Air Force. He remained in the space programme until failing a physical in 1981. He never fully recovered from the injuries sustained on Soyuz 18a and died on the last day of 1990 at the age of 62. He was awarded the title

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 ...

, the title

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 w ...

and the

Order 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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lazarev, Vasily 1928 births 1990 deaths People from Altai Krai Soviet cosmonauts Soviet Air Force officers Soviet military doctors Heroes of the Soviet Union 1973 in spaceflight Physician astronauts People who have flown in suborbital spaceflight