Viktor Ivanovich Patsayev (russian: Ви́ктор Ива́нович Паца́ев; 19 June 193329 June 1971) was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 11 mission and was part of the third space crew to die during a space flight. On board the space station Salyut 1 he operated the Orion 1 Space Observatory (see

Orion 1 and Orion 2 Space Observatories Orion () may refer to: Common meanings * Orion (constellation), named after the mythical hunter * Orion (mythology), a hunter in Greek mythology * Orion (spacecraft), NASA crew vehicle first launched in 2022 Arts and media Fictional ent ...

); he became the first man to operate a telescope outside the Earth's atmosphere. 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. One of Patsayev's hands was found to be bruised, and he may have been trying to shut the valve manually at the time he lost consciousness. Patsayev's ashes were interned in the Kremlin Wall on Red Square in Moscow. He was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, the Order of Lenin and the title of Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR. The lunar crater '' Patsaev'' and the minor planet

1791 Patsayev 1791 Patsayev ( ''prov. designation'': ) is a dark background asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 26 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 4 September 1967, by Russian astronomer Tamara Smirnova at the Crime ...

are named for him.

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1933 births 1971 deaths People from Aktobe 1971 in spaceflight Deaths in space Heroes of the Soviet Union Recipients of the Order of Lenin Burials at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis Soviet cosmonauts Deaths from hypoxia Employees of RSC Energia Salyut program cosmonauts {{hero-USSR-stub

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