Vladimir Alekseyevich Solovyov (russian: Влади́мир Алексе́евич Соловьёв; born 11 November 1946) is a former
Soviet cosmonaut.
He was selected as a cosmonaut on 1 December 1978 and flew as Flight Engineer on
Soyuz T-10
Soyuz T-10 was the fifth expedition to the Salyut 7 space station. It entered a darkened and empty station because of the loss of Soyuz T-10a. It was visited by the sixth and seventh expeditions. During the course of the cosmonauts stay, thr ...
and
Soyuz T-15
Soyuz T-15 (russian: Союз T-15, ''Union T-15'') was a crewed mission to the Mir and Salyut 7 space stations and was part of the Soyuz programme. It marked the final flight of the Soyuz-T spacecraft, the third generation Soyuz spacecraft, whi ...
, spending a total of 361 days, 22 hours, 49 minutes in space. His first flight, Soyuz T-10, took off on 8 February 1984, to join
Salyut 7
Salyut 7 (russian: Салют-7; en, Salute 7) (a.k.a. DOS-6, short for Durable Orbital Station) was a space station in low Earth orbit from April 1982 to February 1991. It was first crewed in May 1982 with two crew via Soyuz T-5, and last vi ...
. The crew spent ten months (nearly 237 days) performing numerous medical and space manufacturing experiments. They came down aboard
Soyuz T-11
Soyuz T-11 was the sixth expedition to the Soviet Salyut 7 space station, which in 1984 carried the first Indian cosmonaut
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, ...
on 2 October 1984. Solovyov's second flight was aboard Soyuz T-15, taking off on 13 March 1986 and coming back aboard the same craft on 16 July 1986, 125 days later. During the T-15 mission, the crew transferred equipment from Salyut-7 to the new
Mir space station; they were the last aboard the former and the first aboard the latter.
Solovyov then became the Mir flight director (Russian Mission Control) for several years. He retired on 18 February 1994 but came back to head the Russian segment of the
International Space Station (ISS).
Solovyov is married and has two children.
He was awarded:
* Twice
Hero of the Soviet Union (2 October 1984 and 16 July 1986);
*
Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR;
*
Order of Honour (Russian Federation);
*
Order of Friendship (Russian Federation);
* Two
Orders of Lenin (USSR);
*
Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" (Russian Federation);
* Knight of the
Legion of Honour (France);
*
Kirti Chakra
The Kirti Chakra is an Indian military decoration awarded for valour, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the field of battle. It may be awarded to civilians as well as military personnel, including posthumous awards. It is the ''pe ...
(India).
External links
MSNBC – Witness to Mir’s beginning and end(2001)
(2004)
The official website of the city administration Baikonur - Honorary citizens of Baikonur
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solovyov, Vladimir
1946 births
Living people
Cosmonauts from Moscow
Bauman Moscow State Technical University alumni
Soviet cosmonauts
Heroes of the Soviet Union
Employees of RSC Energia
Recipients of the Order of Lenin
Recipients of the Order of Honour (Russia)
Recipients of the Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration"
Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur
Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 4th class
Salyut program cosmonauts
Spacewalkers
Mir crew members