Sergey Nikolaevich Anokhin (

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: Серге́й Никола́евич Ано́хин; – 15 April 1986) 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 ...

test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testin ...

Early life and education

Sergei Anokhin was born in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

on 19 March 1910. He worked on the railroads until the 1930s when he enrolled at a Higher Air Force School. From there, he became a glider pilot, instructor and established numerous world records for gliding flights. During its one and only flight on 2 September 1942, Anokhin piloted the

Antonov A-40 The Antonov A-40 ''Krylya Tanka'' (russian: крылья танка, meaning "tank wings") was a Soviet attempt to allow a tank to glide onto a battlefield after being towed aloft by an airplane, to support airborne forces or partisans.Winc ...

, an experimental Soviet glider

T-60 tank The T-60 scout tank was a light tank produced by the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1942. During this period, 6,292 units were built. The tank was designed to replace the obsolete T-38 amphibious scout tank and saw action during World War II. The K ...

. After being released by the tow aircraft, he landed the tank glider to a field near the airport, and after dropping the glider wings and tail, the T-60 was driven back to its base. However, due to the lack of a sufficiently-powerful aircraft to tow the tank at the required speed of , the project was abandoned. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Anokhin assumed command of an Air Force regiment in

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

Test pilot and space program

In 1943, Anokhin joined the Flight Research Institute and become the lead

for the first type of Soviet developed jet propelled

airplane An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, Propeller (aircraft), propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurat ...

. Through this, he became one of the most popular test pilots in the

Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...

. Despite having lost his left eye in after a serious accident while flying a Yak-3 on 17 May 1945, he continued to work as a test pilot. From 1951 to 1953, he along with

Amet-khan Sultan Amet-khan Sultan ( Crimean Tatar: Amet-Han Sultan, Амет-Хан Султан, احمدخان سلطان; Russian: Амет-Хан Султан; 20 October 1920 – 1 February 1971) was a highly decorated Crimean Tatar flying ace in the Soviet ...

, Fyodor Burtsev, and Vasily Pavlov flew manned tests of the

KS-1 Komet The Raduga KS-1 Komet (russian: КС-1 "Комета", NATO reporting name: Kennel), also referred to as AS-1 and KS-1 (крылатый снаряд - winged projectile) was a Soviet short range air-to-surface missile, primarily developed for a ...

, for which he was awarded the Stalin prize. 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 ...

on 3 February 1953, the highest commendation in the Soviet Union. In 1959, he became the Soviet Union's first Merited Test Pilot of the Soviet Union. In July and August 1964, Anokhin was commissioned to test specific

airlock An airlock, air-lock or air lock, often abbreviated to just lock, is a compartment with doors which can be sealed against pressure which permits the passage of people and objects between environments of differing pressure or atmospheric compo ...

designs for what would become future Soviet spacecraft, specifically for the spacecraft sent on the

Voskhod 2 Voskhod 2 (russian: Восход-2, , ''Sunrise-2'') was a Soviet crewed space mission in March 1965. The Vostok-based Voskhod 3KD spacecraft with two crew members on board, Pavel Belyayev and Alexei Leonov, was equipped with an inflatable ai ...

mission. Also in 1964, Anokhin was selected by

Sergey Korolev Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (russian: Сергей Павлович Королёв, Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov, sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪtɕ kərɐˈlʲɵf, Ru-Sergei Pavlovich Korolev.ogg; ukr, Сергій Павлович Корольов, ...

to be the head of a team to train civilian cosmonauts, rather than military that they had been prior. Under him, seven people were selected for training. These people included Konstantin Feoktistov, Georgy Grechko,

Valery Kubasov Valery Nikolaevich Kubasov (russian: Вале́рий Никола́евич Куба́сов; 7 January 1935 – 19 February 2014) was a Soviet/Russian cosmonaut who flew on two missions in the Soyuz programme as a flight engineer: Soyuz 6 and ...

, Oleg Makarov,

Nikolai Rukavishnikov Nikolai Nikolayevich Rukavishnikov (; 18 September 1932 – 19 October 2002) was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew three space missions of the Soyuz programme: Soyuz 10, Soyuz 16, and Soyuz 33. Two of these missions, Soyuz 10 and Soyuz 33 were intended ...

Vladislav Volkov Vladislav Nikolayevich Volkov (russian: Владисла́в Никола́евич Во́лков; 23 November 193529 June 1971) was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 11 missions. The second mission terminated fatally.

, and Valery Yazdovsky. These men were collectively known in the Soviet Space program as “Korolev’s Kindergarten”. After training these men, they were brought into various Soviet missions as engineers and scientists at the discretion of Anokhin. Eventually, Anokhin himself was denied becoming an active cosmonaut for later missions due to health problems. He worked in the administration of the Soviet space program until his retirement in 1978.

Later life

Anokhin died on 15 April 1986 and is buried in Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Anokhin, Sergei 1910 births 1986 deaths Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery Heroes of the Soviet Union Soviet test pilots Soviet Air Force officers Recipients of the Order of Lenin Military personnel from Moscow Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner Soviet space program personnel Glider flight record holders Glider pilots Gromov Flight Research Institute employees