Titov, German Stepanovich

Born Sept. 11, 1935, in the village of Verkhnee Zhilino, Kosikha Raion, Altai Krai. Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR; major general of aviation (1975). Hero of the Soviet Union (Aug. 9, 1961). Member of the CPSU from 1961.

After graduating from the Stalingrad Military Aviation School in 1957, Titov served with air units in the Leningrad Military District. He became a cosmonaut in 1960. On Aug. 6–7, 1961, he made the world’s second orbital space flight, aboard the Vostok 2 spacecraft. In 25 hours and 11 minutes, the spacecraft orbited the earth more than 17 times and traveled over 700,000 km.

Titov graduated from the N. E. Zhukovskii Air Force Engineering Academy in 1968 and from the K. E. Voroshilov Military Academy of the General Staff in 1972. He was a deputy to the sixth and seventh convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Titov has been awarded two Orders of Lenin, various medals, and many foreign decorations, including the titles of Hero of Socialist Labor of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, Hero of Labor of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and Hero of the Mongolian People’s Republic. A crater on the far side of the moon has been named after Titov.