Valerii Kubasov

Born Jan. 7, 1935, in Viazniki, Vladimir Oblast. Soviet pilot and cosmonaut; twice Hero of the Soviet Union (Oct. 22, 1969, and July 22, 1975). Member of the CPSU since 1968.

After graduating from the Moscow Aviation Institute in 1958, Kubasov worked in a design bureau. He has been on the cosmonaut team since 1968. In 1968 he received the degree of candidate of technical sciences. On Oct. 11–16, 1969, he made a space flight as flight engineer in the Soyuz 6 orbital spacecraft (with G. S. Shonin). He carried out a program of scientific and engineering tests of the spacecraft’s systems; studied near-terrestrial space, the atmosphere, and geologic and geographic features on the earth; and performed the first welding experiments in space. He participated in a 24-hour group flight with the Soyuz 7 spacecraft and a three-day group flight with the Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 8 spacecraft; he made 80 orbits of the earth. On July 15–21, 1975, he made a space flight as part of the EPAS project as a flight engineer (with A. A. Leonov) in the Soyuz 19 spacecraft. During the flight, docking with the American Apollo spacecraft was performed twice, and five scientific and engineering experiments were carried out.

Kubasov has been awarded two Orders of Lenin, as well as medals. [13–1621–1; updated]