Eliseev, Aleksei

Born July 13, 1934, at Zhizdra, Kaluga Oblast. Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union (Jan. 22, 1969, and Oct. 22, 1969). Member of the CPSU since 1967.

Eliseev graduated from the N. E. Bauman Moscow Higher Technical School in 1957 and was awarded the degree of candidate of technical sciences in 1967. Becoming a cosmonaut in 1966, he made a space flight on Jan. 15–17, 1969, as flight engineer aboard Soyuz 5, which was piloted by B. V. Volynov. On Jan. 16, 1969, Eliseev and E. V. Khrunov crossed through space to Soyuz 4, which was piloted by cosmonaut V. A. Shatalov, and returned to earth aboard Soyuz 4. Eliseev orbited the earth 32 times, having traveled 1.3 million km in space in 47 hours. He remained in space for 37 minutes. Eliseev made his second flight on Oct. 13–18, 1969, as flight engineer of Soyuz 8, with Shatalov. This five-day stay in space witnessed a 24-hour group flight with Soyuz 7 and a three-day group flight with Soyuz 6 and Soyuz 7; Eliseev orbited the earth 80 times. He made his third space flight on Apr. 23–25, 1971, as flight engineer of Soyuz 10, with Shatalov and N. N. Rukavishnikov. On Apr. 24, 1971, Soyuz 10 docked with the orbital station Salyut. The flight of this “station-craft” space system in the docked state lasted five hours and 30 minutes. Eliseev has been awarded two Orders of Lenin.