Georgy Stepanovich Shonin (August 3, 1935 – April 7, 1997; born in Rovenky

Rovenky

Rovenky is a coal mining city in Luhansk Oblast of south-eastern Ukraine. The city is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast.The current estimated population is around 58,500 .-History:...

, Luhansk Oblast

Luhansk Oblast

Luhansk Oblast ) is the easternmost oblast of Ukraine. Its administrative center is Luhansk. The oblast was established in 1938 and bore the name Voroshilovgrad Oblast in honor of Kliment Voroshilov....

, (now Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

) but grew up in Balta

Balta, Ukraine

Balta is a small city in the Odessa Oblast of south-western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Baltsky Raion , and located approximately 200 kilometers from the oblast capital, Odessa...

 of Ukrainian SSR

Ukrainian SSR

The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...

) was a Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 cosmonaut, who flew on the Soyuz 6

Soyuz 6

Soyuz 6 was part of a joint mission with Soyuz 7 and Soyuz 8 that saw three Soyuz spacecraft in orbit together at the same time, carrying seven cosmonauts...

 space mission.

Shonin was part of the original group of cosmonauts selected in 1960. He left the space programme in 1979 for medical reasons.

He later worked as the director of a defence research institute. Shonin died of a heart attack in 1997.