Marina Popovich is a retired Soviet Air Force

Soviet Air Force

The Soviet Air Force, officially known in Russian as Военно-воздушные силы or Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily and often abbreviated VVS was the official designation of one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces...

 colonel, engineer, and legendary Soviet test pilot

Test pilot

A test pilot is an aviator who flies new and modified aircraft in specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques or FTTs, allowing the results to be measured and the design to be evaluated....

 who holds 107 aviation world records set on over 40 types of aircraft. She is one of the most famous pilots in Russian history, and one of the most important female pilots of all-time.

Biography

Marina Vasilieva became a Soviet Air Force pilot and in 1964, a military test pilot. She authored nine books and two screenplays. Among many other awards, she has been honored as Hero of Socialist Labor

Hero of Socialist Labor

Hero of Socialist Labour was an honorary title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries. It was the highest degree of distinction for exceptional achievements in national economy and culture...

, the Order of Courage

Order of Courage

The Order of Courage is a decoration presented by the government of the Russian Federation. Established in 1994, the order is presented for "acts of courage or self-sacrifice."- External links :* *...

 (presented personally by Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...

 in June 2007) and a star in the Cancer constellation bears her name.

Popovich and UFOs

Marina Popovich has been outspoken about UFO reality. She wrote a book called UFO Glasnost (published in 2003 in Germany) and given public lectures and interviews. She has mentioned over 3000 UFO sightings by Soviet military and civilian pilots. Although qualifying that her statements are not official, she says that the Soviet Air Force and KGB

KGB

The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...

 have fragments of five crashed UFOs in their possession. The crash sites mentioned were Tunguska

Tunguska event

The Tunguska event, or Tunguska blast or Tunguska explosion, was an enormously powerful explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, at about 7:14 a.m...

 (1908), Novosibirsk, Tallinn

Tallinn

Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...

/Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

, Ordzhonikidze

Ordzhonikidze

Ordzhonikidze may refer to:People:*Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze , a Georgian Bolshevik and Soviet political leader*Sergei Ordzhonikidze‎, a Russian diplomat*Iosif Ordzhonikidze‎ , a mayor of Moscow...

/Caucasus

Caucasus

The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...

, and Dalnegorsk

Height 611 UFO Incident

Height 611 UFO incident refers to an alleged UFO crash in Dalnegorsk, Primorsky Krai, USSR, on January 29, 1986. Height 611 is a hill located on the territory of the town.-Incident description:...

 (1986). Popovich said debris was analyzed and the conclusion was that it wasn't manufactured on Earth with terrestrial technology.

In 1991, she also displayed what she claims is the last photo taken by the Russian probe Phobos 2, before it lost contact with Earth and disappeared. This photo shows an unexplained cylindrical figure, which could be a camera artifact.

She was married to Pavel Popovich

Pavel Popovich

- Biography :He was born in Uzyn, Kiev Oblast of Soviet Union . to Roman Porfirievich Popovich and Theodosia Kasyanovna Semyonov. He had two sisters and two brothers ....

, a former Soviet cosmonaut, until they divorced, with Pavel Popovich later remarrying. They have two daughters.

Honours and awards

• Order of the Red Banner
  Order of the Red Banner
  The Soviet government of Russia established the Order of the Red Banner , a military decoration, on September 16, 1918 during the Russian Civil War...
  
  
• Order of the Red Star
  Order of the Red Star
  Established on 6 April 1930, the Order of the Red Star was an order of the Soviet Union, given to Red Army and Soviet Navy personnel for "exceptional service in the cause of the defense of the Soviet Union in both war and peace". It was established by Resolution of the Presidium of the CEC of the...
  
  
• Order of the Badge of Honour
• Order of Courage
  Order of Courage
  The Order of Courage is a decoration presented by the government of the Russian Federation. Established in 1994, the order is presented for "acts of courage or self-sacrifice."- External links :* *...
  
  (2007)
• Honoured Master of Sports
• Winner of the Great Gold Medal "FAI" for the distribution of aeronautical knowledge

Videos

• The Silver Bird (documentary)
• Marina Popovich (Soviet Aviation)
• Nebo So Mnoy (1974)