Yuri Romanenko
Encyclopedia
Yury Viktorovich Romanenko is a former Soviet cosmonaut, twice Hero of the Soviet Union
(March 16, 1978 and September 26, 1980). Over his career, Yury Romanenko spent a total of 430 days 20 hours 21 minutes 30 seconds in space and 18 hours in space walks. In 1987 he was a resident of the Mir
space station, launching on Soyuz TM-2
and landing aboard Soyuz TM-3
. He remained on Mir for 326 days that was the longest stay in space at that time. His son, Roman Romanenko
is also a cosmonaut, and has become the third second-generation space traveler on Soyuz TMA-15
in May 2009.
, Soviet Union
. His father (born 1916) was a senior commander on military ships, and mother (born 1917) was a combat medic
. His family later moved to Kaliningrad
, where he graduated from a secondary school in 1961. His hobbies in school included building model aircraft and ship
s, boxing
, shooting
and underwater fishing. After school, he briefly worked as a locksmith
and builder. In 1962 he enrolled at the Chernigov
High Air Force School, Ukraine
and graduated with honors in 1966. After graduation, he remained with the School, training the students and practicing as a candidate cosmonaut. He was cleared for space flights in 1970, among only 16 other cosmonauts.
to the space station Salyut 6
. A two-men crew consisted of Romanenko as the flight commander and Georgi Grechko
as engineer. They spent 96 days and 10 hours on the orbit, meeting Soyuz 27
, Soyuz 28
and Progress 1
. During the mission, Romanenko performed one and half hour long space walk.
In his second mission on September 18, 1980, together with the first Cuban cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez
, Romanenko flew Soyuz 38
to Salyut 6
and returned 7 days later. With this flight, Méndez was the first hispanophone
and first person of African descend in space.
The third and last flight of Romanenko was on Soyuz TM-2
with Aleksandr Laveykin
on February 6, 1987 to the Mir
station. During that mission, Romanenko spent 326 days aboard Mir, which was the longest stay in space then. He conducted three space walks, on April 11, June 11 and June 16, 1987 with a total duration 8 hr 48 min. He returned to Earth on December 29, 1987 in Soyuz TM-3
.
Romanenko retired from flights in 1988 and became the director of Buran program, which was a Soviet alternative to the Space Shuttle
. The program completed one flight in 1988 and was cancelled in 1993.
. At some point, they were both in their spacewalk suits in the airlock. Romanenko prepared for a spacewalk and pushed against the wall flying outside, but forgot to attach his safety cord. Grechko managed to grab the cord with one hand, stopping Romanenko. This accident was dramatized in press due to the joke of Grechko who implied Romanenko was on the verge of death. However, the electrical cables attaching Romanenko would have certainly stopped him from leaving the space station.
(March 16, 1978 and September 26, 1980), the highest decoration of the Soviet Union
, and received numerous other awards, including three times Order of Lenin
(1978, 1980 and 1987)), one Order of the Red Star
(1976), Hero of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
(1978) and Hero of the Republic of Cuba (1980).
, L-29
, Mig-15
, Mig-17
and Mig-21
, and had 39 parachute jumps. His military progression was:
(born on August 9, 1971) and Artem (born May 17, 1977). Roman is a cosmonaut who flew as the commander of Soyuz TMA-15
mission.
Through most of his life, Yury Romanenko was keen to underwater fishing and other aquatic activities. In space, he started composing and singing his own songs. After the Romanenko-Méndez flight and retirement of Romanenko in 1988, he and his family were invited to Cuba, where he was personally met by Fidel Castro. Knowing that Romanenko was partial to hunting and underwater fishing, Castro had organized a social tour and had participated in the fishing, freediving with Romanenko to a 10-meter depth.
Hero of the Soviet Union
The title Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society.-Overview:...
(March 16, 1978 and September 26, 1980). Over his career, Yury Romanenko spent a total of 430 days 20 hours 21 minutes 30 seconds in space and 18 hours in space walks. In 1987 he was a resident of the Mir
Mir
Mir was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, at first by the Soviet Union and then by Russia. Assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996, Mir was the first modular space station and had a greater mass than that of any previous spacecraft, holding the record for the...
space station, launching on Soyuz TM-2
Soyuz TM-2
-Mission parameters:*Mass: 7100 kg*Perigee: 341 km*Apogee: 365 km*Inclination: 51.6°*Period: 91.6 minutes-Mission highlights:...
and landing aboard Soyuz TM-3
Soyuz TM-3
-Mission parameters:*Mass: 7100 kg*Perigee: 297 km*Apogee: 353 km*Inclination: 51.6°*Period: 91.0 minutes...
. He remained on Mir for 326 days that was the longest stay in space at that time. His son, Roman Romanenko
Roman Romanenko
Roman Yurievich Romanenko is a cosmonaut at the Yu.A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.-Personal life:His parents, Yuri Victorovich Romanenko and Aleftina Ivanovna Romanenko, live in Star City. He is married to Yulia Leonidovna Romanenko . They have one son...
is also a cosmonaut, and has become the third second-generation space traveler on Soyuz TMA-15
Soyuz TMA-15
Soyuz TMA-15 was a manned spaceflight to the International Space Station. Part of the Soyuz programme, it transported three members of the Expedition 20 crew to the space station. TMA-15 was the 102nd manned flight of a Soyuz spacecraft, since Soyuz 1 in 1967. The Soyuz spacecraft remain docked to...
in May 2009.
Early life
Yury Romanenko was born on August 1, 1944 in Koltubanovskiy village in Orenburg OblastOrenburg Oblast
Orenburg Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Orenburg. From 1938 to 1957, it bore the name Chkalov Oblast in honor of Valery Chkalov...
, Soviet Union
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....
. His father (born 1916) was a senior commander on military ships, and mother (born 1917) was a combat medic
Combat medic
Combat medics are trained military personnel who are responsible for providing first aid and frontline trauma care on the battlefield. They are also responsible for providing continuing medical care in the absence of a readily available physician, including care for disease and battle injury...
. His family later moved to Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea...
, where he graduated from a secondary school in 1961. His hobbies in school included building model aircraft and ship
Ship model
Ship models or model ships are scale representations of ships. They can range in size from 1/6000 scale wargaming miniatures to large vessels capable of holding people....
s, boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
, shooting
Shooting sports
A shooting sport is a competitive sport involving tests of proficiency using various types of guns such as firearms and airguns . Hunting is also a shooting sport, and indeed shooting live pigeons was an Olympic event...
and underwater fishing. After school, he briefly worked as a locksmith
Locksmithing
Locksmithing began as the science and art of making and defeating locks. A lock is a mechanism that secures buildings, rooms, cabinets, objects, or other storage facilities. A key is often used to open a lock...
and builder. In 1962 he enrolled at the Chernigov
Chernihiv
Chernihiv or Chernigov is a historic city in northern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Chernihiv Oblast , as well as of the surrounding Chernihivskyi Raion within the oblast...
High Air Force School, 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...
and graduated with honors in 1966. After graduation, he remained with the School, training the students and practicing as a candidate cosmonaut. He was cleared for space flights in 1970, among only 16 other cosmonauts.
Space missions
His first flight was on December 10, 1977 on Soyuz 26Soyuz 26
Soyuz 26 was Soviet manned mission, used to launch the crew of Salyut 6 EO-1, the first long duration crew on the space station Salyut 6.The Soyuz spacecraft was launched on December 10, 1977, and docked with the space station the next day...
to the space station Salyut 6
Salyut 6
Salyut 6 , DOS-5, was a Soviet orbital space station, the eighth flown as part of the Salyut programme. Launched on 29 September 1977 by a Proton rocket, the station was the first of the 'second-generation' type of space station. Salyut 6 possessed several revolutionary advances over the earlier...
. A two-men crew consisted of Romanenko as the flight commander and Georgi Grechko
Georgi Grechko
Georgy Mikhaylovich Grechko is a retired Soviet cosmonaut who flew on several space flights among which Soyuz 17, Soyuz 26, and Soyuz T-14.Grechko graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Mechanics with a doctorate in mathematics. He was a member of Communist Party of Soviet Union...
as engineer. They spent 96 days and 10 hours on the orbit, meeting Soyuz 27
Soyuz 27
Soyuz 27 was a 1978 Soviet manned spacecraft which flew to the orbiting Salyut 6 space station, during the mission EP-1. It was the third manned flight to the station, and the second successful docking...
, Soyuz 28
Soyuz 28
-Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 51.65°*Period: 88.95 minutes-Mission highlights:...
and Progress 1
Progress 1
Progress 1 was a Soviet unmanned Progress cargo spacecraft which was launched in 1978 to resupply the Salyut 6 space station. It was the maiden flight of the Progress spacecraft, and used the Progress 7K-TG configuration. It carried supplies for the EO-1 crew aboard Salyut 6, which consisted of...
. During the mission, Romanenko performed one and half hour long space walk.
In his second mission on September 18, 1980, together with the first Cuban cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez
Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez
Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez was the first Cuban citizen and the first person from a country in the Western Hemisphere other than the United States to travel into earth orbit...
, Romanenko flew Soyuz 38
Soyuz 38
-Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: 6800 kg*Perigee: 199.7 km*Apogee: 273.5 km*Inclination: 51.63°*Period: 88.194 minutes-Mission highlights:...
to Salyut 6
Salyut 6
Salyut 6 , DOS-5, was a Soviet orbital space station, the eighth flown as part of the Salyut programme. Launched on 29 September 1977 by a Proton rocket, the station was the first of the 'second-generation' type of space station. Salyut 6 possessed several revolutionary advances over the earlier...
and returned 7 days later. With this flight, Méndez was the first hispanophone
Hispanophone
Hispanophone or Hispanosphere denotes Spanish language speakers and the Spanish-speaking world. The word derives from the Latin political name of the Iberian Peninsula, Hispania, which comprised basically the territory of the modern states of Spain and Portugal.Hispanophones are estimated at...
and first person of African descend in space.
The third and last flight of Romanenko was on Soyuz TM-2
Soyuz TM-2
-Mission parameters:*Mass: 7100 kg*Perigee: 341 km*Apogee: 365 km*Inclination: 51.6°*Period: 91.6 minutes-Mission highlights:...
with Aleksandr Laveykin
Aleksandr Laveykin
Aleksandr Ivanovich Laveykin was a Soviet cosmonaut.Born in Moscow, Laveykin was selected as a cosmonaut on December 1, 1978. He flew on one spaceflight, for the first part of the long duration expedition Mir EO-2. He flew as Flight Engineer, and was both launched and landed with the spacecraft...
on February 6, 1987 to the Mir
Mir
Mir was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, at first by the Soviet Union and then by Russia. Assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996, Mir was the first modular space station and had a greater mass than that of any previous spacecraft, holding the record for the...
station. During that mission, Romanenko spent 326 days aboard Mir, which was the longest stay in space then. He conducted three space walks, on April 11, June 11 and June 16, 1987 with a total duration 8 hr 48 min. He returned to Earth on December 29, 1987 in Soyuz TM-3
Soyuz TM-3
-Mission parameters:*Mass: 7100 kg*Perigee: 297 km*Apogee: 353 km*Inclination: 51.6°*Period: 91.0 minutes...
.
Romanenko retired from flights in 1988 and became the director of Buran program, which was a Soviet alternative to the Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
. The program completed one flight in 1988 and was cancelled in 1993.
Accidents
While working in Salyut 6 station in 1977, Grechko and Romanenko had to perform spacewalks at will to inspect the potential damage at the station, which precluded docking of Soyuz 25Soyuz 25
Soyuz 25 was a 1977 Soviet manned space flight, the first to the new Salyut 6 space station, which had been launched 10 days earlier. However, the mission was aborted when cosmonauts Vladimir Kovalyonok and Valery Ryumin failed to engage the docking latches of the station despite five attempts...
. At some point, they were both in their spacewalk suits in the airlock. Romanenko prepared for a spacewalk and pushed against the wall flying outside, but forgot to attach his safety cord. Grechko managed to grab the cord with one hand, stopping Romanenko. This accident was dramatized in press due to the joke of Grechko who implied Romanenko was on the verge of death. However, the electrical cables attaching Romanenko would have certainly stopped him from leaving the space station.
Awards
During his career he was twice awarded Hero of the Soviet UnionHero of the Soviet Union
The title Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society.-Overview:...
(March 16, 1978 and September 26, 1980), the highest decoration of the Soviet Union
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....
, and received numerous other awards, including three times Order of Lenin
Order of Lenin
The Order of Lenin , named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union...
(1978, 1980 and 1987)), one 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...
(1976), Hero of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
Hero of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic
The title of the Hero of the Czechoslovak Republic was established 1955. The name of the title was changed to Hero of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in 1960...
(1978) and Hero of the Republic of Cuba (1980).
Military ranks and skills
Romanenko is a professional pilot. He flew Yak-18Yakovlev Yak-18
|-See also:-External links:*...
, L-29
Aero L-29 Delfin
|-See also:-References:* Gunston, Bill, ed. "Aero L-29 Delfin." The Encyclopedia of World Air Power. New York: Crescent Books, 1990. ISBN 0-517-53754-0....
, Mig-15
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 was a jet fighter developed for the USSR by Artem Mikoyan and Mikhail Gurevich. The MiG-15 was one of the first successful swept-wing jet fighters, and it achieved fame in the skies over Korea, where early in the war, it outclassed all straight-winged enemy fighters in...
, Mig-17
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 is a high-subsonic fighter aircraft produced in the USSR from 1952 and operated by numerous air forces in many variants. Most MiG-17 variants cannot carry air-to-air missiles, but shot down many aircraft with its cannons...
and Mig-21
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 is a supersonic jet fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. It was popularly nicknamed "balalaika", from the aircraft's planform-view resemblance to the Russian stringed musical instrument or ołówek by Polish pilots due to...
, and had 39 parachute jumps. His military progression was:
- LieutenantLieutenantA lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
(October 27, 1966) - Captain (February 3, 1971)
- MajorMajorMajor is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
(February 21, 1974) - Lieutenant ColonelLieutenant colonelLieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
(December 14, 1976) - ColonelColonelColonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
(March 17, 1978) - Discharged from military service on October 2, 1995 because of reaching the age limit.
Personal life
Romanenko has a half-brother, Vladimir (born in 1940), and a sister, Olga (born in 1954). He is married and has two sons, RomanRoman Romanenko
Roman Yurievich Romanenko is a cosmonaut at the Yu.A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.-Personal life:His parents, Yuri Victorovich Romanenko and Aleftina Ivanovna Romanenko, live in Star City. He is married to Yulia Leonidovna Romanenko . They have one son...
(born on August 9, 1971) and Artem (born May 17, 1977). Roman is a cosmonaut who flew as the commander of Soyuz TMA-15
Soyuz TMA-15
Soyuz TMA-15 was a manned spaceflight to the International Space Station. Part of the Soyuz programme, it transported three members of the Expedition 20 crew to the space station. TMA-15 was the 102nd manned flight of a Soyuz spacecraft, since Soyuz 1 in 1967. The Soyuz spacecraft remain docked to...
mission.
Through most of his life, Yury Romanenko was keen to underwater fishing and other aquatic activities. In space, he started composing and singing his own songs. After the Romanenko-Méndez flight and retirement of Romanenko in 1988, he and his family were invited to Cuba, where he was personally met by Fidel Castro. Knowing that Romanenko was partial to hunting and underwater fishing, Castro had organized a social tour and had participated in the fishing, freediving with Romanenko to a 10-meter depth.