Georgy Timofeyevich Beregovoy
Georgy Timofeyevich Beregovoy was a decorated Soviet military pilot, World War II combat veteran, test pilot, cosmonaut, and later head of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. His single spaceflight, Soyuz 3, marked the Soviet return to crewed orbital flight after the Soyuz 1 disaster.
- Born
- April 15, 1921
- Died
- June 30, 1995
- Birthplace
- Fedorivka, Poltava Oblast,Soviet Union
Flights
1
Spacewalks
N/A
EVA time
N/A
In space
3 days, 22 hours, 50 minutes
Bio
Beregovoy entered military aviation before World War II and became a highly decorated attack pilot. After the war he moved into test flying, where his experience with demanding aircraft helped make him a strong candidate for the Soviet cosmonaut corps.
Soyuz 3 launched in October 1968 as a solo test flight. Beregovoy rendezvoused with the uncrewed Soyuz 2 target vehicle, but a planned docking was not completed, leaving the mission as a partial technical success rather than the full demonstration the program wanted.
After spaceflight, Beregovoy became a senior figure in cosmonaut training and led the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center from 1972 to 1987. His career bridges wartime aviation, Cold War test flying, early Soyuz recovery, and institutional leadership.