Valery Fyodorovich Bykovsky
Valery Fyodorovich Bykovsky was a Soviet Air Force pilot and original-group cosmonaut who flew three space missions across the Vostok, Soyuz solo-research, and Intercosmos eras. His Vostok 5 flight still holds the record for the longest solo spaceflight.
- Born
- August 2, 1934
- Died
- March 27, 2019
- Birthplace
- Pavlovsky Posad, Moscow Oblast,Soviet Union
Flights
3
Spacewalks
N/A
EVA time
N/A
In space
20 days, 17 hours, 48 minutes
Bio
Bykovsky joined the first Soviet cosmonaut group in 1960 and trained alongside the best-known early Vostok pilots. He first served as backup for Vostok 3 before receiving the Vostok 5 assignment.
Vostok 5 launched in June 1963 and flew in coordination with Valentina Tereshkova's Vostok 6. Bykovsky spent nearly five days alone in orbit, photographed Earth, tested spacecraft orientation, and set a solo-duration record that remains unbroken.
He later commanded Soyuz 22, an Earth-observation mission using hardware related to Apollo-Soyuz development, and Soyuz 31, the Intercosmos mission that carried Sigmund Jähn, the first German in space. After flight status, he promoted Intercosmos and worked in Soviet science/culture roles abroad.