Vyacheslav Dmitriyevich Zudov
Vyacheslav Dmitriyevich Zudov is a Soviet Air Force pilot-cosmonaut whose only spaceflight, Soyuz 23, became one of the most unusual survival stories in crewed spaceflight. The mission failed to dock with Salyut 5 and ended with an unintended night on a frozen lake.
- Born
- January 8, 1942
- Died
- June 12, 2024
- Birthplace
- Bor, Gorky Oblast,Soviet Union
Flights
1
Spacewalks
N/A
EVA time
N/A
In space
2 days, 6 minutes
Bio
Zudov trained as a military pilot before joining the cosmonaut corps in 1965. His flight assignment came during the Almaz/Salyut military-station period, when Soviet crews were trying to make repeated station operations reliable.
Soyuz 23 launched in October 1976 with Valery Rozhdestvensky for a planned Salyut 5 mission. Docking-system trouble forced an abort, and the crew returned after roughly two days without entering the station.
The landing on Lake Tengiz created a serious recovery emergency: the floated in freezing water, weather was poor, and rescue was delayed. Zudov survived and remained a clear example of how landing and recovery can become as dangerous as launch or docking.