Anatoly Levchenko

Soviet cosmonaut (1941–1988)

Anatoly Semyonovich Levchenko
Levchenko in 1987
Born	(1941-05-09)May 9, 1941 Krasnokutsk, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Died	6 August 1988(1988-08-06) (aged 47) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Nationality	Soviet
Occupation	Test Pilot
Awards	Hero of the Soviet Union
Space career
Cosmonaut
Rank	Captain, Soviet Air Force
Time in space	7d 21h 58m
Selection	1988 Cosmonaut Group
Missions	Mir LII-1 (Soyuz TM-4 / Soyuz TM-3)

Anatoly Semyonovich Levchenko (Russian: Анатолий Семёнович Левченко; May 5, 1941 – August 6, 1988) was a Soviet cosmonaut in the Buran programme.

Trained as a test pilot and selected as a cosmonaut on 12 July 1980,^[1] Levchenko was planned to be the back-up commander of the first Buran space shuttle flight. As part of his preparations, he also accomplished test-flights with Buran's counterpart OK-GLI aircraft.

In March 1987, Levchenko began extensive training for a Soyuz spaceflight, intended to give him some experience in space.^[2] In December 1987, he occupied the third seat aboard the spacecraft Soyuz TM-4 to the space station Mir, and returned to Earth about a week later on Soyuz TM-3. His mission is sometimes called Mir LII-1, after the Gromov Flight Research Institute shorthand.^[3]

In the year following his spaceflight, Anatoly Levchenko died of a brain tumor, in the Nikolay Burdenko Neurosurgical Institute in Moscow.^[4]

He was married with one child.^[1]

Awards

He was awarded the titles of Hero of the Soviet Union and Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR and the Order of Lenin.

Commemoration

Anatoly Levchenko is buried at the Bykovskoye Memorial Cemetery in Zhukovsky.
There is a memorial plate with his image installed on the wall of house 2 at Chkalova Street where Anatoly once lived in Zhukovsky.

References

^ ^a ^b "Cosmonaut Biography: Anatoli Levchenko". spacefacts.de. Archived from the original on 21 December 2010. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
^ Hendrickx, Bart; Bert Vis (2007-10-04). Energiya-Buran : The Soviet Space Shuttle. Praxis. p. 526. ISBN 978-0-387-69848-9.
^ "Mir LII-1". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 30 November 2010. Retrieved 15 November 2010.
^ "Levchenko". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 20 October 2010. Retrieved 26 November 2010.