Vladimir Titov (cosmonaut)
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Vladimir Georgiyevich Titov (Russian: Владимир Георгиевич Титов; born 1 January 1947 in Sretensk, Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia) is a retired Russian Air Force Colonel and former cosmonaut. He has participated in four spaceflight missions. The catastrophic explosion of a Soyuz rocket in 1983 led to him being one of only four people to use a launch escape system. He is married to Alexandra Kozlova, they have two children.
Education
Graduated from secondary school in 1965, from the Higher Air Force College in Chernihiv in Ukraine in 1970, and the Gagarin Air Force Academy in 1987.
Career
In 1966, Titov enrolled at the Higher Air Force College in Chernihiv in Ukraine, graduating in 1970. Until 1974, he served at the College as a pilot-instructor and was responsible for the graduation of twelve student pilots. He later served as a flight commander with the air regiment where the cosmonauts carry out flying practice. He has flown 10 different types of aircraft, has logged more than 1,400 hours flying time, and holds the qualifications of Military Pilot, 1st Class, and Test Pilot, 3rd Class.
Titov was selected as a cosmonaut in 1976, and in September 1981 was paired with
Titov made his first space flight on April 20, 1983, as commander of Soyuz T-8. He and Strekalov had been specifically trained to repair the faulty Salyut 7 solar array. He was supposed to dock with Salyut 7, but once in orbit the Soyuz rendezvous radar antenna failed to deploy properly. Several attitude control maneuvers at high rates were made but failed to swing the boom out. (The postflight inquiry later discovered that the antenna had been torn off when the Soyuz payload shroud separated.) With FCC permission, the crew attempted a rendezvous using only an optical sight and ground radar inputs for guidance. During the final approach, which was made in darkness, Titov believed that the closing speed was too great. He therefore attempted a braking maneuver, but felt that the two spacecraft were still closing too fast. He aborted the rendezvous to avoid a crash, and no further attempts were made before the three men returned to Earth after a flight lasting just 2 days, 17 minutes, 48 seconds
Titov and Strekalov were then scheduled for launch on board
Titov was next assigned to command Soyuz TM-2. He and his flight engineer, Alexander Serebrov, were scheduled for a long-duration flight on board Mir 1. Six days prior to launch, due to doubts about Serebrov's health, they were replaced by the back-up crew. Titov continued training for a long-duration mission, and in April 1987 was paired with Musa Manarov. Later that year, he graduated from the Yuri Gagarin Air Force Academy while continuing his work at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.
His next assignment came as the commander of Soyuz TM-4, which launched on December 21, 1987. Together with Musa Manarov and
On February 26, 1988, the two cosmonauts carried out an EVA lasting 4 hours and 25 minutes, during which they removed one of the sections of the solar panel and installed a new one. They also installed some new scientific experiments and removed samples of material that had been left exposed to open space, and inspected the
On June 30, 1988, they attempted a repair on the Roentgen
On October 20, 1988, repairs were successfully completed, and the X-ray telescope recommenced operations. The cosmonauts also installed some anchor points for the EVA scheduled for the joint Soviet-French mission, installed a new shortwave aerial, and took samples of a film which had formed over one of the portholes, before returning inside the Mir after 4 hours and 12 minutes. They then settled down to their program of experiments and observations. In November 1988, they played host to the joint Soviet-French mission. After three weeks of joint work, Titov and Manarov returned to Earth together, along with the French cosmonaut Jean-Loup Chrétien aboard Soyuz TM-6. Titov and Manarov returned to Earth after a mission lasting 365 days, 22 hours, 39 minutes, setting a new record, and exceeding one year in space for the first time.
On October 28, 1992, NASA announced that an experienced cosmonaut would fly aboard the
From February 2 to 11, 1995, Titov was a mission specialist aboard
Titov served on the crew of STS-86
Titov retired from the Air Force and the Russian Space Agency in 1998. In 1998 he became Director of Space and Communications for the Boeing Company in Moscow, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. He is currently serving as General Director, Russian Operations of Excalibur Almaz.[1]
Awards and honors
- Hero of the Soviet Union;
- Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR;
- Two Orders of Lenin (1983, 1988);
- Order of the Red Star;
- Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" (Russian Federation).
Foreign awards:
- Commander of the Legion of Honour (France);
- Order of Georgi Dimitrov (People's Republic of Bulgaria);
- Order of Stara Planina(People's Republic of Bulgaria);
- Order "The Sun of Liberty" (Afghanistan);
- Two NASA Space Flight Medals (USA).
In 1990, Titov and Musa Manarov were awarded the U.S. Harmon Prize — the first Soviet citizens to win the award — in recognition of their world endurance record.
References
- ^ "ExcaliburAlmaz". Archived from the original on 2009-08-21. Retrieved 2009-10-03.