Nikolai Nikolayevich Rukavishnikov, cosmonaut: biography

Nikolai Nikolayevich Rukavishnikov is the twenty-third Soviet cosmonaut, as well as the test engineer of Soyuz-10 and the Salyut station. He was a flight engineer of Soyuz-16. Member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He received many government awards for his work. Rukavishnikov N.N. The first to make an emergency landing of a spaceship manually.

A family

Rukavishnikov Nikolai Nikolayevich was born on the eighteenth of September 1932 in the city of Tomsk. His mother, Galina Ivanovna, worked as a design engineer on the railway. Stepfather - the chief of the construction project. When he grew up, Nikolai Nikolayevich married Nina Vasilyevna, who at first worked as a senior mechanic, and then became a housewife. They had a son, Vladimir.

Education

First, Nikolai studied at the Uzbek school in Angrem. Then he continued his studies in Tomsk. While the mother and father were working in Mongolia, from 1947 to 1950, Studied at the school of the border town of Kekhtaits. He graduated from high school in Moscow in 1951. Then he entered the Metropolitan Mechanical University (now the Physics and Engineering Institute) at the Faculty of Electrical Computing Devices and Automation. He graduated in 1957, receiving a specialty of a physics engineer. In 1980, defending the candidate, he became a candidate of technical sciences.

Most of all he liked geography, mathematics and physics. Father Nicholas managed to instill in his son a love for radio from early childhood. And Nicholas saved this feeling for life. In the institute he was fond of scientific work. Among the other students of Nicholas distinguished such qualities as curiosity, inquisitive mind, diligence and thoughtfulness.

Work experience

Since 1957, Nikolai Nikolayevich Rukavishnikov worked in the Central Research Institute-58 as an engineer. He commissioned a computer. At the same time he was engaged in the design, development, installation and testing of control systems, including the technical protection of nuclear reactors.

Since 1957 he worked in the twenty-first department of OKB-1 as an engineer. He developed systems for automatic control of interplanetary stations, participated in the creation of factory and flight tests. In 1960, N. Rukavishnikov was promoted to the post of senior engineer. Supervised the group, which was engaged in the development of space object management systems. Management liked the quality and pace of his work, so Nicholas quickly grew up on the career ladder. It is worth noting that he never used any indulgence and achieved everything with his own work.

From 1962 to 1963. Nikolay Nikolaevich created an on-board complex of control and automation to process the information received, and from the autumn of 1964 he was appointed the head of the development team.

Preparing for flights

In 1964, Nikolai Nikolayevich Rukavishnikov was sent to medical examination as a candidate for cosmonauts, but did not give the admission commission. Two years later he underwent medical examination again, and finally was appointed a test cosmonaut. At the same time he participated in the creation of control systems for space objects. He worked with the group instruments, on-board systems, etc., took part in the tests.

In 1967, Nikolai became a member of the cosmonaut corps and was enrolled in the testers. Until 1970, he underwent special training to fly around the moon and land on it. In the seventy-first year he received the post of test cosmonaut of the third class.

But all the training was useless: when launching the rocket, accidents took place, and the leadership could not risk the lives of astronauts. The flights had to be postponed. Nevertheless, the preparations for launch into space continued, only at the Salyut orbital station.

First flight

His first flight cosmonaut Rukavishnikov, whose biography is described in this article, committed in April 1971 as a test engineer of Soyuz-10. All over the world, this was the first time that a spacecraft was docked with a station. But the full tightening for the sealed joint could not be performed, so the cosmonauts did not transfer to the orbital station this time.

The second flight of Nikolai Nikolayevich was to be carried out on July 20, 1971. But almost a month before that date the entire crew of the Soyuz-11 was lost, therefore the flights were temporarily canceled. In September of the same year, Rukavishnikov became deputy head of the department.

The second flight

The second flight of the Tomsk astronaut Rukavishnikov made in December 1974 as a flight engineer on the Soyuz-16. The flight lasted 5 days 22 hours. 23 min. 35 seconds The commander of the spacecraft was appointed A. Filippenko. The astronauts coped with the task brilliantly. The program was calculated for two test flights, and six months later it was necessary to duplicate the main crew of the ship.

For this purpose, the "EPAS" program (experimental flight) was created, within which the second mission was carried out. In 1975, NN Rukavishnikov underwent additional preparation for the next flight, and in 1977, the same, but already as commander of the Union.

The Third Flight

The third flight into space Rukavishnikov committed in April 1979 already in the post of commander, and this was the first flight in the role of head of a civilian. When the ship approached the orbital station, an accident occurred - the engines spontaneously switched off. Only thanks to the competent command of Nikolai Nikolayevich the crew remained alive and returned safely to Earth. For the first time an emergency landing by hand was performed.

End of flights

In the eighty-third year, Rukavishnikov, an astronaut who had already traveled to space three times, began to prepare for the next flight, was appointed as a member of the first Soviet-Indian crew. But for health reasons the candidacy of Nikolai Nikolayevich was rejected, and he was suspended from preparation for the flight. In 1987, he was expelled from among the cosmonauts in connection with his retirement.

Rukavishnikov often lectured in the society "Knowledge", was a member of his board and a permanent radio presenter about space. Until his retirement he worked as deputy. Head of the RSC Energia, was simultaneously at the post of the president of the Cosmonautics Federation first of the Soviet Union, then of Russia.

Rukavishnikov as a person

As Nikolai Nikolayevich recalls everyone who knew him, he was a very interesting person, sympathetic, unusually lively and cheerful. Since he knew Nikolai Rukavishnikov very much, he was an excellent storyteller. He always responded to requests for help, and many even called him Tomsk Gagarin. A bust-monument to him was established during his lifetime.

The death of the astronaut

Nikolai Nikolayevich Rukavishnikov is an astronaut who died of a heart attack caused by pulmonary edema on October 19, 2002. This complication was the result of Alzheimer's disease, which was discovered by the cosmonaut. Rukavishnikov was buried at the Ostankino Cemetery in Moscow.