Pavel Romanovich Popovich (Russian: Па́вел Рома́нович Попо́вич, Ukrainian: Павло Романович Попович, Pavlo Romanovych Popovych) (October 5, 1930 – September 29, 2009) was a Soviet cosmonaut.

He was the 4th cosmonaut in space, the 6th person in orbit, and the 8th person in space.

Biography

He was born in Uzyn, Kiev Oblast of Soviet Union (now Ukraine) to Roman Porfirievich Popovich (a fireman in a sugar factory) and Theodosia Kasyanovna Semyonov. He had two sisters (one older, one younger) and two brothers (both younger).

During World War II, the Germans occupied Uzyn, and burned documents including Popovich's birth certificate. After the war, these were restored through witness testimony, and although his mother knew that he was born in 1929, two witnesses insisted that Popovich was born in 1930, and so this became his official year of birth.

In 1947, he left vocational school in Bila Tserkva with qualifications as a carpenter. In 1951, Popovich graduated as a construction engineer from a technical school in Magnitogorsk, as well as receiving a pilot's degree.

In 1954, he joined the Young Communist League.

He was married to Marina Popovich, a retired Soviet Air Force colonel, engineer, and legendary Soviet test pilot who has been outspoken about UFO reality. They had two daughters. They later divorced, and Popovich married Alevtina Oshegova.

Popovich was also a keen weight lifter:

"Service in the Air Force made us strong, both physically and morally. All of us cosmonauts took up sports and PT seriously when we served in the Air Force. I know that Yuri Gagarin was fond of ice hockey. He liked to play goal keeper. Gherman Titov was a gymnastics enthusiast, Andriyan Nikolayev liked skiing, Pavel Popovich went in for weight lifting. I don't think I am wrong when I say that sports became a fixture in the life of the cosmonauts."

He was also a member of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic 6th–11th convocations.

After his retirement in 1993, he lived in Moscow.

Popovich died in a hospital in Gurzuf where he had been taken following a stroke on 29 September 2009. Brain hemorrhage was cited as the cause of death. He is buried in Moscow.

Military

In 1952 he graduated from a course at the Stalingrad Military Aviation School near Novosibirsk. He then went on to train at the Military Officers of the Air Force Aviation Training School in Grozny, until 1954 when he joined the Soviet Air Force.

Cosmonaut

In 1960, he was selected as one of the first group of twenty air force pilots that would train as the first cosmonauts for the Soviet space program. The training took place between March 1960 and January 1961, and Popovich passed his final exams in Cosmonaut Basic Training on 17/18 January 1961. He was appointed as an astronaut on 25 January 1961.

He was considered as a strong candidate for the first spaceflight – but while Yuri Gagarin was ultimately chosen for the Vostok 1 flight, Popovich served as the flight's capcom.

From May to August 1961, he trained to fly on spacecraft "Vostok-2" in a group of astronauts, followed (between September and November 1961) with training to fly "Vostok-3". This flight was cancelled. Between November 1961 and May 1962, he trained as a pilot for "Vostok-4". Between June and August of that year, he received further training in the maintenance of this spacecraft.

He commanded the space flight Vostok 4 (Russian: Восток-4) in 1962 which, along with Andrian Nikolayev on Vostok 3, was the first time that more than one manned spacecraft were in orbit at the same time. His call sign for this flight was Golden eagle (Бе́ркут).

In January 1964, he became a cosmonaut instructor, becoming deputy commander to the 2nd group of cosmonauts.

Popovich was selected to command one of the Soviet Union's planned moon landings, and trained for this between 1966 and 1968, when the Soviet moon landing plans were scrapped.

In 1968, he was selected as captain for Soyuz 2, but after the death of Vladimir Komarov during the reentry of Soyuz 1, Soyuz 2 was launched without a crew.

In 1969 he was a senior cosmonaut instructor, and became (by 1972) the Chief of cosmonaut training.

In 1974, he commanded his second (and final) space flight Soyuz 14 (Russian: Союз 14) in 1974. Again, his call sign for this flight was Golden eagle (Бе́ркут). This flight was the first to the Salyut 3 space station.

In 1977, he received a post-graduate degree in technical sciences.

In March 1978, he was on duty in the Flight Control Center for Vladimír Remek's flight aboard Soyuz 28.

From 1978 he was the deputy chief of the Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center responsible for research and testing work. From 1980 to 1989, he was Deputy chief of the Cosmonaut Training Center. In January 1982, he was removed from the list of active cosmonauts, so that he could serve as Deputy Chief for Scientific Testing and Research at the Center.

Sociopolitical life

Details are from Space Encyclopedia ASTROnote, unless otherwise noted

• From 1992: Chairman of the Boxing Federation of Russia.
• From 1994: President of the Yuri Gagarin Foundation; President of the Social Support for Veterans of the Armed Forces of the Union
• From 1996: Member of the Editorial Board of Space News
• From 1998: Member of the Editorial Board of the All-Russia scientific and technical magazine Flight
• From 1999: President of the Ukrainian Union of Cosmonauts
• Member of the Writers' Union of Russia.
• President of the Association of Space Museums of Russia (AMKOS)
• Honorary President of the International Association of Veterans of Physical Education and Sport (MAFIS)
• Honorary Chairman of the Society of Ukrainian Culture (Slavutich)

Honours

Honours awarded to Pavel Popvich (in order of first award)

•   Order of the Red Star  
•   Development of Virgin Lands   
•   Hero of the Soviet Union  

Awards and medals

Details are from Space Encyclopedia ASTROnote, unless otherwise noted

     

• 17 Jun 1961

Order of the Red Star  

• 1962

Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR  

• 1962

Honorable Radio Operator  

• 1962

Honored Master of Sports of the USSR  

• 1962

Medal "For the Development of Virgin Lands"

• 19 Aug 1962

Hero of the Soviet Union  

• 19 Aug 1962

Order of Lenin  

• 15 Nov 1962

Gold Star Labor Hero of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam  

• 20 July 1974

Hero of the Soviet Union  

• 20 Jul 1974

Order of Lenin  

• 1982

Order of Friendship of Peoples  

• 13 May 1985

Medal "For Strengthening Military Cooperation"  

• 9 Apr 1996

Order of Honourc  

• 6 Oct 2000

Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 4th Grade  

• 1 Dec 2005

Ukrainian Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 4th class  

• Unknown

Order of the Badge of Honor  

• Unknown

Medal of the Republic of Cuba  

• Unknown

9 Commemorative Medals