Georgi Ivanov
Major general Georgi Ivanov Kakalov (Bulgarian: Георги Иванов Какалов; born July 2, 1940) is a retired Bulgarian military officer and the first Bulgarian cosmonaut. Born in Lovech, Georgi Kakalov attended the Military Air-force School in Dolna Mitropolia. After completing the five-year program, he served in the Bulgarian People\\\'s Army as a military pilot. A few years later he became an instructor and head of a division. As soon as he entered the Soviet International Space Programme Intercosmos in 1978, he had to change his family name to Ivanov, because his original surname Kakalov occasionally had negative connotations in Russian. After intensive training, Ivanov was selected for the fourth mission under the Intercosmos program. He, along with Soviet cosmonaut Nikolai Rukavishnikov, was launched into space as part of the Soyuz 33 mission. Though take-off was smooth, the mission was a disaster, with severe damage of the engine preventing docking in orbit to Salyut 6 orbital station as it was initially planned. A premature return to Earth became the only possible decision for Ivanov and Rukavishnikov. Due to some additional technical problems landing was difficult to endure-more than 9Gs. When Soyuz 33 finally landed, it was 320 km southeast of Dzhezkazgan. It completed 31 orbits, and was in space for 1 day, 23 hours and 1 minute. Ivanov was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on April 13, 1979 Georgi Ivanov earned a Ph.D. in space engineering. He was elected to the National Assembly and took part in the creation of the new democratic Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria.
Spaceflights:
No. Mission Position Time Duration
1 Soyuz 33 Research Cosmonaut 10.04. - 12.04.1979 1d 23h 01m
Total 1d 23h 01m
