Valeri Bykovsky
Valery Fyodorovich Bykovsky (born 2 August 1934, died 27 March 2019) is a retired Soviet cosmonaut who flew three manned space mission space flights: Vostok 5, Soyuz 22, and Soyuz 31. He was also backup for Vostok 3 and Soyuz 37. Bykovsky set a space endurance record when he spent five days in orbit aboard Vostok 5 in 1963. Although this flight duration has long since been surpassed by crews of more than one person, to this day it remains the endurance record for a solo spaceflight. Bykovsky was to have commanded the original Soyuz 2 mission, which was cancelled due to problems with Soyuz 1. After the parachutes failed on that mission, killing Vladimir Komarov, the same problem was found with the Soyuz 2 capsule, which meant if the mission had flown, Bykovsky and his crew would also have been killed. He retired in 1988 and then spent three years as the Director of the House of Soviet Science and Culture in Berlin.
Spaceflights:
No. Mission Position Time Duration
1 Vostok 5 Pilot Cosmonaut 14.06. - 19.06.1963 4d 23h 07m
2 Soyuz 22 Commander 15.09. - 23.09.1976 7d 21h 52m
3 Soyuz 31 / Soyuz 29 Commander 26.08. - 03.09.1978 7d 20h 49m
Total 20d 17h 48m
