April 12 marks International Human Space Flight Day. When reviewing Ukraine’s achievements in this field, many interesting questions are often overlooked. Which Ukrainian has spent the longest time in space? How many of them have performed spacewalks in a spacesuit? Which space stations have they commanded? We decided to remedy this situation.
How many Ukrainians have been to space?
65 years ago, on April 12, 1961, the first human entered Earth’s orbit. The history of the space race is a history of great achievements. Countries compete for firsts in spaceflight, the duration of spacewalks, or the number of seats in a capsule. Ukrainians usually have to be content with the fact that they have flown into space at all.
But in fact, as many as 20 people who were born in our country or have Ukrainian roots have been in orbit. Fifteen of them were Soviet cosmonauts, four were American astronauts, and one was a cosmonaut of independent Ukraine.
Three Ukrainian women and seventeen Ukrainian men have been to space. There have been casualties. U.S. astronaut Judith Resnik died during the launch of the Challenger shuttle, and cosmonaut Heorhii Dobrovolskyi died during the landing of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft. Another of our compatriots, Valentin Bondarenko, never made it to space, having died during ground training.
The path to the stars has not been an easy one for our country. Most Ukrainians have flown into space as citizens of three different countries: the USSR, the United States, and Canada. Eventually, we had a cosmonaut who wore a blue-and-yellow patch on his flight suit. But our space story began with a song.
The first song in space
On August 12, 1962, Serhii Korolov, a resident of Zhytomyr, asked Pavlo Popovych, a native of Uzyn in the Kyiv region, to sing a song for him. Popovych could not refuse and sang: “I look up at the sky and let my thoughts wander.” The poem that formed the basis of this song was written in the 19th century by Mykhailo Petrenko, a poet from the Ukrainian city of Sloviansk. It gained widespread popularity in the 20th century. But Pavlo Popovнch’s performance was unique because he sang it aboard the Vostok-4 spacecraft. Thus, the song “I Look at the Sky” became the first ever performed by a human in orbit.
In addition, this was the first time two spacecraft were in space at the same time and performed a rendezvous. Thus, Pavlo Popovych and Andriian Nikolaiev became the first people to observe another manned spacecraft through a porthole. Moreover, Popovych became the only Ukrainian to pilot a Vostok spacecraft. These were merely single-crew capsules, with virtually no control or maneuvering capabilities. Yet it was on these that humanity ventured into space. Finally, he became the only one of our compatriots to have flown on more than one type of spacecraft. Later, the cosmonaut completed his second flight aboard the Soyuz spacecraft.
Unusual records
During the space race, Ukrainians set quite a few unusual records. For example, Heorhii Berehovyi, a native of Poltava, fought in World War II. Of all the people who have completed at least one full orbit around Earth, he was the oldest at the time of his first flight. He also became the only Soviet cosmonaut to receive his first Hero of the Soviet Union star before his spaceflight.
The main achievement for any cosmonaut is the amount of time spent in space and the number of flights completed. The leader in this regard is Yurii Romanenko, an ethnic Ukrainian from Orenburg. In total, during his three flights, he spent 430 days in orbit. He also holds the record for the longest continuous stay in orbit among Ukrainians: from February 5 to December 29, 1987, he lived aboard the Mir space station for 326 days.
Oleksandr Volkov, who was born in Horlivka, has spent more time in orbit than any other cosmonaut born in Ukraine. Over the course of three flights, he spent a total of 391 days in space. The third record-holder, who spent over a year in space, is Leonid Kyzym from Lyman in the Donetsk region. He also flew into space three times and spent a total of 374 days there.
However, when it comes to the number of spaceflights, there is no clear record-holder among Soviet cosmonauts or American astronauts. In addition to those mentioned above, Petro Klymuk, Volodymyr Liakhov, and Leonid Popov each flew into space three times.
Ukrainians on space stations
On June 7, 1971, a crew led by Odessa native Heorhii Dobrovolskyi arrived at the first space station in history, Salyut-1. Thus, a Ukrainian became the first inhabitant of this orbital home. The expedition lasted 23 days, after which the cosmonauts returned to Earth. However, during landing, the capsule depressurized, and all three died from decompression.
Pavlo Popovych became the first commander of a combat space station in history. “Salyut-3,” which he commanded, was built under a secret Soviet program. Its crew was tasked with monitoring NATO territory from orbit. In addition, the paranoid Soviets suspected that reusable Space Shuttle spacecraft could capture their own spacecraft. Their purpose remained unknown, but they wanted an observation post in orbit. Therefore, the station was equipped with a 14.5 mm automatic cannon.
In 1986, Leonid Kyzym, whom we already know, flew into space for the third time as commander of the Soyuz T-15. This flight was unusual in that, for the first time, the spacecraft performed a transfer between two space stations. First, he and Volodymyr Soloviov became the first people to board the “Mir” space station, which was brand-new at the time. Then the cosmonauts undocked from it and flew to another station – “Salyut-7.” There, they retrieved some equipment and instruments and returned to “Mir.”
The first Ukrainian woman in orbit
The first Ukrainian woman in orbit deserves a story of her own. Two countries – Ukraine and Israel – are vying to claim Judith Reznik as their first female cosmonaut. Her grandfather, Yakiv Reznik, was a Jew from Kyiv who eventually moved to Palestine, while her parents relocated to the United States. Judith earned a degree in engineering and, on August 30, 1984, became the second woman to fly on the Space Shuttle.
There is still no consensus on whether to consider Reznik Ukrainian, Jewish, or American. Therefore, Roberta Lynn Bondar is often considered the first Ukrainian woman in orbit, not her. She also became Canada’s first female astronaut. This neurologist flew into space on January 22, 1992, aboard the American space shuttle Discovery.
Ukrainians are venturing into outer space
To date, only six Ukrainians have performed a “spacewalk.” Yurii Romanenko was the first to do so on December 10, 1977. Together with Heorhii Hrechko, they conducted extravehicular activities on the Salyut 6 space station and inspected one of the docking ports. The flight was also notable because these two cosmonauts became the first people to celebrate New Year’s Eve in space.
The first record for the duration of extravehicular activity among Ukrainians was set on November 22, 2008. Heidemarie Martha Stefanyshyn-Piper, an American of Ukrainian descent, performed a spacewalk lasting 6 hours and 57 minutes. In total, she performed 5 spacewalks. Their combined duration is 33 hours and 42 minutes.
That said, Anatolii Artsebarskyi from the village of Prosyana in the Dnipropetrovsk region is only 8 minutes behind her. On July 27, 1991, he spent 6 hours and 49 minutes in open space. His total time spent on extravehicular activities amounts to 32 hours and 17 minutes. This cosmonaut has a total of six spacewalks to his credit, all performed during a single flight.
Leonid Kyzym holds the record for the most spacewalks among Ukrainians. He has completed as many as seven. However, their duration was significantly shorter, so the total time he spent performing extravehicular activities amounts to 31 hours and 40 minutes.
The first cosmonaut of independent Ukraine
It is not easy to determine who was the first cosmonaut of independent Ukraine. The fact is that Oleksandr Volkov, from the city of Horlivka, embarked on his third space flight on October 4, 1991. By that time, Ukraine had already declared its independence, but formally, the USSR still existed.
Volkov remained in orbit until March 25, 1992. During that time, Ukraine held an independence referendum, and in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, the leaders of the three newly independent states signed the treaty dissolving the Soviet Union. Thus, he returned to Earth as a citizen of Ukraine and is therefore technically our country’s first cosmonaut.
But if talking about the first Ukrainian to wear the flag of independent Ukraine on his flight suit, that person was Leonid Kadeniuk from the Chernivtsi region. He traveled into space on November 19, 1997, aboard the space shuttle Columbia and spent 15 days in orbit.
Kadeniuk remains the only cosmonaut from independent Ukraine. But that does not mean he will be our last space explorer. Elon Musk recently stated that he would like to see Ukrainians on the International Space Station instead of Russians. And who knows, perhaps one day Ukrainian spacecraft will dock with Ukrainian orbital stations. Our journey into space is just beginning.
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