Gagarin's second backup, the cosmonaut ranked third for the first flight who never reached orbit
On 18 February 1966, the note he left his wife before leaving home: "Zinok! You were always the best. You'd have to search to find a woman like you. Forgive me."
In January 1961 the State Commission ranked the first-flight candidates: Gagarin, Titov, Nelyubov. He was the second backup for Vostok 1 and later trained as backup for the Vostok 3/4 dual flight, but in March 1963 a clash with a military patrol at Chkalovskaya station (drunk, and refusing to apologize) cost him his place in the cosmonaut corps. Exiled to a fighter unit in the Far East, he fell into alcoholism and depression; on 18 February 1966 he stepped in front of a train, aged thirty-one. His existence was kept secret until glasnost, his image airbrushed from the 'Sochi Six' photograph and his name erased from official histories.
Career Timeline
- 1957Graduated Yeysk Naval Aviation School; naval aviation pilot
- 1960.03Selected for first cosmonaut group (Vanguard Six)
- 1961.01State Commission ranks candidates: Gagarin, Titov, Nelyubov
- 1961.04Second backup for Vostok 1 (Gagarin)
- 1962.06Removed from Vostok 3/4 training for health reasons
- 1963.04Dismissed from cosmonaut corps after Chkalovskaya incident
- 1963–66Fighter pilot, Far East air defence unit