Valery Fyodorovich Bykovsky

Валерий Фёдорович Быковский

1934–2019 ○ Natural causes

The cosmonaut who spent five days alone in orbit, setting a solo spaceflight record that still stands

On 18 June 1963, while Vostok 5 was still orbiting, the Party Central Committee reviewed his application and admitted him as a full member without a candidate period.

Soviet cosmonaut, the fifth to fly in space. Launched on 14 June 1963 aboard Vostok 5, he orbited Earth 81 times over nearly five days, setting a solo space endurance record that still stands. The original Vostok plan called for two women to fly simultaneously, but the mission was restructured as one woman and one man: Bykovsky launched two days before Valentina Tereshkova. He went on to command Soyuz 22 (1976) and Soyuz 31 (1978) with East Germany's first cosmonaut Sigmund Jähn, becoming the only Vostok/Voskhod-era cosmonaut to complete three spaceflights.