Feoktistov, Konstantin

Feoktistov, Konstantin Petrovich 

Born Feb. 7, 1926, in Voronezh. Soviet cosmonaut. Hero of the Soviet Union (Oct. 19, 1964). Doctor of engineering sciences (1967); professor (1969).

Feoktistov served in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45. He graduated from the N. E. Bauman Moscow Higher Technical School in 1949. After working in various scientific research organizations, he became a cosmonaut in 1964. As a flight scientist, Feoktistov made a space flight on Oct. 12 and 13, 1964, aboard the multiseat spacecraft Voskhod, together with V. M. Komarov and B. B. Egorov. During the flight, Feoktistov flew around the earth 16 times, covering a distance of approximately 700,000 km.

Feoktistov is a corresponding member of the International Academy of Astronautics. He is a Hero of Labor of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and he has received the Lenin Prize and the State Prize of the USSR. Feoktistov has also been awarded the Order of Lenin, three other orders, and various medals. A crater on the far side of the moon has been named in his honor.