George Grechko, a cosmonaut, and spacewalker died on April 8th at the age of 85. Back in 1977, he was the man who made history engaging in the first spacewalk ever. He was wearing a spacesuit design which is still in use today on the International Space Station. Grechko died in a Moscow hospital due to his chronic condition and age.
- George Grecko was a Russian cosmonaut who made history when it comes to spacewalking.
- He was the first man who engaged in a spacewalk.
- He started his career in 1968 and retired in 1992.
The Russian space agency expressed its regret towards the death of such a great man of science and cosmonaut. On its website, Roscosmos sends its condolences to his family and relatives. On April 8th, the Russian President Vladimir Putin shared his condolences in a brief statement. Back in May 1968, Grechko was selected to train as a cosmonaut and support the space race of the Soviet Union competing with the US to deploy a Moon mission.
Grechko was sent to the Salyut space stations of Russia on three different occasions. Between 1975 and 1985, he had spent 134 days in space and 20 hours orbiting our planet. His first flight began on January 10, 1975, and was a one-month mission to Salyut 4. He launched on the Soyuz 17 spaceship with Alexei Gubarev. George Grechko spent 29 days aboard the Russian space station.
He was there to track ship communication equipment, test satellites and develop observations after using the outpost’s solar telescope. On February 9th, he and Gubarev landed on Earth, establishing a new record which lasted until the next Soviet mission to Salyut 4in Ma 1975. His second flight was aboard the Soyuz 26 spaceship to the Salyut 6 space station. During that mission, he performed his first extravehicular activity on December 20, 1977.
He was initially assigned the task to test the new Orlan-D spacesuit by entering a depressurized airlock. Then, he received another task, being asked to inspect the docking port due to a Soyuz failed mission which was unable to dock to Salyut 6. He was the fourth Russian cosmonaut to engage in a spacewalk after Alexei Leonov, Yevgeni Khrunov, and Alexei Yeliseyev.
On January 11, 1978, Romanenko and Grechko were welcomed aboard the Soyuz 27 by the crew. After only six days there, they got back home on Soyuz 26. Romanenko and Grechko returned to the Salyut space station 6 and remained there two more months. Grechko retired from the cosmonaut corporation in March 1992.
Image source: wikipedia
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