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| Viktor Savinykh | |
|---|---|
| Name | Viktor Savinykh |
| Native name | Виктор Петрович Савиных |
| Born | 6 July 1940 |
| Birth place | Kulebaki, Gorky Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Occupation | Cosmonaut, physicist, author, politician |
| Alma mater | Moscow Aviation Institute |
| Missions | Soyuz T-4, Soyuz T-13 |
| Time in space | 145 days 14 hours 49 minutes |
Viktor Savinykh (born 6 July 1940) is a Soviet and Russian cosmonaut and physicist known for long-duration missions aboard Salyut 6 and the pioneering repair mission to Salyut 7. He flew on Soyuz T-4 and commanded Soyuz T-13, contributing to orbital station operations, extravehicular activity, and spaceflight engineering during the Cold War space rivalry between United States and Soviet Union.
Savinykh was born in Kulebaki in Gorky Oblast of the Russian SFSR, then part of the Soviet Union. He studied at the Moscow Aviation Institute, graduating with a degree in aerospace engineering and later became involved with the Soviet space program and research institutions linked to TsKBEM and the Soviet Academy of Sciences. During his formative years he engaged with scientific communities connected to Moscow State University, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, and institutes associated with Sergei Korolev and Vasily Mishin.
Selected as a cosmonaut in the 1970s, Savinykh underwent training at Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center alongside contemporaries from the Soyuz program and specialists preparing for Salyut missions. His training incorporated hardware familiarization at OKB-1, simulation work on Vostok, Voskhod, and Soyuz systems, and coordination with flight control teams at Mission Control Center (TsUP), working with flight directors from the era of Valentin Glushko and Nikolai Kamanin. He trained for long-duration station operations with cosmonauts from crews associated with Salyut 6, Salyut 7, Mir, and personnel connected to Energia and RKK Energia.
Savinykh's first spaceflight was Soyuz T-4, a mission to Salyut 6 that involved orbital operations, scientific experiments, and crew exchange procedures typical of Interkosmos and Soviet space station logistics. He later commanded Soyuz T-13, the notable rescue and repair expedition to Salyut 7 that restored power and refitted the crippled station, paralleling high-profile salvage efforts comparable in public interest to Apollo 13. The Salyut 7 mission included complex rendezvous maneuvers, station reactivation, and extravehicular activity procedures developed with engineers from TsKBEM, RSC Energia, and specialists who had worked under design bureaus linked to Keldysh Research Center. These missions interacted with broader programs such as Interkosmos, international liaison efforts with delegations from France, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and coordination with aerospace firms like Antonov and Tupolev for transport and logistics.
Savinykh contributed to research on long-duration human physiology in microgravity, station systems diagnostics, and manual spacecraft control techniques alongside researchers at the Institute of Biomedical Problems, Academy of Sciences (USSR), and collaborative teams that included scientists from Novosibirsk State University and the Kurchatov Institute. His publications addressed topics linked to orbital mechanics, life-support system reliability, and extravehicular activity procedures, and were disseminated through symposia associated with International Astronautical Federation, COSPAR, and conferences attended by delegations from NASA, European Space Agency, and space agencies of Japan and Canada. He co-authored papers and technical reports with colleagues from RSC Energia, the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, and research institutes involved in Soviet-era space medicine.
For his service Savinykh received distinctions such as Hero of the Soviet Union and decorations from state institutions including the Order of Lenin and awards from the Soviet Armed Forces. He was honored by scientific bodies like the Academy of Sciences (USSR) and later Russian academies, and received recognition from international organizations including International Academy of Astronautics and aerospace societies linked to IAF activities. His legacy influences training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, operations doctrine at TsUP, and salvage and repair techniques applied on Mir and later International Space Station maintenance protocols developed with Roscosmos and international partners such as NASA and ESA.
After active flight duties Savinykh held positions within aerospace organizations, participated in veteran cosmonaut councils, and engaged in public outreach through lectures at institutions such as Moscow Aviation Institute, Moscow State University, and forums including MAKS airshows and Le Bourget-adjacent events. He served in roles intersecting with State Duma-affiliated committees, veteran associations, and international space diplomacy initiatives involving Russia–United States relations, Russia–Europe relations, and joint programs with India and China. His public activities included memoirs, interviews with media outlets that covered Soviet and Russian space history, and participation in commemorations of figures like Yuri Gagarin, Sergei Korolev, and Valentina Tereshkova.
Category:Soviet cosmonauts Category:Heroes of the Soviet Union