Nikolayev, Andriyan

Andriyan Nikolayev, in full Andriyan Grigoryevich Nikolayev, (born September 5, 1929, Shorshely, Chuvashiya, U.S.S.R. [now in Russia]—died July 3, 2004, Cheboksary, Chuvashiya, Russia), Soviet cosmonaut, who piloted the Vostok 3 spacecraft, launched August 11, 1962. When Vostok 4, piloted by Pavel R. Popovich, was launched a day later, there were, for the first time, two crewed craft in space simultaneously. The two made radio and visual contact, but there was no attempt at docking. Both landed on August 15.

The son of a worker on a collective farm, Nikolayev studied and worked in forestry until drafted into the Soviet army in 1950. An early interest in flying persisted, and he soon transferred to the air force; in 1954 he became a pilot. In 1957 he joined the Communist Party, and in March 1960 he entered cosmonaut training. In 1962 he became the third Russian cosmonaut to travel into space, and during his 96-hour flight, which set an endurance record, he orbited Earth 64 times. Nikolayev later served as the commander of the Soviet Astronauts’ Detachment.

On November 3, 1963, Nikolayev married Valentina Tereshkova, who in June 1963 had become the first woman to travel in space. They had one child and were subsequently divorced.

Andriyan Nikolayev in the Soyuz 9

Nikolayev and Vitaly I. Sevastyanov crewed the Soyuz 9 flight on June 1, 1970, and set a new space endurance record of almost 18 days in orbit, which still remains the longest flight by a solo flying spacecraft. (Subsequent longer flights involved stays at orbiting space stations.) The mission, primarily one of determining the effects of prolonged spaceflight, ended on June 19. Exercise sessions were scheduled during the flight to counteract the effects of weightlessness, but Nikolayev and Sevastyanov were so busy with other research that they skipped their exercise. When they returned to Earth, they were so weak that reacclimating to Earth’s gravity took days, and exercise thus became a vital part of long-duration spaceflight.

Nikolayev retired from the cosmonaut corps in 1982. He was twice named Hero of the Soviet Union.