Sixties City - The Space Race - Soviet Space Program

Astronauts and cosmonauts effectively do the same job, but the difference in their titles is mainly down to who they're trained by. Astronauts are people trained and certified by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), ESA (European Space Agency), CSA (Canadian Space Agency) or JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) to carry out work in space. Cosmonauts are specifically trained to work in space by the Russian Space Agency. There are now also Taikonauts, who are Chinese astronauts!
The word astronaut comes from the Greek words 'astron' meaning 'star' and 'nautes' meaning 'mariner', making an astronaut a 'star mariner'. The word cosmonaut comes from the Greek words 'kosmos', meaning 'universe' and 'nautes' meaning 'mariner', making cosmonauts 'universe mariners'.
During the space race, both America and Russia looked for a way to help the world to tell the difference between American space explorers and Russian ones so American space agency NASA settled on astronauts and the Soviet Union decided on cosmonauts.

Actual and Planned Flights in The Sixties

Soviet Cosmonauts The 'Lost' Cosmonauts The Forgotten Soviet Female Cosmonauts

Note: Reported early launch dates, particularly for Soviet missions, tend to vary from source to source so should be taken as a guideline rather than definitive.

Launch Date/Time	Mission	Docking/Undocking Date/Time	Recovery Date/Time	Primary Crew	Backup Crew

1960
15 May	KS 1		(15 October 1965)	Unmanned Vostok
23 July	KS 2-1	Failed to reach orbit		Unmanned Vostok ( 2 dogs ? )
19 August	KS 2		20 August	Unmanned Vostok ( 2 dogs )
1 December	KS 3		2 December	Unmanned Vostok ( 2 dogs )
22 December ?	KS 4-1	Failed to reach orbit		Unmanned Vostok ( 2 dogs ? )
1961
On 28th November Achille and Giovanni Battista Judica-Cordiglia, two Italian amateur radio enthusiasts near Turin, allegedly intercepted a transmission: the voice of a woman, speaking Russian, in distress. In the recording she allegedly describes rising temperatures, flames, and the sense of suffocation:i "The capsule is getting hot... I see fire... I'm losing control... ". Three days later the Soviet Union announced that a large satellite had burned up on re-entry. No mention was made of any crew. See 'Lost Cosmonauts'
9 March	KS 4		9 March	Unmanned Vostok ( 1 dog )
25 March	KS 5		25 March	Unmanned Vostok ( 1 dog )
12 April 06.07	Vostok 1		12 April 07.55	Y.A.Gagarin	G.S.Titov
6 August 06.00	Vostok 2		7 August 07.15	G.S.Titov	A.G.Nikolayev
1962
11 August 08.30	Vostok 3		15 August 06.52	A.G.Nikolayev	V.F.Bykovsky
12 August 08.02	Vostok 4		15 August 06.59	P.R.Popovich	V.M.Komarov then B.V.Volynov
1963
14 June 12.00	Vostok 5		19 June 11.00	V.F.Bykovsky	B.V.Volynov
16 June 09.30	Vostok 6		19 June 08.16	V.V.Tereskhova	I.B.Solovyova
1964
Summer ?	Vostok 7	Planned mission cancelled		B.B.Yegorov	V.G.Lazarev ?
6 October 07.15 ?	Cosmos 47		7 October	Unmanned Voskhod
12 October 07.30	Voskhod 1		13 October 07.47	V.M.Komarov K.P.Feoktistov B.B.Yegorov	B.V.Volynov G.P.Katys V.G.Lazarev
1965
22 February 07.40?	Cosmos 57	Disintegrated in orbit		Unmanned Voskhod
18 March 07.00	Voskhod 2		19 March 09.02	P.I.Belyayev A.A.Leonov	V.V.Gorbatko then D.A.Zaikin Y.V.Khrunov
2 July	Cosmos	Failed to reach orbit		Unmanned Voskhod ( 2 dogs ? )
1966
?	Voskhod 3	Planned mission cancelled		B.V.Volynov G.S.Shonin	V.A.Shatalov G.T.Beregovoi
22 February 20.10	Cosmos 110		16 March 14.00 ?	Unmanned Voskhod ( 2 dogs )
28 November 11.00	Cosmos 133		30 November 10.21	Unmanned Soyuz
1967
7 February 03.20	Cosmos 140		9 February 02.52	Unmanned Soyuz
10 March 11.31	Cosmos 146		18 March ?	Unmanned Zond
8 April 09.00	Cosmos 154		19 April ?	Unmanned Zond
23 April 00.35	Soyuz 1		24 April 03.23	V.M.Komarov	Y.A.Gagarin
24 April	Soyuz 2	Planned mission cancelled		V.F.Bykovsky A.S.Yeliseyev Y.V.Khrunov	A.G.Nikolayev V.N.Kubasov V.V.Gorbatko
16 May 21.45	Cosmos 159		(11 November 1977)	Unmanned Soyuz propulsion test
27 October 09.30	Cosmos 186	30 October 09.20 - 30 October 12.50	31 October 08.20	Unmanned Soyuz
30 October 08.12	Cosmos 188	30 October 09.20 - 30 October 12.50	2 November 09.10	Unmanned Soyuz
21 November 18.45	Zond	Failed to reach orbit		Unmanned circumlunar mission
1968
2 March 18.30	Zond 4		9 March ?	Unmanned lunar simulation
14 April 10.00	Cosmos 212	15 April 10.21 - 15 April 14.11	19 April 08.10	Unmanned Soyuz
15 April 09.34	Cosmos 213	15 April 10.21 - 15 April 14.11	19 April 10.11	Unmanned Soyuz
22 April	Zond ?	Rumoured launch failure		Unmanned lunar-related flight
28 August 09.59	Cosmos 238		1 September 09.03	Unmanned Soyuz
14 September 21.42	Zond 5		21 September 16.08	Unmanned circumlunar mission
25 October 09.00	Soyuz 2		28 October 07.51	Unmanned
26 October 08.34	Soyuz 3		30 October 07.25	G.T.Beregovoi	V.A.Shatalov and B.V.Volynov
10 November 19.11	Zond 6		17 November 14.10	Unmanned circumlunar mission
1969
14 January 07.29	Soyuz 4	16 January 08.20 - 16 January 12.55	17 January 06.53	V.A.Shatalov	A.V.Filipchenko
15 January 07.05	Soyuz 5	16 January 08.20 - 16 January 12.55	17 January 08.00	B.V.Volynov A.S.Yeliseyev* Y.V.Khrunov	G.S.Shonin V.N.Kubasov V.V.Gorbatko
3-4 July	No Name	Launch pad explosion		Unmanned giant booster
7 August 23.55	Zond 7		14 August	Unmanned circumlunar mission
11 October 11.10	Soyuz 6		16 October 09.52	G.S.Shonin V.N.Kubasov	A.G.Nikolayev V.I.Sevastyanov and N.N.Rukavishnikov
12 October 10.45	Soyuz 7		17 October 09.26	A.V.Filipchenko V.N.Volkov V.V.Gorbatko	A.G.Nikolayev V.I.Sevastyanov G.M.Grechko and N.N.Rukavishnikov
13 October 10.20	Soyuz 8		18 October 09.10	V.A.Shatalov A.S.Yeliseyev	A.G.Nikolayev V.I.Sevastyanov
16 November ?	Cosmos	Rumoured launch failure		Unmanned Soyuz lunar lander test ?

Notes:
This list includes all launches or attempted launches reported to have occurred.
Dates shown in brackets are natural re-entry 'burn-ups'.
Times are in GMT where known or calculated, but may differ slightly dependent on information source used.
*A.S.Yeliseyev launched in one vehicle and returned in a different vehicle on this mission.
Launch vehicles used were as follows:
SL3 - Vostok
SL4 - Voskhod, Propulsion tests, Soyuz
SL12 - Zond ( Soyuz-based lunar vehicle )
SL13 Soyuz lunar lander variant

The Vostok re-entry vehicle production line

Back, from left: Yuri Gagarin, first spaceman; Valery Bykovsky; Pavel Popovich, and Vladimir Komarov
Front, from left: Kontantin Feoktistov; Valentina Nikolayeva; Alexei Leonov; Andrian Nikolayev; and Gherman Titov

The Soviet Cosmonauts
60s Training
Selection Groups

Cosmonaut Training Centre Patch

Name	Speciality	Selection	Born	Died	Comments
ANIKEYEV Ivan Nikolayevich	Military Pilot	March 1960			Left in 1961 due to an 'incident' involving Filatyev and Nelyubov*
ARTYUKHIN Yuri Petrovich	Military Engineer	January 1963	22/7/30	n/a	1967 Lunar training group
ASANIN	?	?			Identified by Novosti as having taken part in spaceflight simulation training exercises
BELYAYEV Pavel Ivanovich	Military Pilot	March 1960	26/6/25	10/1/70	Died following an ulcer operation
BEREGEVOI Georgi Timofeyevich	Military Pilot	February 1964	15/4/21	n/a
BOGDASHEVSKY Rotislav	Military Engineer	1965 ?			Filmed by NBC in 1968 and identified as a cosmonaut in training
BONDARENKO Valentin Vasilyevich	Military Pilot	March 1960	1937 ?	23/3/61	Died in a spacecraft simulator fire accident in a pure oxygen atmosphere
BYKOVSKY Valery Fyodorovich	Military Pilot	March 1960	2/8/34	n/a	1967 Lunar training group
DEMIN Lev Stepanovich	Military Engineer	January 1963	11/6/26	n/a	Was not assigned to a mission until 1974
FEOKTISTOV Konstantin Petrovich	Voskhod Engineer	February 1964	7/2/26	n/a	Senior spacecraft designer, Soyuz, Salyut and Mir
FILATYEV Valentin Ignatyevich	Military Pilot	March 1960	1925	n/a	Left in 1961 due to an 'incident' involving Anikeyev and Nelyubov*
FILIPCHENKO Anatoli Vasilyevich	Military Pilot	January 1963	26/2/28	n/a
GAGARIN Yuri Alexeyevich	Military Pilot	March 1960	9/3/34	27/3/68	First man in space - died in an aircraft crash
GLAZKOV Yuri Nikolaievich	Military Engineer	October 1965	2/10/39	n/a	Not assigned to a mission until 1976
GOLOVANOV Yaroslav	Journalist	July 1965			Left the training group after death of Korolyov**
GORBATKO Viktor Vasilyevich	Military Pilot	March 1960	3/12/34	n/a
GRECHKO Georgi Mikhailovich	Engineer	September 1966	25/5/31	n/a	1967 Lunar training group
GUBAREV Alexei Alexandrovich	Military Pilot	January 1963	29/3/31	n/a	Not assigned to a mission until 1973
ILLYIN Yevgeni A.	Voskhod Physician	1965 ?	17/8/37	n/a	Selected for a cancelled biological Voskhod mission in 1965
KARTASHOV Anatoli Yakovlevich	Military Pilot	March 1960			Retired from programme after being taken ill during centrifuge training
KATYS Georgi Petrovich	Voskhod Engineer	February 1964	1927	n/a
KHRUNOV Yevgeny Vasilyevich	Military Pilot	March 1960	10/9/33	n/a
KISILEV Aleksandr S.	Voskhod Physician	1965	13/6/35	n/a	Selected for a cancelled biological Voskhod mission in 1965
KIZIM Leonid Denisovich	Military Pilot	October 1965	5/8/41	n/a	Not assigned to a mission until 1980
KLIMUK Pyotr Illyich	Military Pilot	October 1965	10/7/42	n/a	1967 Lunar training group
KOLODIN Pyotr Ivanovich	Military Engineer	January 1963	23/9/30	n/a	Officially retired due to medical problems but more likely to be because of arguments about cancelled 1971 Soyuz 11 crew replacement
KOMAROV Vladimir Mikhailovich	Military Pilot	March 1960	16/3/27	24/4/67	Died during re-entry of Soyuz 1, the first person to die during a mission
KORNIEV Ivan	Military Pilot	October 1965			Filmed by NBC in 1968 and identified as a cosmonaut in training
KOVALYONOK Vladimir Vasilyevich	Military Pilot	May 1967	3/3/42	n/a	Not assigned to a mission until 1975
KUBASOV Valery Nikolayevich	Engineer	September 1966	7/1/35	n/a
KUKLIN A.	Military Pilot	January 1963
KUZNETSOVA Tatiana Dmitryevna	Vostok 6 Pilot	March 1962			Female cosmonaut
LAZAREV Vasily Grigorievich	Voskhod Doctor	February 1964	23/2/28	n/a	Military pilot, possibly joined programme in 1963 for cancelled Vostok 7
LEONOV Alexei Arkhipovich	Military Pilot	March 1960	30/5/34	n/a	First man to walk in space
LETUNOV Yuri	Journalist	July 1965			Left the training group after death of Korolyov**
LYAKHOV Vladimir Afanasyevich	Military Pilot	May 1967	20/7/41	n/a	Not assigned to a mission until 1978
MAKAROV Oleg Grigoryevich	Engineer	November 1966	6/1/33	n/a	1967 Lunar training group
MALYSHEV Yuri Vasilyevich	Military Pilot	May 1967	27/8/41	n/a	Not assigned to a mission until 1976
NELYUBOV Grigori Grigoryevich	Military Pilot	March 1960	?	18/2/66	Removed from the programme for disciplinary reasons. Killed in a railway incident.*
NIKOLAYEV Andrian Grigoryevich	Military Pilot	March 1960	5/9/29	n/a
OBRATSOV	Military Doctor ?	1963 ?			Identified by the Novosti Press Agency as a trainee cosmonaut after training in spaceflight simulation in 1963
PONOMAREVA Valantina Leonidovna	Vostok 6 Pilot	March 1962			Female cosmonaut
POPOVICH Pavel Romanovich	Military Pilot	March 1960	5/10/30	n/a	1967 Lunar training group
RAFIKOV Mars akirovich	Military Pilot	March 1960			Left the programme early 1962 due to problems in training
ROZDESTVENSKY Valery Illyich	Military Engineer	October 1965	13/2/39	n/a	Not assigned to a mission until 1976
RUKAVISHNIKOV Nikolai Nikolayevich	Engineer	November 1966	18/9/32	n/a	First non-military Soviet mission commander in 1979
SARAFANOV Gennady Vasilyevich	Military Pilot	October 1965	1/1/42	n/a	Not assigned to a mission until 1974
SENKEVICH Yuri A.	Voskhod Physician	1965	4/3/37	n/a	Selected for a cancelled biological Voskhod mission in 1965
SHATALOV Vladimir Alexandrovich	Military Pilot	January 1963	8/12/27	n/a
SHONIN Georgi Stepanovich	Military Pilot	March 1960	3/8/35	n/a
SEVASTYANOV Vitaly Ivanovich	Engineer	January 1967	8/7/35	n/a	1967 Lunar training group manager
SOLOVYEVA Irina Bayonovna	Vostok 6	March 1962			Female cosmonaut
TERESHKOVA Valentina Vladimirovna	Vostok 6	February 1962	6/3/37	n/a	First woman in space
TITOV Gherman Stepanovich	Military Pilot	March 1960	11/9/35	n/a
VARLARMOV Valentin Stepanovich	Military Pilot	March 1960	?	October 80	Retired from programme in 1960 after fracturing vertebra in training. Death from natural causes
VAVKIN Yuri	Military Engineer	1965			Filmed by NBC in 1968 and identified as a cosmonaut in training
VOLKOV Vladislav Nikolayevich	Engineer	September 1966	23/11/35	29/6/71	Died when pressure lost during Soyuz 11 re-entry (30/6 Moscow time)
VOLYNOV Boris Valentinovich	Military Pilot	March 1960	18/12/34	n/a
YEGOROV Boris Borisovich	Vostok 7 Pilot	1963	26/11/37	n/a	1964 Voskhod doctor
YELISEYEV Alexei Stanislavovich	Engineer	September 1966	13/7/34	n/a
YORKINA Zhanna Dmitryevna	Vostok 6	March 1962			Female cosmonaut - no mission assignments
ZAIKIN Dmitri Alekseyevich	Military Pilot	March 1960			Left the programme in April 1968 due to ill health during Soyuz training
ZHOLOBOV Vitaly Mikhailovich	Military Engineer	January 1963	18/6/37	n/a	Not assigned to a mission until 1974
ZUDOV Vyacheslav Dmitrievich	Military Pilot	October 1965	8/1/42	n/a	Not assigned to a mission until 1976
ZYKOV Anatoli	Engineer	1966			Applied for training in June 1966 - passed all requirements other than that he was too tall, therefore did not actually undergo training

* Nelyubov, Anikeyev and Filatryev were involved in a drunken argument with a military patrol. Nelyubov tried to use his rank as a cosmonaut to avoid disciplinary action but was reported to Korolyov. All three cosmonauts were removed from the programme after Nelyubov refused to apologise. Emotional problems led to alcoholism and he was killed by a passing train on a railway bridge near Vladivostok while drunk.

** Sergei Pavlovich Korolyov (pictured right with Yuri Gagarin before his historic flight ) died 14th January 1966 - major spacecraft designer and manager/leader of the Soviet space programme.

Soviet Cosmonauts