Nationality Soviet Role Cosmonaut Time in space 1d 23h 15m Space missions Soyuz 12 | Awards First space flight Soyuz 12 Name Vasily Lazarev Other occupation Physician | |
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Born February 23, 1928
Poroshino, Altai Krai,
Russian SFSR, Soviet Union ( 1928-02-23 ) Selection Voskhod Group
(Medical Group 1) Died December 31, 1990, Moscow, Russia Rank Colonel, Soviet Air Forces | ||
Vasily Grigoryevich Lazarev (Russian: Васи́лий Григо́рьевич Ла́зарев; February 23, 1928 – December 31, 1990) was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 12 spaceflight as well as the abortive Soyuz 18a launch in April 5, 1975.
He was injured by the high acceleration of the abort and landing and was initially denied his spaceflight bonus pay, having to appeal directly to Leonid Brezhnev to receive it. Brezhnev was at the time the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Lazarev held a degree in medicine and the rank of colonel in the Soviet Air Force. He remained in the space programme until failing a physical in 1981. He never fully recovered from the injuries sustained on Soyuz 18a and died on the last day of 1990 at only 62.
He was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, the title Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR and the Order of Lenin.