Nationality Soviet Mission insignia First space flight Soyuz 4 Selection Air Force Group 1 Space missions Soyuz 5, Soyuz 4 | Time in space 1d 23h 45m Role Cosmonaut Other occupation Engineer Name Yevgeny Khrunov | |
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Born September 10, 1933
Tula Oblast, USSR ( 1933-09-10 ) Died May 20, 2000, Moscow, Russia Awards Hero of the Soviet Union, Order of Lenin Rank Colonel, Soviet Air Forces Similar People Boris Volynov, Aleksei Yeliseyev, Vladimir Shatalov | ||
Yevgeni Vassilyevich Khrunov (Russian: Евге́ний Васи́льевич Хруно́в; September 10, 1933 – May 19, 2000) was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 5/Soyuz 4 mission.
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Early life
Yevgeny Khrunov was born on September 10, 1933 to Vasily Yegorevich and Agrafena Nikolayevna. Nicknamed “Zhenya” he had five brothers and two sisters. Khrunov’s family was a farming family. Khrunov married Svetlana Sokolyuk and had a son on July 13, 1959.
He was born in Prudy, Tula Oblast, Russian SFSR.
Education and career
Khrunov began officially being schooled in 1941. Khrunov was initially interested in pursuing farming in studies. His interest in flying would soon follow after he watched the planes during wartime. Once he graduated from primary school he enrolled at Kashira Agricultural Secondary School on scholarship and would graduate from there in 1952. His teachers regularly spoke highly of him and considered him a hard working student. In 1952 Krhunov was also drafted into the Soviet Army where he would follow his interests in becoming a pilot and apply for pilot school. Khrunov was accepted and continued school in the military at Pavlograd in Ukraine. Khrunov later transferred to the Serov Higher Air Force School in Rostov Oblast, Southwestern Russia. Upon graduation he would receive the ranking of Lieutenant. Khrunov later received another promotion to senior lieutenant on August 6, 1958. The following year Khrunov was interviewed along with Gorbatko in regards to becoming a cosmonaut although they were not expressly told that was what they were being interviewed for. Both Gorbatko and Khrunov were evaluated in medical exams and approved for training to become cosmonauts.
Awards
Yevgeni Khrunov was a colonel, Hero of the Soviet Union (January 22, 1969) and Kandidat of Technical Sciences (1971).
He was awarded:
After leaving the space program in 1980 he worked at the 30th Central Scientific Research Institute, Ministry of Defence (Russia), and later he was appointed to the Chief State Committee for foreign economic relations until his retirement in 1989.
He died of a heart attack on May 19, 2000.