MOSCOW. Feb 21 (Interfax-AVN) - Valery Kubasov, two time Hero of the Soviet Union, a Soviet pilot cosmonaut, and a participant in the Apollo-Soyuz Project, died on February 19 at the age of 79, the press service for Energia Rocket and Space Corporation has reported.
"We extend our condolences to Valery Kubasov's family, relatives, friends, colleagues, and loved ones. We will always remember Valery Nikolayevich as an outstanding individual, an extraordinary personality, a highly qualified specialist in the sphere of rocket and space technologies, and a brave instructor and cosmonaut, who made a considerable contribution to the exploration of space and the secrets of the Universe," the report says.
Kubasov will be buried on February 22.
Kubasov was born on January 7, 1935. After graduating from the Moscow Aviation Institute in 1958, he was sent to work in Construction Bureau 1 (now the Korolyov Construction Bureau), where he went from engineer to head of flight testing service. In 1966, he was included in the first group of test cosmonauts at the Central Design Bureau of Experimental Machine Building (TsKBEM). He was a member of the cosmonaut unit from 1966-1993.
Kubasov made three space flights. The first flight took place on October 11-16,1969 (he was onboard engineer for the spacecraft Soyuz-6 on the program of the world's first group space mission involving two spacecraft (Soyuz-6, Soyuz-7, and Soyuz-8)).
The second flight took place on July 15-21, 1975 (Kubasov was onboard engineer of Soyuz-19 along with Alexei Leonov). During that flight, spacecraft from different countries (Soyuz-19 of USSR and Apollo of the U.S.) docked in orbit for the first time.
The third flight took place in the period between May 26, 1980 and June 3, 1980 (Kubasov was commander of the Soyuz-36 under a program of a Soviet-Hungarian mission to the orbital station Salyut-6).
Kubasov was twice Hero of the Soviet Union. He had three Orders of Lenin and a medal For Merit in Space Exploration. He was an honored citizen of over ten Russian and foreign cities and had many awards from scientific and public organizations.