Space Hero
(based on materials from the WPA publishing house)
ZHOLOBOV VITALY MIKHAILOVICH was born on June 18, 1937 in the village of Zburevka, Golopristansky district, Kherson region. Russian. Member of the CPSU since 1966. Graduated from the Azerbaijan Industrial Institute. Since 1959 in the Soviet Army. In 1963 he joined the cosmonaut corps. He graduated in absentia from the Military-Political Academy named after V.I. Lenin in 1974. Pilot-cosmonaut Colonel Zholobov successfully completed a flight on 07/06/76-08/24/76 on the orbital scientific station "Salyut-5" and the transport ship "Soyuz-21". After the flight, the commander of a group of cosmonaut students, an instructor-cosmonaut at the Yu. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. Since 1981 - in reserve. Lives in Kyiv. Hero of the Soviet Union. Awarded the Order of Lenin and medals.
In the fishing village of Zburevka, located on the shore of the estuary about thirty kilometers from Kherson, almost everyone lived by sea fishing. Many of the Zholobov family were also sailors. Grandfather Gavrila, the captain of a sailing ship, was loved by the whole village for his cheerful disposition and cheerful character. Vitaly probably inherited from his grandfather a cheerful character and the ability to quickly get along with people. Vitaly Mikhailovich’s father had already sailed on ships. In Kherson he graduated from a maritime technical school and was sent to the Caspian Sea. Here he worked all his life as a captain of the Caspian Shipping Company, driving tankers.
Vitaly grew up in Baku. A real holiday for him was when his father took him to the sea. It even happened that I got caught in a severe storm. It was probably during these years that the love for distant travels arose.
After school I decided to enter the naval school. My father tried to dissuade me, but Vitaly still went to the military registration and enlistment office to ask. The mighty captain of 2nd rank rose from the table, looked at the frail enthusiast and came up with some convincing argument not to offend the boy. So, he “didn’t make the cut” to become a naval sailor.
Vitaly decided to enter the geological exploration department of the Azerbaijan Industrial Institute. I thought: this is also a wandering life, a romantic profession. In the third year, a new specialty appeared - “automation and telemechanics”. Their entire group was transferred to this department. Here began the road that eventually led him to space.
The wandering life did not work out. Immediately after college he was drafted into the army. He served as a test engineer in aviation units: telemechanics specialists were needed not only in geology.
On April 12, 1961, one of my friends called the field site: “Zholobov, do you hear? Man in space! Ours, Soviet! It even gave him a chill then. And somewhere in the corner of my soul a crazy thought timidly stirred: “Maybe I should try too?” And then he thought in disappointment: “They said they only hire pilots.”
After the flight of Yuri Gagarin and German Titov, descriptions of the Vostok ship appeared in the press. Books about space were piled on Vitaly Zholobov’s desk. Later it turned out that not only pilots, but also engineers were taken into the cosmonaut corps. Zholobov was among the first to file a report. Believed in his star. And I was not mistaken. The doctors gave the go-ahead.
The cosmonaut training squad spun like a centrifuge. He took his training seriously and always worked at full strength. At first it was difficult. There was too much to overcome for the first time. New technology, new systems, flights.
After the training flights, I realized that the pilots eat their chocolate for a reason. You need to think quickly, and the situation changes even faster - you need to be able to assess everything on the dashboard at a glance. It was also difficult for engineers testing devices. But there is an opportunity to analyze, but here the plane is rushing and roaring.
The first parachute jump will be remembered for the rest of my life. The instructor said: “If you don’t jump on your own, I’ll push you out.” Then all the guys admitted that this threat turned out to be the most effective. Zholobov learned to jump well faster than anyone in the group. Already on the third or fourth jump, when I was flying with my back to the ground and spinning like a dry leaf, I remembered how the instructor said: “The center of gravity should be in the navel, bend over.” He stretched out and immediately felt that he was flying normally - face down. Then I walked on my own. ask for additional jumps.
In 1974, Vitaly Zholobov was a backup for Yuri Artyukhin, a participant in the expedition on the Salyut-3 ship. Even then, he established himself as a hardworking, enthusiastic engineer. In the summer of the same year, without interruption from work at the Cosmonaut Training Center, he graduated in absentia from the V.I. Lenin Military-Political Academy.
Everything was going well for him. And I didn’t think that preparation for the flight would last fourteen years. Probably the most difficult thing about being an astronaut is the waiting. But now his shining day has come. They will fly together with Boris Volynov.
July 6, 1976. Baikonur Cosmodrome. The final check of the operation of all systems of the Soyuz-21 spacecraft was carried out.
“The crew is ready for the flight,” the ship’s commander, Colonel B.V. Volynov, clearly reports! It's clear that. both he and his comrade Lieutenant Colonel V.M. Zholobov are very worried in anticipation of the cherished, most important decision in their lives.
A brush of fiery jets is already flashing under the launch “table”, the rocket pushes away the support devices that have become unnecessary for it and, picking up speed, rises into the sky.
After the docking of the Soyuz-21 space transport ship and the Salyut-5 scientific orbital station, Boris Volypov and Vitaly Zholobov spent a long time conducting complex tests on board the station.
After the completion of the operation to completely reactivate the station, an experiment was carried out with a hand-held spectrograph - a device that makes it possible to spectrograph objects of such different brightness as a section of the surface of the Sun and the water surface of the Earth. In this way, the most valuable information for the national economy was obtained.
V. Zholobov photographed various types of natural formations that the cosmonauts encountered along the flight route. He photographed the Sun through the earth's atmosphere at various heights relative to the horizon. Such surveys are very important for studying the state of the atmosphere.
Biological experiments occupied a prominent place in the Salyut 5 flight program. One of them is with aquarium fish. It is known that fish determine their position in space mainly with the help of the vestibular apparatus and swim bladder. In zero gravity, both of these analyzers are useless. How will fish navigate in space?
The astronauts constantly filmed the behavior of fish and their movements. We determined what reaction in fish is caused by the appearance of a light landmark - a flashlight beam.
A significant number of technology experiments were carried out at the Salyut-5 orbital station. Instruments under the general name “Physics” were placed in a special suitcase. A control panel was equipped for performing all technological experiments, and rescue containers for returning samples obtained in space to Earth.
The purpose of one of the experiments was to study the processes of melting and solidification of metal in zero gravity. It was carried out as follows: V. Zholobov turned on the “Sphere” device. A low-melting alloy blank the size of a pencil tip from the “magazine” was poured into a ceramic tube. Here it was heated, melted, and then pushed out into a Mylar bag. The speed of ejection and the dimensions of the bag are such that by the time it comes into contact with the wall of the bag, the resulting ball has time to harden.
Another technological experiment, “Flow,” included in this flight the study of the behavior of fluid in zero gravity. In a transparent box, two spherical containers are adjacent, which are connected to each other by capillary channels. The first container is filled with colored liquid. It is assumed that the capillary channel will suck in the liquid and, like a pump, distill it into a second container. The time it takes for the leak to occur is calculated. If everything goes as the theory suggests, then it will be possible to widely use capillary deposits in outer space that do not have rotating parts and do not require any energy consumption.
In one of the many interviews after the flight, Voltov said that each of the experiments and research carried out during the flight is a new grain in the treasury of human knowledge about space.
During one of the television sessions, Colonel B. Volynov and Lieutenant Colonel V. Zholobov gave us the opportunity to thoroughly admire the panorama of our country opening from the orbital research station. We saw the characteristic outlines of the Crimean peninsula, as if about to sail into the Black Sea, the squares of the fields of Ukraine, the bends of the mighty Volga, the mountain ranges of the Urals, deep-sea Baikal, a web of railways and highways, cities, towns.
Cosmic “landscapes” are not only a beautiful sight. This is a subject of research. Currently, methods have already been developed that allow, with the help of automated technical systems and electronic computers, to quickly transform space images into maps of interest to specialists. Thus, the flight of Boris Volynov and Vitaly Zholobov, like many other flights of Soviet cosmonauts, provided enormous assistance to cartography specialists, which will, over time, radically change the methods of mapping.
The Sun is the most important star for humanity. All life on our planet depends on it. And yet, terrestrial science, despite centuries of observations, cannot yet boast that it has thoroughly studied the “character” of our star: much in the behavior of the Sun still remains a mystery to scientists. Only astronautics can remove the veil of mystery from some solar phenomena.
On board the Salyut-5 station, Boris Volynov and Vitaly Zholobov studied the infrared radiation of the Sun outside the atmosphere, which reaches the surface of our planet in a highly “reduced” and distorted form.
During the experiment, when the Sun was at its zenith for the station, flight engineer Vitaly Zholobov, observing the Sun through a sighting device, controlled the telescope so that it examined not only the light, but also captured the circumsolar space. The visual picture observed by the astronaut during the experiment was recorded on film. This enabled the scientists of the Physics Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, who conceived this experiment, to “link” the received infrared radiation to the region of the star where it is born. As it scanned, the telescope received infrared radiation coming from pure outer space, then from the upper rarefied layers of the solar atmosphere, which helped in studying the transition region from the solar surface to the rarefied corona.
In addition, studies of infrared radiation from the Sun carried out in space by the crew of the Salyut-5 scientific orbital station were of great importance for clarifying the problem of solar-terrestrial connections.
The numerous scientific, technical, technological and medical-biological experiments and research carried out by the cosmonauts allow us to more deeply understand what level of professional knowledge the spacecraft crew must have to carry out effective work. And, apparently, it is no coincidence that the training period for flight engineer Zholobov was so long.
Colonel B. Volynov and Lieutenant Colonel V. Zholobov spent seven weeks in space, and the time has come to part with the Salyut-5 scientific station. The Soyuz 21 transport ship, which delivered the cosmonauts to work in the orbital laboratory, now, after completing the work shift, was supposed to return them to Earth.
When the grips tightening the station and the transport ship loosened, the small retraction engines turned on and, after a slight shake, Soyuz-21 began to slowly move away from the “space berth.” Through the sighting device and on the television screen one could see how their beautiful station was gradually decreasing in size and farewell sparkling in the sun with the wings of solar panels.
Then events began to unfold at breakneck speed. In preparation for the descent, the astronauts had to work a lot, checking all systems before issuing the command to land.
...Somewhere in the sky over Africa, the braking system turned on, and the ship rushed to the ground, to where numerous aviation and ground search service units were already waiting.
All the days of the flight, the Earth helped its envoys, constantly monitoring their well-being, the condition of all station systems, and the transport ship. In various operating modes of the station, command and measuring instruments conducted over six thousand communication sessions. More than ten billion values of measurement parameters were received and processed from space. And now - the last chord.
The radar stations were the first to detect the fiery trail of the landing vehicle, followed by the crews of aircraft patrolling at given altitudes in the landing area; the last to hear the astronauts were the ground stations.
“I am “Baikal,” says the ship’s commander, Colonel B. Volynov. - Everything is fine. The parachute system worked well.
, Golopristansky district, Kherson region, Ukrainian SSR, USSR
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Vitaly Mikhailovich Zholobov(ukr. Vitaly Mikhailovich Zholobov; genus. June 18) - Soviet cosmonaut and Ukrainian politician, Hero of the Soviet Union.
Member of the International Space Flight Association, Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, and International Police Association.
Biography
Space flights
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- . Video encyclopedia "Cosmonauts". Roscosmos TV studio.
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USSR pilot-cosmonaut Vitaly Zholobov moved to Kyiv in 1982: he had with him a single suitcase with a uniform, copies of flight documents and awards. I also wanted to take a watch donated by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, but my ex-wife, with whom Vitaly Mikhailovich broke up after 19 years of marriage, did not give it away...
In those years, divorce in Star City was equated with crime, but the astronaut met his unearthly love, for the sake of which he dared to start from scratch. It was in vain that his friends tried to dissuade him: “Where are you going without the army?” He, the first graduate of a civilian university to be in low-Earth orbit, knew the only correct answer to this question.
Determination and courage never failed this man. And would he have risked playing Russian roulette with space otherwise? Let me note: the crew, consisting of commander Volynov and flight engineer Zholobov, went into orbit on the Soyuz-21 spacecraft - almost the same one that killed their predecessors Dobrovolsky, Volkov and Patsayev due to depressurization. “Baikalov” (these are the call signs of Volynov and Zholobov) there were, in fact, two because the place of the third was taken by an installation of additional air regeneration... In addition, they had to practice manual docking with the Salyut-5 orbital station. Unlike the crew who flew before them, Volynov and Zholobov succeeded, however, then the guys poured two liters of sweat out of their spacesuits...
Then it seemed to Zholobov: there is nothing more difficult in life and cannot be. How wrong he was! In 1993, the people of Kherson turned to him: they invited the famous fellow countryman (he was born in the village of Staraya Zburevka, Golopristansky district) to run for governor. Vitaly Mikhailovich received four times more votes than the then head of the region, but two years later he voluntarily wrote a letter of resignation. What do they mean - fire, water and copper pipes, through which he had to go through over the 68 years he lived - in comparison with the test of power?
"Even during preparation we lost friends"
- Vitaly Mikhailovich, astronautics is a dangerous business. Did you have any doubts when you joined the cosmonaut corps?
To be honest, I still get excited watching newsreel footage of Gagarin’s launch. When I had to do this work myself... Of course, there was a feeling of danger and tension, but you can’t call it fear. Rather, it was excitement before unusual work, an extremely heightened desire not to make a mistake... Over the years of preparation, we were taught to be very attentive and if, when evaluating the results, we found mistakes, naturally, this was a minus for the crew. Therefore, during the flight there was maximum composure.
- I’m trying to understand your psychology... When you joined the detachment, did you understand that you could die?
Certainly!
What motivated you: patriotism, the desire to fly into space, the desire for something unknown, the temptation to become famous?
You see, Gagarin’s flight was indeed something unusual, although it so happened that I already knew: this was about to happen. The fact is that at the Kapustin Yar training ground, where I served, an exhibition of rocketry was organized, and among other samples, the Vostok ship was demonstrated. I was responsible for this section, naturally, I looked inside, and the employees of the Korolev Design Bureau told me that the people who would fly into space had already been prepared. However, April 12th took me by surprise. However, this is typical for everyone - when a person becomes an eyewitness to such a grandiose event, he involuntarily puts himself in the place of the hero...
Please note: my profession is not flying. I worked as a rocketry test engineer, so I immediately said to myself: “Calm down, you won’t be able to fly.” Well, when I already joined the cosmonaut corps (it so happened that engineers were needed there) and became acquainted with the profession, there was no time for excitement.
Yes, astronautics - especially at first! - was associated with a very high risk, even during preparation we lost instructors and colleagues. It’s impossible to get used to the fact that friends leave, but you reassure yourself that this may not happen to you. Of course, there is a feeling of danger, but... Every person has an adventurous spirit, and when I had the opportunity to pass the selection committee, I decided to try my luck.
- What was it? Overcoming yourself?
Rather, a challenge to fate! By the way, this courage remained with me throughout my life.
Dozens of candidates for the flight have undergone years of training, but they never had the chance to fly into space. For various reasons: psychological, health... You have been waiting in the wings for 13 years. During this time, hundreds and thousands of training sessions took place - often in terrible conditions, at the cost of superhuman efforts. Which of them do you remember with a shudder even today?
With a shudder? Hard to say. There are situations for which a person cannot be prepared at all...
- For example?
Well, let's say, a thermal chamber... A centrifuge - it recreates the conditions (for example, overload during takeoff and landing) that occasionally arise during a flight, and testing in a thermal chamber suggested - this is the main idea! - heating of the descent vehicle. It can only happen when the device is uncontrollable or the thermal control system fails, but this is an emergency situation - why train yourself here? That's why I treated the thermal camera...
-...as a necessary evil?
Critically.
- What did it even look like? Have you heated the proposed apparatus?
Imagine that you are in a steam room. The temperature is rising, and you are sitting in this cell, covered in sensors, with a thermometer in your mouth...
- In a spacesuit?
No, in a flight suit, in overalls. The test continues until the body temperature rises by two degrees. Doctors watch how long you can withstand, record everything with instruments and then analyze...
Then the heat chamber was canceled as unnecessary, just like the rotor. There was such a training with rotation in all planes.
- Nightmare, huh?
It’s okay, it’s just... When you encounter something like this for the first time, of course, you’re a little worried and vibrated. Still, you want to look good so that everything, so to speak, goes off without a hitch.
“The guy in the isolation cell said in all seriousness that THEY were coming, THEY were surrounding me.”
- I know that in order to test the psychological strength of cosmonaut candidates, they were left for a while in some closed space and observed what they would do...
We were placed in an audio-visual cell - a closed room about two and a half by three meters.
- And for how many days could they be locked up there?
Depending on how you behaved. The doctors noticed everything: what you were doing, whether you were reacting adequately, how you were calculating tables or commenting on certain situations...
All this and your reports indicated mental disorders. By the way, there were people who couldn’t stand it.- And what reactions did they give?
Well, for example, in Kadenyuk’s group there was a guy who started hallucinating. Pointing to the lamp, he said in all seriousness that They they arrive, They surrounded...
-...but we don’t give up?
- (Laughs). It was incomprehensible to a normal person who was flying in, what... The doctors, naturally, drew conclusions and wrote off this candidate. In general, they usually spend from 10 to 15 days in a soundproofing chamber...
- Without going out?
Absolutely. They see you, they watch you around the clock, even when you sleep... Only when you fulfill physiological needs, it is hidden from prying eyes.
- Life behind glass?
Yes! Almost all the time in sight, and not a single sound is heard from outside. You don’t know how people who conduct research react to your actions; you don’t have any specific task. It is only allowed to read the charter, study the instructions and do handicrafts. For example, in the isolation chamber I remembered my youthful hobbies - I drew a self-portrait. Well, considering that I have a special love for the sea (my father is a sailor), I cut out a sailing boat from a piece of wood that I took with me. Then, when they opened the door, the head of the psychological laboratory first grabbed him. He himself is a naval medic, so he was inspired... “This will end up in our museum,” he said. By the way, later photographs of my handicrafts were published.
It’s hard for us, people who have never been in space and are unlikely to go there, to imagine what weightlessness is...
It is very difficult, almost impossible to describe it, because there are no analogues on Earth. What does this remind you of? The state when a person is immersed in water, and neither sinks nor floats up, is a stable equilibrium. On the other hand, in water there is a certain resistance, a reverse reaction or something - by moving your hand, you can turn around. In space, no matter how much you jerk, you won’t move. You will dangle until you touch some support with your hand or foot.
At first, when after two hours of preparation at the launch and being put into orbit in a spacesuit, tightened with straps, you find yourself in weightlessness, it’s even nice that you’re freed from all this, a feeling of lightness arises. True, during the first five to six hours it is recommended not to actively move - this is a load on the vestibular apparatus!
Then weightlessness manifests itself in the form of a headache. Some people experience something like seasickness, but Boris and I had a feeling of a strong rush of blood. This is natural, since there is a redistribution of blood in the body - from the legs it flows in the so-called small circle to the upper half of the body.
I remember we had already unbuckled, changed clothes, and were doing something. I looked at Boris, and he was swollen, his face took on a bluish tint. “You’re not very photogenic,” he said.
- You also wanted to joke...
He responded: “Look at yourself.” I looked in the mirror - indeed... Over the course of about a week, adaptation took place.
“The only thing that flashed through my head was: “How will my people stay on Earth?”
- The crew of Boris Volynov and Vitaly Zholobov roamed the expanses of space back in 1976, but still, as far as I know, there are conflicting rumors surrounding it. I understand that this information is probably classified, and yet... They say that your flight ended prematurely due to a conflict that arose on board. Allegedly, one of the astronauts even grabbed his service weapon to shoot the other. This is true?
- (Smiles). Well, firstly, the service weapon is in the NAZ (this is an emergency reserve), which in turn is located in the lowered apparatus. We, being in the station, did not have access to it. (Although no, once they went there because they didn’t find analgin tablets and something else that was included in the flight). No, there was no service weapon, no conflict - there was only a certain situation.
Each flight reveals something new in this regard. One crew, for example, suffers from a lack of information, another wants to watch a movie, listen to music, or read. Although we spent 49 days in orbit, we had very little free time, so we didn’t really want anything special. At the same time, being constantly in a confined space, we are simply hungry for... earthly smells. This, if you like, was a feature of our crew. I really wanted to smell something familiar - garlic, cucumber... Do you know what helped? The flight suits we wore at the station had Aeroflot napkins soaked in a pleasant lotion... You take it, smell it, and it becomes a little easier.
We constantly reported this problem - the lack of normal earthly smells - to the Mission Control Center. As for the premature completion of the program... When all the work had practically been completed - all that remained was to send a special information capsule with spent film and materials to Earth - the management decided that this was not necessary. They decided that during its launch the crew might be in danger. So we were told: “Enough!” - and they told me to fold up.
- So there was no psychological incompatibility?
No, absolutely.
They also told me that during the flight you had an emergency situation when you were already on the verge of death...
There was an emergency situation, and more than one, but why now wonder how it could end?
The station was constantly flying in an oriented state, and suddenly, along with the docked ship, it lost control... This happened not through our fault - because of an error on the Earth. The most severe consequences could not be excluded, even to the point that the entire structure could go wrong... It is quite flimsy, soft, and reacts to every movement.
How flimsy? When you train on Earth, a huge station, a ship - everything is stable, you walk - and there is a hard surface under you. In space, at the slightest movement, you feel how the engines begin to work hard - any change in the center of gravity immediately affects stabilization...
Here they say: running on a treadmill. In fact, this is reminiscent of cat movements, because when you run on the ground, there is a shock load on the ground and on the body, and then, as soon as you make a few sharp movements, the solar panels begin to flap their “wings”... Well, three millimeters - the maximum thickness of the skin...
- Was there a moment when you thought you were already dying?
There was, and I remember it very well. You know, it’s not fear that comes, but... absolute indifference. The only thing that flashed through my head was: “How will my people stay on earth?”
- What kind of situation has arisen?
The Earth also made a mistake... When the command to undocking was given, the ship went back - and suddenly such a blow! Shaking began... The fact is that the Earth forgot to “unfasten” the latches on the docking rod and the pin that goes into the docking apparatus socket got stuck. "Well, now hold on!" - Think.
Landing in such a “coupled” state is very difficult. You can, for example, descend together with the station, but when the ship is landing in normal mode, at an altitude of 100 kilometers it also separates. The crew remains only in the capsule of the return vehicle, and it is difficult to predict what will happen next.
- When the shaking started, did you think: “This is it!”?
Such an unpleasant feeling arose, but then they gradually calmed down.
“During the soft landing, Boris Volynov lost four teeth.”
- If I'm not mistaken, did the Earth lose contact with you at that moment?
No, we got in touch and reported what happened. They didn’t tell us anything, they only gave us the command to be in the descent module. We made one more turn, repeated the undocking - and okay, we finally left the station.
According to rumors, during the first flight Boris Volynov had a terrible descent and landing. Your situation with him, as far as I know, has repeated itself. Is it true that at the moment of landing, due to wild overloads, astronauts lose their teeth, and some experience paralysis of their legs?
I have already said that somewhere at an altitude of 100 kilometers the transport ship separates: the orbital and instrument compartments fly off, and you remain in the capsule. On Boris's first flight, the orbital compartment moved away, but the instrument compartment did not. So, in the docked position, he went down, but the descent vehicle is docked to the instrument compartment by the part that takes all the loads, and primarily fire ones - there is a special thermal coating there. On the opposite side there is a hatch through which we enter the descent vehicle. It is not designed to withstand the loads of descent, and Boris went down the hatch, so to speak.
This is the first. Second. Although the landing is called soft, many crews experienced this "softness" (grins) on myself. Boris, for example, lost four of his teeth when he landed for the first time...
- And you?
It turned out that the ship was swinging on the parachute lines, and the soft-propellant powder engines, designed to dampen the speed of descent, fired at maximum amplitude when the ship was deflected to its maximum... That is, they did not dampen the speed, but vice versa. How we were thrown forward! We flew by, I remember, about eight meters - impact! Then jump, another three meters, another meter!..
The blow was so powerful that the logbook I was holding in my hands flew out of its binding (only the first and last pages remained), and Boris’s headset cord broke. What can I tell you? We looked at each other... He asks: “Are you alive?” I say: "Alive." We sat. No one meets us, no one opens the hatch...
- No carpet for you, no orchestra, no members of the Politburo...
Nothing! “Well, shall we get out?” And it was then that we felt the Earth embrace us. It’s hard... In addition, the ship is lying on its side - try to get out of it. Boris had a chair right under the hatch - he opened it, and I was below, as a center of gravity...
- Is it a small ship in general?
The volume is two and a half cubes, despite the fact that there is equipment and chairs. The distance from the face to the dashboard is 30 centimeters. Of course, you won’t hit your forehead - it’s tied, but it’s still unpleasant.
And just imagine: Boris crawled out of the ship. Now I have to move into his chair, and the helmet on the spacesuit is already open, and while I was moving, its glass got stuck between the chair and the lampshade. There is a distance of two centimeters, and it was necessary to arrange it that way! And I’m tied down, I can’t even move.
- And I probably don’t have the strength...
Yes (smiles), not much strength. “Boris,” I ask, “help.” I hear in response: “Now!” I sit and sit and begin to twitch: “Boris, help!” - "Now". I saw him sprawled on the ground, exhausted. Lying down, looking at the sky...
- What, your arms and legs don’t obey?
My hands obey me, but it’s impossible to stand on my feet. Finally, I finally freed myself, crawled out and lay down next to him. We look into the sky, helicopters are flying somewhere... Late summer, August, we landed near Kokchetav right on a wheat field - the harvesting was just underway.
We lay down, and then we need to identify ourselves. According to the instructions, I am supposed to do this. How? Get the NAZ, unpack the missiles. Everything is secured there with a safety wire, but there are no wire cutters, nothing - well, at least tear it with your teeth.
- And the fingers are probably someone else’s...
The weakness is such that you can barely crawl. At the same time, it feels like you are being thrown with an amplitude of one meter. First, I took out a large rocket that descends by parachute, but when I opened it, the ring with the cord fell out along with the lid - there was nothing to pull. I had to climb a second time.
Next I pulled out the combination signal light. This is an ordinary flare: during the day, let’s say, you designate yourself with smoke, and at night with fire. When we pulled it, it began to spray sheaves of sparks, and then there was wheat. Dear mother, we were afraid that we might set the field on fire.
Let's dig into the ground - we've finally put it out. The last option is a pistol made in the shape of a fountain pen (I still keep it). Small flares go in there. I took them out and started shooting. Somewhere from the fourth rocket I saw that a helicopter had spotted us, turned, and immediately all the helicopters came towards us.
As soon as they landed, the first thing we did was drink God knows how much water. Too much dehydration... Our crew doctor jumped up: “Alive?” - "Everything is fine!". It turns out that they couldn’t find us for about 40 minutes. Helicopters circled over the combine, they saw it, but we weren’t.
"As a rule, a pilot fights to the last"
- I remember how Dobrovolsky, Volkov and Patsayev died, how Komarov burned down. They say that the astronauts were shown his remains: they say, look, this is a dangerous profession...
- (Sighs). In general, we ourselves understood how dangerous it was. First, Komarov died on the first Soyuz ship. When hitting the ground, the soft landing engines, which I have already mentioned, fired almost into the ship. He was simply fried, baked, it was such a tragedy... And Dobrovolsky, Volkov and Patsayev died when the ship was divided into compartments. The membrane of the breathing ventilation valve, which was supposed to operate at an altitude of four and a half kilometers (even when you are hanging on a parachute), opened at an altitude of 100 kilometers. Almost the entire atmosphere was blown out, and blood began to boil. They landed still warm, not disfigured in any way - there were no blows, no hemorrhages.
Yes, Komarov’s remains were shown to the cosmonauts.
- For what?
As a rule, when an aviation or space tragedy occurs, professionals need to know what is involved. If a misfortune happens to a pilot, a group is immediately sent to search and rescue... When, for example, Yura Gagarin died, we were part of a special group and knew that only pieces remained of the crew.
- In your opinion, is the death of Gagarin an unfortunate accident, sabotage, or is it all due to the human factor?
Probably still the human factor. Personally, I am inclined to believe the version proposed by Nikolai Fedorovich Kuznetsov, at that time the head of the Cosmonaut Training Center. I even saved the article where it is described. He believed that Seryogin had psychological problems.
- But Seryogin is such a practitioner, he flew almost every day...
Yes, he was a test pilot, a Hero of the Soviet Union, but he was planning to leave the troops, it seems that everything happened because of these experiences...
Yura was already sitting on the plane, and Seregin was still talking on the phone with Moscow. Apparently, these troubles affected him and his heart sank right in the air. If Seregin unfastened, then it is possible that he simply fell on the handle, and since he was sitting in the rear cockpit, this led to fatal consequences... In a twin-seater, the rear cockpit is the instructor's cockpit, that is, it has the preferential right to control. Yura sat in front and no matter how much he pulled the handle, it had no effect.
- Why didn’t Gagarin eject?
I think out of solidarity... As a rule, a pilot fights to the last, hoping to fix something.
- Is it true that you saw Gagarin the day before?
Yes. We had no flights that day. Usually, while some are flying, others are minding their own business. We were doing exercises, and when Yura walked from the house to the service area to the dining room to go from there to the airfield, we exchanged a few phrases with him. Suddenly I see he’s coming back. We let him goad him: they say, you’re going early, he quickly flew away. He answered: “Yes, I forgot my pass.”
- Did he need a pass?
He thought so - despite the fact that every soldier knew him. This, by the way, speaks of a person’s discipline and organization. Yes, he quite sincerely believed that he was obliged to show his pass because he was heading to a sensitive facility.
“I truly loved Yura Gagarin, I couldn’t imagine that he was no more”
- Remember your reaction when you learned that Gagarin had died...
- (Sighs). You know, we hoped until the end that this did not happen. That day we had classes, and suddenly they called Beregovoy - Georgy Timofeevich was the commander of the detachment. After a while he returns and asks: “Who has how many parachute jumps, who is ready to jump?” We had already had a hundred jumps, and several people quickly ran to change into their flight clothes. We jumped on the bus and headed to the airfield.
- Did they explain the reasons to you?
Beregovoi said that Yura was supposed to land, but he had been gone for an hour. Not understanding what had happened, but hoping that there was some kind of emergency landing or ejection, we took off by helicopter. Along the entire Yura route they were looking for a parachute or other traces, and when we were almost approaching Kirzhach... As soon as we landed, they reported on the radio that a specific area had been cordoned off, a special group and authorities were working. They told us: “Come back,” which meant: the plane crashed, the crew crashed...
- Your reaction?
I truly loved Yura. He is an amazing person, we had a very good relationship. I won’t say that we were friends, but we played volleyball together, I received from him... well, not reprimands - remarks. There was, I remember, an episode when I spoke out against Tereshkova and her group...
- What is Tereshkova’s group?
The girls who trained under Valya... I said to one of them: “Why are you all complaining? Instead of whining, you need to study, work.” She was offended, reported to Tereshkova. Valya spoke at the meeting, Yura supported her, but then they sorted it out... No, there were practically no incidents. I was the captain of the volleyball and basketball teams, so I could have shouted, but Yura never, not once, reprimanded me...
We were just starting to communicate, as they say now, informally, and I said: “Yuri Alekseevich, during official hours you can’t do without subordination, but it’s somehow inconvenient, when we play in shorts and T-shirts, to address: “Comrade commander!” to me: “Vitaly, you yourself understand that everyone here is equal.” True, I never used this somehow to become on friendly terms with him.
When I found out that Yura died, it was so painful... It was as if I had lost a loved one. Very close! I couldn’t imagine that Yura was no more. In the same way, I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that Dobrovolsky, Volkov, and Patsayev had died. After all, Zhora Dobrovolsky and Vitya Patsayev and I were sitting at the same table in the flight canteen. Zhora was from Odessa, a cheerful guy, and I like to joke. When we celebrated something, especially the New Year (we always celebrated it with our team of cosmonauts), we invited famous people, were responsible for amateur performances, prepared performances, joked... In addition, Dobrovolsky lived above me. Before leaving for the cosmodrome, he invited my wife and me, and we sat for a while. Zhora didn’t drink at all, but here, for the only time in my memory, he slammed a glass of cognac. The reason was double - his birthday and the eve of the start.
When both Zhora and Vitya died (we were closer with Dobrovolsky - Patsayev appeared in the detachment later)... What can I tell you... I came to the dining room, I looked - the bouquets were in their places. He turned and left. For three days I could neither eat nor drink...
I remember the wonderful song by Pakhmutova and Dobronravov about Yuri Gagarin: “Do you know what kind of guy he was?” What kind of guy was Yuri Alekseevich?
We met on the day of our first visit to the Cosmonaut Training Center with a group of guys. There was a mutual introduction: we talked about ourselves, Evgeniy Anatolyevich Karpov (at that time he was the head of the Center) - about the cosmonauts of the first detachment. But Yura was not there, he was summoned to Moscow.
After the formal part there was an evening, dancing and everything else. Well, we, like new recruits, are standing at the wall, people are dancing... Then Yura comes up. He shook everyone's hand, said something, and joked about my mustache (by the way, I am the first mustachioed cosmonaut). He created such an atmosphere of goodwill that I felt as if I had known him for many years.
- Managed to remain a normal, simple person?
Yes, and at the same time - I was surprised at this - he, like a sponge, absorbed a lot into himself. In communication, Yura was very sociable, never showed disdain for anyone and did not stick out himself. Wonderful guy...
“Gera Titov had a hidden sadness because he was not the first”
- What do you think his future would have been like if he had not died? Could Gagarin, with his boundless popularity, become, let's say, the leader of the country?
I think Yura would not agree to this. He was a deputy, and that was enough. He could have led the cosmonautics, the Cosmonaut Training Center, served, say, in Kamanin’s place, directly subordinate to the Air Force Commander-in-Chief, and this, I think, attracted him more... They often ask: why did he fly?
- And really, why?
Yes, because he is a born pilot and chose this profession for himself. Cosmonautics is like a different stage, but the pilot must fly - even on a broom! The administrative activities he was involved in as deputy head of the Center obliged him to fly, and he himself aspired to the same. We already had a group that went through test pilot school; German Titov headed it. Now imagine: there are two pilots who came into aviation together and chose this profession for themselves. One says: “I have already mastered the MiG-21 and Su-7,” and the other still flies the MiG-15 or Il-29. This, you know, hurts. Yura really wanted to fly, he took flying seriously. All visitors who come to Star City and enter his office are shown a calendar, like a museum exhibit, with the following written in his hand: “Flights, flights, flights”...
I remember when Bykovsky and Tereshkova returned, we were invited to a reception. For the first time we found ourselves in this situation: we saw the Reception House with its abundance, unprecedented dishes on the table... Naturally, some of the boys got involved in this business, but then Yura came out. “Who,” he asks, “has preliminary preparation?” (preliminary - this is a few days before flights). One, two, three responded, including me. He says: "On the bus - and to the base." He had a serious, reverent attitude to work.
I heard that German Titov, who was an ambitious man, suffered greatly all his life from the fact that he was not the first cosmonaut on the planet. It weighed on him, undermined him, gave him no rest...
Probably a little wrong... Yes, Herman had this hidden sadness, but it only spurred him on. He did not sit idly by and did not revel in the glory. He was the first among cosmonauts to graduate from the General Staff Academy, then became a very important leader, Colonel General of the Rocket Forces. Gera was very smart, active, we were family friends. Yes, he could say something sharply, besiege him, and was less tactful than Yura. Gagarin did not allow strong expressions.
Vitaly Mikhailovich, in orbit, cosmonauts are engaged in very different things, including, as far as is already known, intelligence activities. What kind of tasks did you have to perform? Have you photographed any secret objects from space, or observed the military bases of the supposed enemy?
There was no intelligence as such then. Our flight was associated with approbation and testing of reconnaissance equipment, which made it possible to observe almost any objects on the ground...
- Tell me, is it generally good to see from above? If you look out the window, is the Earth in full view?
Well, for comparison... Let's say you're flying on an airplane and you see a city with some kind of airfield. So, from a height of about 300 kilometers, the airfield seems the size of a match head. During daylight hours you can’t really see the city, but at night, well lit, it is clearly visible. The land itself is a little brownish, and even the Siberian forests seem not green, but of a brownish hue, as if dusted with roadside dust. Mountains, water surfaces, and the coastline are clearly visible. This is when viewed with the naked eye.
"I don't believe in aliens yet"
- And again I’ll quote Pakhmutova’s song. Remember: “And you, you fly, and the stars give you their tenderness”? There is, in my opinion, cosmic loneliness. I can imagine: 300 kilometers to the Earth, not a single living soul around, except for a comrade in misfortune or happiness... A person obviously feels like some kind of grain of sand in this endless space...
In my opinion, we should talk not about emotions, but about the different sensations from the flight. No, we did not feel either loneliness or heroism in what we did. This was our job.
Once we were sent a telegram with the following content: “One half of the world is sleeping, the other is working, and only you two are in orbit. Don’t you feel lonely?” Only then did it dawn on me: indeed, the Earth works, rests, falls in love, breaks records, and only two eccentrics spin in the heights. What arose was not a feeling of pride - rather, an understanding that we have a rare profession and few people manage to see and experience all this.
Did we feel like a speck in this space? While studying mathematics, everyone used the concept of “infinity,” but I managed to feel it physically. I remember that an astrophysical experiment was planned - filming one constellation, and there were two stars that had to be found and photographed at a certain time. When I found them, I saw another star behind one of the stars, barely noticeable, and the first thing that came to mind: “But it will take thousands of years to fly to it.” That’s when I literally understood to the point of trembling: what we see is only a small part of the universe, beyond that there is an abyss.
You begin to realize that the Earth is just a grain of sand in the ocean of space, and we who live on it are tiny creatures, insects, although, thank God, endowed with reason. You think: how do people quarrel and fight if life is so short? Why is this home planet crippled by wars? Those who are starting all this should, in my opinion, be put in one ship and sent into space without returning home.
You can probably look at the Earth on such a large scale only from space. In the 70s of the last century, I remember Professor Azhazhi’s lectures and articles on unidentified flying objects were very popular. In particular, the professor referred to Soviet cosmonauts and American astronauts. Tell me please, have you seen a UFO in person? Have you heard about them from your colleagues? Do UFOs even exist? In your opinion, are earthlings alone in the Universe or are there brothers in mind somewhere?
Intellectually, I admit that somewhere far away it is quite possible that other civilizations exist, but I always say that organizing a message in the form of some kind of radio or light signal or receiving it from a possible civilization is much easier than seeing a structure created by intelligent beings.
But do you believe that aliens are sending aircraft to Earth, landing their representatives, contactees?
I don't believe it yet.
- What about your colleagues?
None of the astronauts I know have said that they saw a UFO. Do you remember when such evidence was once attributed to Grechko? He was so tired of these conversations that on the second flight, when he flew with Lesha Gubarev, Zhora conducted such an experiment with his partner. Pieces of torn plating sometimes fly around a station or ship. If you see one of them through the window, it may seem like some kind of unidentified flying object located very far away. It’s like distance on water - it’s deceptive because there are no landmarks, but if you change your angle of view and look, say, at the wing of a solar battery, you’ll see that this particle is flying at a distance of a meter. In general, Grechko called Lesha and said: “Look, a UFO.” He gasped: “Yes!” And Georgy with a smile: “Now look like this.”
You see, education, erudition and upbringing push us to the idea that somewhere far away, in an atmosphere close to that existing on Earth, humanoid creatures should probably live, but so far, I repeat, it’s hard for me to believe it. Perhaps there is simply a different habitat there, not suitable for us...
In the 60s they sang that “apple trees will bloom on Mars.” Today do you believe that people can easily live on Mars, on the Moon, on other planets?
- (Smiles). It’s too early to talk about this, too early.
“After drinking in space, you feel the same as on Earth... Just not wobbly.”
- From the little men who can sometimes be seen through drunken eyes, let’s move directly to drinking. Cosmonauts are living people, and I’m sure they also sometimes want to warm up, relieve stress, just feel some kind of change... At the stations, do the crews allow themselves to take a breather?
Flight is different. Some are associated, for example, with great tension, have a busy work schedule, others are aimed at duration, at records. For example, we had such a workload that there was no time for drinking at all.
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Nevertheless, the guys tried and drank... But this was when the system of providing transport ships had already been established.
- How did they transport alcohol into orbit?
Well, you can always make a trick (laughs)- there would be a desire. They sent cognac. If you happen to meet cosmonaut Volodya Lyakhov, he can tell you...
- And what are your impressions? Earthly?
The same ones, only it doesn’t wobble (laughs).
The burning topic is space and sex. I wonder when women and men fly, does science challenge them to try sex in outer space? Do they not have a purely human desire, given the length of the journey and isolation from home?
You see, the women who flew... I, for example, am well acquainted with everyone who was in Tereshkova’s group, but these are, I will say this, work colleagues, employees. The attitude towards them is different...
- And yet, in your opinion, is sex in space possible?
Why not?
- That is, everything works as expected and weightlessness does not affect potency?
Absolutely, but I think... or rather, I know that no experiments of this kind have been carried out yet.
Are you sure about this? Americans have been flying mixed crews for quite a long time. Would it really not occur to science to conduct such an experiment on board?
I think that over time it may be planned. In any case, on Earth, training in this area continues (laughs).
- Tell me, are there any changes in the potency of astronauts or not?
I didn't notice it on myself. By the way, many cosmonauts - the same Yura Gagarin, Gera Titov - had children after the flight... Of course, immediately after landing there is no time for this, because you can barely walk at all. The recovery is quite intensive, but still long-term, we are constantly under the supervision of doctors. About a month passes before you are allowed to go home into a normal living environment.
"Leading a region is more difficult than flying into space"
- Previously, 30-40 years ago, the country closely watched every step of the cosmonauts... When they were flying, detailed reports were published every day in Pravda, Izvestia and other central newspapers about what the crew did in orbit, then The cosmonauts were solemnly greeted, awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal, they were received by Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev...
The Motherland provided the astronauts with all possible honors. How generously did the state pay for their work? How much, for example, did you receive for your flight - remember?
I remember very well: seven and a half thousand rubles and a car.
- Surely "Volga"?
Certainly. You touched on a topic that I can’t help but continue... Something makes me say this. We are all already - I mean veteran cosmonauts - people of age, but if in Russia there is a provision on cosmonauts and the government of the Russian Federation has adopted legislative acts on their material maintenance and pension provision, then in Ukraine, unfortunately, there is nothing similar. I think this is unfair and wrong.
I love Ukraine very much, I dreamed of returning to my homeland and I am happy that I returned, but...
However, you are not only the only Soviet cosmonaut living today outside of Russia, not only for a long time the only one in the detachment who wore a luxurious mustache. As far as I know, you are the only cosmonaut to hold the post of governor and led the Kherson regional administration for several years. How did you get into power?
In short, thank God it's over. (laughs).
- And what was more difficult? Fly into space or lead the region?
Of course, to lead the region. Why? An astronaut knows his task better than twice two, which has been clearly worked out in training...
- Plus Mission Control Center is not asleep...
Yes, everything is laid out in seconds, almost everything related to your work is known. Here, faced with a huge number of problems,
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Unfortunately, our people are not very educated in legal terms and do not know Ukrainian legislation. Yes, it can be difficult to keep track of even for specialists - some amendments are constantly being adopted, some norms are being canceled altogether. But the basic laws, the state structure, our fellow citizens must know, must understand what, say, a governor can do, and what a mayor can do...
People came to me as the first secretary of the regional committee, who could resolve issues with one click of a button or a phone call, but the governor did not have such opportunities... This resonated painfully with me, I was very worried that I could not, for example, help an honored person or enterprise , which is falling apart before our eyes without receiving subsidies...
When starting any kind of restructuring, you need to clearly understand the goal, calculate in advance what will happen...
-...and predict the result...
Undoubtedly. The law of automatic control states: the circuit must have feedback.
(born June 18, 1937) - pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, Hero of the Soviet Union (1976), colonel-engineer. Served as a test engineer in aviation units. In 1963 he joined the cosmonaut corps. In the summer of 1976, together with B.V. Volynov, he flew on the Soyuz-21 spacecraft and the Salyut-5 orbital station. In 1976-1981 worked as an astronaut instructor at the Cosmonaut Training Center. Yu. A. Gagarin. In the 90s he was the head of the administration of the Kherson region (Ukraine).
Zholobov, Vitaly Mikhailovich
Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, Hero of the Soviet Union; born June 18, 1937 in the village. Zburevka, Golopristansky district, Kherson region, Ukrainian SSR; graduated from the Azerbaijan Institute of Oil and Gas in 1959, the Military-Political Academy named after V.I. Lenin in 1974; worked as an engineer, served in the Soviet Army as a test engineer in an aviation unit; in 1963 he was enlisted in the detachment; completed a full course of general space training and preparation for flights on the Soyuz spacecraft and the Almaz military orbital station; July 6 - August 24, 1976 he flew into space as a flight engineer of the Soyuz-21 spacecraft and the Salyut-5 orbital station, during which he carried out reconnaissance work; later he was the commander of a group of cosmonaut students, an instructor-cosmonaut at the Cosmonaut Training Center named after. Yu. A. Gagarin; in 1981 he left the cosmonaut corps and went into the reserves; after the collapse of the USSR, he worked for some time as the head of the administration of the Kherson region (Ukraine); awarded the Order of Lenin and medals; Honorary citizen of the cities of Kaluga, Prokopyevsk (Russia), Tselinograd (Kazakhstan), Kherson (Ukraine).
Serial number 78 - (35)
Number of flights - 1
Flight duration - 49 days 06 hours 23 minutes 32 seconds.
Status - USSR pilot-cosmonaut, 2nd Air Force recruit
Date and place of birth:
Born on June 18, 1937 in the village of Staraya Zburevka, Golopristansky district, Kherson region, Ukrainian SSR.
Education and scientific titles:
In 1954 he graduated from the 10th grade of secondary school No. 164 in Baku.
In 1959, he graduated from the mechanical faculty of the “Automation and Telemechanics” department of the Azerbaijan Order of the Red Banner of Labor Institute of Oil and Chemistry named after Azizbekov. Received a diploma in the specialty “Automatic, telemechanical and electrical measuring instruments and devices” and the qualification “electrical engineer”.
On July 29, 1974, he graduated from the correspondence department of the Military-Political Orders of Lenin and the October Revolution of the Red Banner Academy named after V.I. Lenin with a degree in Military-Political Aviation. Qualified as an “officer with higher military-political education.”
Professional activity:
From April 1, 1983 to February 1987, he worked as assistant general director of NPO Mayak in Kyiv for civil defense, and chief of the civil defense staff of the Research Institute of Electromechanical Devices. In 1986, for two months he was engaged in the evacuation of people and equipment from the city of Pripyat. Liquidator of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (NPP).
In February 1987, he transferred to the Noyabrsk integrated research department to the position of head of the directional drilling laboratory of the integrated research department to support work in the Noyabrskneftegaz association in the city of Noyabrsk, Tyumen region, and on February 21, 1987 he was transferred to the Zapsibneftegeofizika Department. On August 21, 1987, he was appointed head of the November aerocosmogeological party for the search for minerals, which he organized.
From 1990 to January 1991, he worked as head of the department of aerocosmogeology and geodesy, and from January 2, 1991 - head of the department of geodesy and cartography of aerocosmogeological research at the branch of the Institute for Advanced Studies (IPK) of the USSR Ministry of Geology in Kyiv. On January 1, 1992, the IPK branch was transformed into the Institute of Management, Business and Personnel Retraining of the State Committee of Ukraine for Geology and Subsoil Use. On December 31, 1992, he was dismissed of his own free will.
From January 2 to November 1, 1993, he worked as chairman of the sports committee at the Mirage innovation association.
From June 12, 1996 to February 4, 1997, he worked as Deputy General Director of the National Space Agency of Ukraine (NSAU).
From August 1, 1997 to July 31, 1998, he worked as Deputy Director of Tavria-Impex LTD LLC.
Since November 1, 1998, he worked as Deputy General Director of Kalita LLP.
Since April 11, 2002 he has been the President of the Aerospace Partnership of Ukraine.
Military service:
On July 1, 1959, he was called up for active military service and placed under the command of the head of military unit 15644 (at the Kapustin Yar training ground).
From August 15, 1959, he served as the head of the vehicle of the RUD department of the engineering and testing team of military unit 31935 (at the Kapustin Yar training ground)
From January 11, 1960 he served as a test engineer of the 3rd department of military unit 15646 (at the Kapustin Yar training ground)
On January 7, 1981, by order of the Air Force Commander-in-Chief, he was dismissed from the Armed Forces for health reasons.
Military rank:
Lieutenant engineer (05/05/1959).
Senior Lieutenant Engineer (06/14/1962).
Engineer-captain (09/15/1964).
Engineer major (04/11/1967).
Lieutenant Colonel Engineer (12/01/1969), from 12/03/1971 - Lieutenant Colonel Engineer.
Colonel-engineer (08/29/1976), from 01/07/1981 - reserve colonel.
Service in the cosmonaut corps and the Cosmonaut Training Center:
On January 23, 1965, he was appointed to the post of cosmonaut of the 2nd detachment (military space programs).
On April 30, 1969, he was appointed cosmonaut of the 2nd Department of the 1st Directorate of the 1st Research Institute of the Cosmonaut Training Center.
On March 30, 1976, he was appointed as a cosmonaut of the special-purpose spacecraft group.
On January 25, 1978, he was appointed as an instructor-cosmonaut, commander of a group of cosmonaut students.
On January 7, 1981, by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, he was dismissed from the Armed Forces and expelled from the cosmonaut corps for health reasons. Removed from the unit list on January 31, 1981.
Space training:
In 1962, he underwent a medical examination at the Central Military Research Aviation Hospital (TsVNIAG) and in November received clearance from the Central Medical Flight Commission (TsVLK). January 8, 1963 At a meeting of the credentials committee, he was recommended for enrollment in the cosmonaut corps. By order of the Air Force Commander No. 14 dated January 10, 1963 was enrolled in the Cosmonaut Training Center as a student-cosmonaut.
From January 1963 to January 1965 he underwent general space training (GST). On January 13, 1965, after passing the OKP exams, he received the qualification “Air Force cosmonaut”. On January 23, 1965, he was appointed to the post of cosmonaut of the 2nd detachment (military space programs).
From September 1966 to 1971, he underwent training under the Almaz program as part of a group of cosmonauts.
From November 1971 to April 1972, he underwent training in a conditional crew together with Viktor Gorbatko.
From September 11, 1972 to February 1973, he trained to fly on the OPS-101 Almaz (Salyut-2) as a flight engineer of the second (backup) crew under the 1st expedition program, together with Boris Volynov. The flight was canceled due to depressurization of the Almaz OPS in orbit in April 1973.
From August 13, 1973 to June 1974, he trained for the flight of OPS-101-2 Almaz (Salyut-3) as a flight engineer of the second (backup) crew of the 1st expedition, together with Boris Volynov. During the launch of the Soyuz-14 spacecraft on July 3, 1974, he was a backup to the ship's flight engineer.
From January 1975 to June 1976, he trained to fly on the OPS-103 Almaz (Salyut-5) as a flight engineer for the main crew under the 1st Expedition program, together with Boris Volynov.
First flight
From July 6 to August 24, 1976, as a flight engineer of the Soyuz-21 spacecraft and the 1st main expedition (EO-1) on the Almaz (Salyut-5) OPS, together with B.Volynov.
Due to problems at the station, the flight was terminated early.
Call sign: “Baikal-2”.
The flight duration was 49 days 06 hours 23 minutes 32 seconds.
Social and political activities:
In 1993, he initiated the creation and became chairman of the Kherson Cosmonaut Gagarin Foundation for the social protection of disabled people, low-income people, Afghan soldiers and victims of the Chernobyl accident.
From July 12, 1994 to June 7, 1996, he worked as the head (head) of the Kherson Regional Rada of People's Deputies.
Since July 11, 1995, he was the head of the Kherson Regional State Administration.
He is the president of the All-Ukrainian Association "Glory", created under the patronage of the State Committee of Communications and Information (unites Heroes of the Soviet Union, Heroes of Socialist Labor, full holders of the Order of Glory and members of their families).
Academic degrees:
Since April 22, 1994, he has been an academician of the Transport Academy of Ukraine.
Honorary titles:
Hero of the Soviet Union (Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated September 1, 1976).
Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR (09/01/1976).
Honored Master of Sports of the USSR (09/17/1976).
Statesman of the 1st rank (Ukraine, 10/05/1994).
Classiness:
Instructor of parachute training (PDT) (01/18/1966).
Cosmonaut 3rd class (08/31/1976).
Awards:
He was awarded the Gold Star medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin (09/01/1976), the medal “For the development of virgin lands” (1976), the medal “For excellence in protecting the state border” (1977) and 8th anniversary medals.
Awarded the medal “For Merit in Space Exploration” (Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 436 of April 12, 2011).
Awarded the Order of Merit, III class. (Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 322/2008 dated April 11, 2008).
Family status
Father - Mikhail Gavrilovich Zholobov, (1905 - 08/25/1993), captain of the CASPAR shipping company in Baku.
Mother - Zholobova Anastasia Vasilievna, (1908 - 09/10/1998), housewife.
Brother - Zholobov Valentin Mikhailovich, born in 1935, engineer at the SK plant in Sumgait, retired.
Wife (former) - Zholobova (Tuchkova) Liliya Ivanovna, born in 1936, worked as an engineer at Central Research Institute-30.
Daughter - Elena Vitalievna Zholobova, born in 1962, was married to cosmonaut Timothy Mace (Great Britain).
Wife - Zholobova (Andriets) Tatyana Ilyinichna, b. 03/28/1952, worked as a sociologist at the oil and gas production department "Kholmogorneft" in the city of Noyabrsk, Tyumen region.
Daughter - Zholobova Anastasia Vitalievna, b. 05/13/1982.
Hobbies
Fishing, hunting, music, books, cars, air sports.