Posted by Ray Katz in current, history, moon
Early cosmonaut, spacecraft designer dies
Konstantin Feoktistov, who was aboard the first multiple-passenger spaceflight—and helped to develop the spacecraft—has died at 83.
Feoktistov helped revise the one-man Vostok spacecraft to fit as many as 3 cosmonauts aboard, as the Voskhod spacecraft did in its initial flight with Feoktistov aboard. He had been dubious about sending the craft up with 3 aboard, until he was selected to be included in the crew. In an unusual, and dangerous maneuver, the crew flew without spacesuits, due to the tight crew compartment of the spacecraft.
Feoktistov on a stamp.
Also flying on Voskhod 1 were Boris Yegorov and Vladimir Komarov. Komorov would later die in the crash of Soyuz 1, which he flew solo.
Feoktistov was an unusual cosmonaut. He never joined the Communist Party—much to the dismay of top officials—and was the first non-military (civilian) space traveler. (Among early American astronauts, Neil Armstrong was the rare civilian.)
Although there was no information on Feoktistov’s survivors, he does have a crater named after him on the moon.
