In the current chronological period, space flights have become commonplace. But still fresh in memory are the years when Soviet people took their first steps in this direction. Andriyan Nikolaev became the third citizen of the USSR to overcome gravity.
Starting conditions
Human life is designed in such a way that childhood dreams and desires are rarely fulfilled. It is known that the majority of boys want to become pilots or sailors. And also astronauts. Andriyan Grigorievich Nikolaev was born on September 5, 1929 in a peasant family. Parents lived in the village of Shorshely, not far from the city of Cheboksary. The boy turned out to be the second child in the house of four. My father worked as a groom on a collective farm. Mother is a milkmaid on a farm. Andriyan from an early age tried to help his parents with household chores.
In 1944 Nikolaev graduated from the seven-year school and entered the forestry technical school. Upon graduation from the educational institution, the graduate was sent to work in Karelia. He liked the new place, and he enthusiastically engaged in the assigned business. Time flew by quickly, and in 1950 Andriyan was drafted into the ranks of the Armed Forces. It fell to serve him in aviation. In the training unit, he completed a training course and received a military registration specialty as an air gunner. A year later, he wrote a report on the transfer to a military aviation school.
Orbital flights
After graduating from college, Nikolaev continued to serve in the Moscow military district. The young pilot came under the command of the legendary ace, three times Hero of the Soviet Union, Alexander Pokryshkin. During one of the training flights on the MiG-17 fighter, the engine failed. Andriyan showed the highest professional training and landed the unguided plane on the field. Thus, he saved expensive equipment and survived. After this incident, the pilot was transferred to instructors. And in 1960 he was invited to the group of pilots who were trained for space flights.
In the cosmonaut corps of six people, Nikolaev occupied the third position. This meant that he would fly into space in turn. And on August 11, 1962, Andriyan Grigorievich took the seat of the commander of the Vostok-3 spacecraft. The pilot spent almost four days in orbit. In accordance with the flight program, he completed the assigned tasks. I took food regularly, three times a day. In certain parts of the flight, he controlled the spacecraft manually. The landing took place clearly according to the regulations.
Recognition and privacy
After the first flight, Nikolaev studied at the Zhukovsky Academy. For several years he served as the commander of the cosmonaut corps. In 1970 he flew on the Soyuz-9 spacecraft as a crew commander. Vitaly Sevastyanov served as a board engineer.
The cosmonaut's personal life has developed dramatically. Andriyan Nikolaev married Valentina Tereshkova, who also visited space. For almost eighteen years, the star couple lived under the same roof. The husband and wife raised and raised their daughter. But the family eventually fell apart. The rest of his life Nikolaev lived as a bachelor. Cosmonaut # 3 died of a heart attack in July 2004
