Valery Bykovsky

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Valery Fyodorovich Bykovsky
Cosmonaut
Status	Retired
Born	August 1934 Pavlovsky Posad, Russia
Other occupation	Pilot
Rank	Major General, Soviet Air Force
Time in space	20d 17h 48m
Selection	1960 Air Force Group 1
Missions	Vostok 5, Soyuz 22, Soyuz 31
Mission insignia

Valery Fyodorovich Bykovsky (Russian: Валерий Фёдорович Быковский; born 2 August 1934, Pavlovsky Posad) was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew three manned space mission space flights: Vostok 5, Soyuz 22, and Soyuz 31. He was also backup for Vostok 3 and Soyuz 37.

Bykovsky set a new space endurance record when he spent five days in orbit aboard Vostok 5 in 1963, and although this record has been long surpassed, to this day, it remains the space endurance record for a solo flight.

Bykovsky was to have commanded the original Soyuz 2 mission, which was cancelled due to problems with Soyuz 1. After the parachutes failed on that mission, killing Vladimir Komarov, the same problem was found with the Soyuz 2 capsule, which meant if the mission had flown, Bykovsky and his crew would also have been killed.

Many of his later years in the space programme were involved with promoting the Intercosmos programme amongst the world's Socialist nations. He retired in 1988 and then spent three years as the Director of the House of Soviet Science and Culture in Berlin.

Valery Bykovsky was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union (1963), the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Star, and numerous other medals and foreign orders.