Valeri Kubasov

Valery Nikolaevich Kubasov (; 7 January 1935 – 19 February 2014) was a Soviet and Russian cosmonaut who flew on two missions in the Soyuz programme as a flight engineer: Soyuz 6 and Soyuz 19 (the Apollo–Soyuz mission), and commanded Soyuz 36 in the Intercosmos programme. On 21 July 1975, the Soyuz 7K-TM module used for ASTP landed in Kazakhstan at 5:51 p.m. and Kubasov was the first to exit the craft. Kubasov performed the first welding experiments in space, along with Georgy Shonin.

Kubasov was also involved in the development of the Mir space station. He retired from the Russian space program in November 1993 and was later deputy director of RKK Energia.

Kubasov evaded death twice during his space career. He was part of the crew that was originally intended to fly Soyuz 2A, which was found to have the same faulty parachute sensor that resulted in Vladimir Komarov's death on Soyuz 1 and was later launched without a crew. Later, he was grounded for medical reasons before the Soyuz 11 flight, which killed the crew when the capsule was accidentally depressurised by a faulty valve.

Early life Kubasov was born 7 January 1935, in Vyazniki, Vladimir Oblast, Ivanovo Industrial Oblast, RSFSR, now Vladimir Oblast, Russia. After finishing secondary school in 1952, he graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute in 1958 as an aerospace engineer and reported to work at the bureau led by Sergei Korolev. Initially focusing on ballistic studies, Kubasov worked on the design of the Voskhod capsule.

In May 1964, while working for Korolev, Kubasov became one of a handful of civilian candidates who passed preliminary medical screening for one of the Soviet Voskhod missions. Two years later, after some relaxation of the existing rules, Kubasov along with Georgy Grechko and Vladislav Volkov, were officially accepted into the newly established civilian cosmonaut corps.

Cosmonaut

Kubasov's first space mission, the five-day Soyuz 6 flight in October 1969, was unsuccessful due to technical issues as space vehicles never met up. During Soyuz 6 mission Kubasov and Georgy Shonin performed the first welding experiment in space. The Vulcan furnace required internal hatches between the orbital and descent modules to be sealed, with the welding performed automatically, overseen by Kubasov. Samples of stainless steel and titanium were welded together, then cut, after which the hatches were opened for Kubasov to perform a hand-held welding. However, in 1990 it became known that Vulcan's low-pressure compressed arc had inadvertently targeted a beam at the orbital module wall. He was survived by his wife Lyudmila Kurovskaya, daughter Ekaterina and son Dmitry.

Awards Twice Hero of the Soviet Union (1969, 1975) Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR (1969) Medal "People's Technicist" (Yugoslavia)

Kubasov, along with Slayton and Brand, won the Yuri Gagarin Gold Medal from FAI in 1976.

Kubasov was also an honorary citizen of the following cities: Vyazniki, Kaluga, Vladimir, Karaganda, Arkalyk, New York City, Houston, San Francisco, Atlanta, Nashville, and Salt Lake City.