Vladimir Kovalyonok

Vladimir Vasiliyevich Kovalyonok (; ; born 3 March 1942) is a retired Soviet cosmonaut.

He entered the Soviet space programme on July 5, 1967, and was commander of three missions. Together with Aleksandr Ivanchenkov he flew the long-endurance mission EO-2 which set a new record of 139 days in space. He retired from the cosmonaut team on June 23, 1984.

From 1990 to 1992 he was a Director of the 30th Central Scientific Research Institute, Ministry of Defence (Russia).

Missions Soyuz 25 (failed to dock to Salyut 6) Soyuz 29/Soyuz 31 Soyuz T-4 All his missions were to the Salyut 6 space station

Honours and awards Hero of the Soviet Union, twice (2 November 1978 and 26 May 1981) Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 3rd class (16 May 1996) Order of Military Merit (2000) Three Orders of Lenin (15 November 1977, 2 November 1978 and 26 May 1981) Order for Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR, 3rd class (12 August 1991) Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" (12 April 2011) - for great achievements in the field of research, development and use of outer space, many years of diligent work, public activities Hero of the German Democratic Republic (1978) Order of Karl Marx (East Germany, 1978) Hero of the MPR (Mongolia, 1981) Order of Sukhbaatar (Mongolia, 1981) Cross of Grunwald, 3rd class (Poland, 1978) Order for Service to the Homeland, 2nd class (Belarus, 2002)