Yury Romanenko

Yuri Viktorovich Romanenko (; born 1 August 1944) is a former Soviet cosmonaut, twice Hero of the Soviet Union (March 16, 1978 and September 26, 1980). Over his career, Yuri Romanenko spent a total of 430 days 20 hours 21 minutes 30 seconds in space and 18 hours in space walks. His son, Roman Romanenko is also a cosmonaut, and has become the third second-generation space traveler on Soyuz TMA-15 in May 2009.

Early life Yuri Romanenko was born on August 1, 1944, in Koltubanovskiy village in Orenburg Oblast, Soviet Union. His father was a senior commander on military ships, and mother was a combat medic. His family later moved to Kaliningrad, where he graduated from a secondary school in 1961. His hobbies in school included building model aircraft and ships, boxing, shooting and underwater fishing. After school, he briefly worked as a locksmith and builder. In 1962 he enrolled at the Chernigov High Air Force School, Ukraine and graduated with honors in 1966. After graduation, he remained with the School, training the students and practicing as a candidate cosmonaut. He was cleared for space flights in 1970, among only 16 other cosmonauts.

The third and last flight of Romanenko was on Soyuz TM-2 with Aleksandr Laveykin on February 6, 1987, to the Mir station. During that mission, Romanenko spent 326 days aboard Mir, which was the longest stay in space then. He conducted three space walks, on April 11, June 11 and June 16, 1987, with a total duration 8 hr 48 min. He returned to Earth on December 29, 1987, in Soyuz TM-3. However, the electrical cables attaching Romanenko would have certainly stopped him from leaving the space station.

Awards During his career he was awarded: Twice Hero of the Soviet Union (March 16, 1978 and September 26, 1980); Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR; Three Orders of Lenin (1978, 1980 and 1987)); Order of the Red Star (1976); Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" (Russian Federation); Hero of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (1978); Hero of the Republic of Cuba (1980); Order "Madara Horseman" (Bulgarian Socialist Republic); Order of Klement Gottwald (Czechoslovak Socialist Republic); Medal "For Strengthening Military Cooperation" (Czechoslovak Socialist Republic).

Personal life Romanenko has a half-brother, Vladimir (born in 1940), and a sister, Olga (born in 1954). He is married and has two sons, Roman (born on August 9, 1971) and Artem (born May 17, 1977). Roman is a cosmonaut who flew as the commander of Soyuz TMA-15 mission.