They could have been in Gagarin's place. Five stories about the first cosmonaut crew

In 2020, the first cosmonaut crew turned 60. Only 20 people out of thousands of applicants were approved, of whom 12 went into orbit. But only one of them was to go down in history as the first man in space. The virtual exhibition 'The First Cosmonaut Crew. Who Will Fly into Space?' by the Museum of Cosmonautics is about this anniversary.

Read in the collaborative article by mos.ru and Mosgortur Agency about the five pilots who joined the first space crew in 1960.

The best cosmonauts

The search for candidates for the Soviet space program began in 1959 with the development of cosmonaut selection instructions. Apart from discipline and experience, the main criterion was physical condition. Sergei Korolyov, Chief Designer of the First Defence Design Bureau OKB-1, specified the criteria the would-be cosmonaut should meet: age about 30, no more than 1.70 m tall, and weight up to 70 kg.

The commission narrowed the search to fighter pilots who had experienced G force similar to that during a space flight. For several months, the commission studied personal files of more than 3,000 applicants, with 20 of them eventually joining the first cosmonaut crew of the USSR.

German Titov

The main competitor of Yuri Gagarin to become a member of Vostok 1 spaceship crew was German Titov. He became a backer-up of the first cosmonaut. Gagarin wrote in his book 'The Road to Space': 'He was trained as well as I was, and probably capable of even more. Perhaps they did not send him on the first flight, because he was to participate in the second, a more difficult one.' In August 1961, four months after Gagarin's legendary flight, Titov also went into orbit.

His mission was indeed more complex. Titov was the second Soviet cosmonaut, but the first person to make a long space flight. As we know, Gagarin spent 108 minutes in orbit, making a full circle around the Earth. The leadership of the Soviet space program wanted the next flight last longer. Doctors insisted that the next spaceship should make no more than three turns, as no one knew how the human body would react to a long stay in space. But the designers, led by Korolyov, believed that only a 24-hour flight could provide new data on the impact of the space environment on humans.

Vostok 2 spacecraft with cosmonaut Titov on board went into orbit on 6 August 1961. The cosmonaut successfully completed his mission, spending 25 hours and 11 minutes in flight, with 18 turns made. Another peak in space exploration was conquered thanks to his feat. Moreover, invaluable experience helped to improve the pre-flight training of future generations of cosmonauts.

By the way, Titov and Gagarin had not only professional, but also friendly relations. For some time, the cosmonauts even had neighbouring rooms in Zvyozdny Gorodok. Herman Titov wrote in his book 'My Blue Planet': 'I’d say Yuri was a reliable friend and a good partner. He was easy to deal with in any situation.'

Grigory Nelyubov

Of the 20 men who had joined the first crew, eight left the race at some point. Some of them were expelled due to health issues, some due to bad temper.

Grigory Nelyubov was one of the first cosmonauts to join the crew. He was Yuri Gagarin 's second backer-up and was to become the third Soviet cosmonaut, with the launch of his ship scheduled for November 1961. But it never happened, as the leaders of the Soviet space program staked on a group expedition, which included Pavel Popovich and Andrian Nikolayev. Cancellation of the flight frustrated Nelyubov very much. He was sent on vacation, which derailed his dreams of space completely.

On 27 March 1963, Nelyubov and two of his colleagues from the first cosmonaut crew — Ivan Anikeyev and Valentin Filatyev —were detained in a Moscow canteen. Being drunk, Grigory was rather rude with officers. The report on his behaviour was submitted to Nikolai Kamanin, who was in charge of selecting cosmonauts. Nelyubov was offered to apologise, but he refused and was expelled from the crew.

For several years, Grigory endeavoured to return to Zvyozdny Gorodok, as Korolyov still put his trust in him. After Korolyov died in January 1966, the door back for the former member of the first cosmonaut crew closed forever. A month later, Grigory Nelyubov was killed by a train.

Soviet journalist Yaroslav Golovanov wrote in his book 'Cosmonaut No.1': 'I don't think one can blame evil fate in this case. Life favoured Nelyubov. He was just not strong enough to make the most of his life, which was so happy and exciting at the beginning…'

Mars Rafikov

Mars Rafikov was born in 1933 in the Kyrgyz SSR. Like most children born in those years, young Mars was to experience all the hardships of the wartime. Together with adults, he picked up cotton, crops, and scrap metal. After the end of the war, the 14-year-old boy was awarded the medal For Valorous Labour in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

He decided to commit himself to flights and become a pilot. In 1960, his professional success was appreciated, and Mars was lucky to be chosen for a flight into space. Rafikov was doing great during all kinds of training, so that the other members of the first cosmonaut crew never doubted that he would be one of the first people to go into space. However, personal life interfered with his work — so Rafikov believed. He was going to divorce his wife, with his superiors being aware of it. The leaders of the space program asked Rafikov to keep the family, but he was determined.

On 24 March 1962, Mars was dismissed from the cosmonaut crew, with his absence without official leave as the official reason for suspension, but Rafikov was sure that the decision of the authorities was influenced by his family issues and unwillingness to seek a compromise.

After his discharge, he worked as a pilot. In different years, Rafikov worked both around the USSR and abroad. In 1980, he served in Afghanistan in the Soviet mission as an air observer, for which he was later awarded the Order of the Red Star. Even after retirement, Mars Rafikov worked in the Almaty Flying Club for a long time.

Valentin Bondarenko

Flights into outer space are always highly dangerous, as the slightest error of engineers or pilots can have terrible consequences. This applies not only to the flight itself, but also to the preparation to it. This is what the story of Valentin Bondarenko is about.

The tragedy struck a few days before Gagarin's scheduled flight — on 23 March 1961. One of the most important tests for future cosmonauts was training in a surdo-altitude chamber, where pilots were isolated for 10 days. All this time, the pilots lived in a very limited space: there was barely enough space to change the position of the body. Air composition in the training chamber was different from the normal earth conditions, with a 40 per cent higher oxygen concentration.

Bondarenko successfully passed the test. Unfortunately, a tragic accident occurred when he was getting ready to go outside. Doctors asked Valentin to disconnect medical sensors from his body. He wiped their traces with a swab soaked in alcohol. After that, the cosmonaut threw it into a trash bin, but missed, and a swab fell on a hot stove where he was heating his food. The situation, not really dangerous in usual conditions, turned out to be fatal in the room with high oxygen content. The swab instantly flamed up, and the chamber was on fire within seconds.

Valentin was urgently taken to the Botkin Hospital, with his fellow cosmonauts accompanying him. Despite the care he had received, Bondarenko died eight hours later. He was only 24 years old.

For a long time, the tragedy was kept secret: the name of Valentin Bondarenko was never mentioned in the official chronicle again, with his face removed from photos with other members of the first cosmonaut crew. It wasn’t before the 1980s that Russia learned about the tragic fate of Valentin Bondarenko.

Boris Volynov

Some pilots who joined the first crew of cosmonauts had to wait for a very long time to make their first flight. Among them was Boris Volynov, who became a crew member on the same day with Yuri Gagarin, but didn’t make his first flight before 1969, after Cosmonaut No.1 died.

Several times Boris was very close to going into space. He trained with the cosmonauts of Vostok 3 and Vostok 4, and backed up Valery Bykovsky, who flew into space on Vostok 5. In 1965, Boris' dream was about to come true, as he was approved as the commanding officer of Voskhod 3 spaceship. However, this mission was cancelled in 1966 and replaced with an unmanned flight of Kosmos 110.

Only three years later, Boris accomplished what he had been preparing for all this time. As part of the Soyuz 5 crew, he spent three days and 54 minutes in low-earth orbit and returned back safely. Years of waiting and training followed, with Volynov going on the next long space flight only in 1976. The Soyuz 21 mission lasted 49 days, 6 hours and 23 minutes.

Today, Boris Volynov is the last living member of the legendary first cosmonaut crew.

Learn more about the first cosmonaut crew at the virtual exhibition 'First Cosmonaut Crew. Who Will Fly into Space?' on the website of the Museum of Cosmonautics.