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Georgy Dobrovolsky
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Born
Georgy Timofeyevich Dobrovolsky

(1928-06-01)1 June 1928
Odessa, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Died 30 June 1971(1971-06-30) (aged 43)
Soyuz 11, Outer space
Resting place Kremlin Wall Necropolis
Nationality Soviet
Occupation Pilot
Awards Hero of the Soviet Union
Order of Lenin
Space career
Rank Podpolkovnik, Soviet Air Force
Time in space
23d 18h 21m
Selection Air Force Group 2
Missions Soyuz 11

Georgy Timofeyevich Dobrovolsky (Russian: Георгий Тимофеевич Добровольский; 1 June 1928 – 30 June 1971) was a Soviet cosmonaut who commanded the three-man crew of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft. They became the world's first space station crew aboard Salyut 1, but died of asphyxiation because of an accidentally opened valve. They were the first and only humans to have died in space.

Biography

Dobrovolsky, Viktor Patsayev and Vladislav Volkov flew on the Soyuz 11 mission and were the world's third crew to die during a space flight.

After a normal re-entry, the capsule was opened and the crew was found dead. It was discovered that a valve had opened just prior to leaving orbit that had allowed the capsule's atmosphere to vent away into space, suffocating the crew.

Dobrovolsky's ashes were placed in an urn in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis on Red Square in Moscow. Among the pallbearers were Alexei Leonov (who had been the prime-crew commander scheduled to launch on Soyuz 11), Vladimir Shatalov, Andriyan Nikolayev, and American astronaut Thomas P. Stafford. Dobrovolsky was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, the Order of Lenin, and the title of Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Gueorgui Dobrovolski para niños

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