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Vasily Dmitriyevich Shcheglov Russian Pilot Cosmonaut. Born 9 April 1940. Died 19 July 1973. Personal: Male. Born in Melovashka, Lugansk, Ukraine. Lung cancer. Soviet Air Force Graduated from Yeisk Higher Military Pilot School, 1963 Soviet Air Force. Soviet Air Force. Astronaut Career Astronaut Group: Air Force Group 3 - 1965. Deceased Entered space service: 23 October 1965. Left space service: 18 October 1972. Cosmonaut training November 1965 - December 1967. Withdrawn from cosmonaut team for medical reasons. Shcheglov Chronology 23 October 1965 - Cosmonaut selection. Although Kamanin desired 40 new cosmonaut-trainees, in the end only 17 were selected. They were: - Pilots: Voloshin, Sharafutdinov, Shcheglov, Kramarenko, Yakovlev, Petrushenko,Skvortsov, Fyodorov,Klimuk, Sarafanov, Zudov, Kizim
- Engineers: Kolesnikov,Stepanov Eduard, Lisun, Rozhdestvensky, Khludeyev, Glazkov, Preobrazhensky
- Navigator: Grishchenko
- Physician: Degtyarov
28 October 1965 - Soviet Air Force Cosmonaut Training Group 3 selected.. 26 July 1966 - Soyuz hatch problem. Flight: Soyuz 1, Soyuz 2A, Souyz 3A, Soyuz 4A. Training of the new cosmonaut cadre is reviewed. English language courses are proving to be a particular problem. There have been some potential washouts - Sharafutdinov has done poorly in astronomy, Shcheglov suffered an injury at the beach, Skvortsov damaged his landing gear on a MiG-21 flight. At 15:00 a major review is conducted, with Komarov, Khrunov, Gorbatko, Kamanin, and other VVS officer meeting with OKB-1 leaders Mishin, Tsybin, Severin, Alekseyev, Anokhin, and other engineers. Film is shown of the difficulties in the zero-G aircraft of cosmonauts attempting to exit from the 660 mm diameter hatch. In four sets of ten attempts, the cosmonaut was only to get out of the hatch half the time, and then only with acrobatic contortions - the inflated suit has a diameter of 650 mm, only 10 mm less than the hatch. Mishin finally concedes the point. But installation of the hatch in Soyuz s/n 3 and 4 is not possible - the spacecraft are essentially complete, and to add the hatch would delay their flight 6 to 8 months. Then Mishin makes the astounding assertion that Gorbatko and Khrunov are not adequately trained to be engineer-cosmonauts, and without this he will not allow them into space. He suggests OKB-1 engineers Anokhin and Yeliseyev instead. After outraged response, Severin finally sinks this suggestion by pointing out that no space suit has been prepared for Anokhin, and that it will take two to three months to make one. Kamanin is astounded that Mishin has pushed Anokhin all the way up to Smirnov and the VPK without even knowing he could not possibly fly due to this restriction. It again points out their poor management. Finally Mishin agrees that spacecraft s/n 5 and 6 and on will have 720 mm hatches. The ECS for the suits for those missions will have to be changed from a backpack configuration, with the equipment rearranged around the waist of the cosmonaut. The crews for the flight will be an experienced VVS pilot cosmonaut as commander, and (Kamanin realizes he may have to concede) a VVS engineer as flight engineer cosmonaut. They will have to complete training by 1 October 1966. 15 June 1971 - Soyuz Kontakt and DOS-2 crew assignments made.. Flight: Soyuz 11, Soyuz 12 / DOS 1, Soyuz sn 18, Soyuz sn 19, Soyuz sn 20, Soyuz sn 21, Soyuz sn 22, Soyuz sn 23, DOS 2-1, DOS 2-2, DOS 2-3, DOS 2-4. Crews are formed for six Soyuz (Kontakt?) flights. Soyuz s/n 18 - Filipchenko and Grechko; Soyuz s/n 19 - Lazarev and Makarov; Soyuz s/n 20 - Vorobyov and Yazdovsky; Soyuz s/n 21 - Yakovlelv and Porvatkin; Soyuz s/n 22 - Kovalyonok and Isakov; Soyuz s/n 23 - Shcheglov and [illegible]. Five crews are training for Salyut flights: Crew 1, Leonov, Rukavishnikov, and Kolodin; Crew 2, Gubarev, Sevastyanov, and Voronov. TsKBEM engineer cosmonauts are to be selected will round out the last three crews, but VVS members will be: Crew 3, Klimuk, Artyukhin; Crew 4, Bykovskyy, Alekseyev; Crew 5, Gorbatko. Leonov and Gubarev will have their crews fully ready for Soyuz 12 by 30 June, for a launch date between 15-20 July. Leonov is asking to go to East Germany for two to three days in the first week of July. Kamanin is fully opposed to this - he is thinkng not of his upcoming flight, but the exhibition of his paintings at the Prezdensk Gallery! 1972 - Soyuz sn 23 (cancelled). Assignment: Proposed Prime Crew. Flight: Soyuz sn 23. Soyuz s/n 23 would have been equipped with the passive Kontakt rendezvous/docking system of the LK lunar lander. The spacecraft would have served as a docking target for Soyuz s/n 22. In Kamanin's diary, the name of the second crewmember is illegible. 1972 - Soyuz sn 22 (cancelled). Assignment: Proposed Backup Crew. Flight: Soyuz sn 22. Soyuz s/n 22 would have been the active spacecraft of the second dual launch to test the Kontakt lunar orbit rendezvous system. 19 July 1973 - Cosmonaut Vasily Dmitriyevich Shcheglov dies at age of 33 -- Natural causes.. Bibliography and Further Reading - Becker, Joachim, http://www.spacefacts.de/, "Space Facts Web Site", . Joachim Becker's outstanding collection of facts and photos of astronauts and cosmonauts. Accessed at: http://www.spacefacts.de/.
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