Varlamov Credit - www.spacefacts.de

Personal: Male, Married. Born in Region Pensa, Russia. Hemorrhage in the brain after an accident at home. Soviet Air Force Graduated from Military Pilot School, Novosibirsk, 1955 Soviet Air Force. Soviet Air Force.

Astronaut Career

Astronaut Group: Air Force Group 1 - 1960. Deceased Entered space service: 28 April 1960. Left space service: 6 March 1961. Left team after fracturing a vertebra in a diving accident in July 1960.

Worked in the Soviet space program as a flight instructor for new cosmonauts within the TsPK.

25 February 1960 - Soviet Air Force Cosmonaut Training Group 1 selected.. The group was selected to provide pilot astronauts for the Vostok manned spaceflight program.. Qualifications: Military jet aircraft pilots under 30 years of age; under 170 cm tall; under 70 kg in weight.. While the Americans sought mature test pilots for their first spaceflights, the Soviets recruited young pilots with the intent of training them for a career as spacemen. There were 3,000 applicants following interviews with medical doctor teams that toured Soviet air bases beginning in August 1959. 102 were called for physical and psychological tests. 8 of these were selected, but then Chief Designer Korolev said he wanted a pool three times larger than the American Mercury cadre. Of the 20 selected, 12 would fly in space. Of the 8 that did not, 1 died in a ground fire in training; 3 were dismissed for disciplinary reasons; and 4 left following injuries in training.