Savitskaya Svetlana Evgenievna

SAVITSKAYA

Svetlana Evgenievna

Twice Hero of the Soviet Union

53rd cosmonaut of our country, 111th cosmonaut of the World

The first woman in the world to make a spacewalk.

Svetlana Evgenievna was born on August 8, 1948 in Moscow in the family of Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Air Marshal Yevgeny Yakovlevich Savitsky.

After graduating from Moscow Secondary School No. 637, she entered MAI. Simultaneously with her studies, Svetlana began to engage in aviation sports in DOSAAF, and was a member of the USSR national aerobatics team. In 1970, she became the absolute world champion in aerobatics among women, set 18 aviation records, as well as 3 world records in parachuting from the stratosphere. For these achievements, she was awarded the honorary title of "Honored Master of Sports of the USSR".

In 1971, she qualified as an instructor pilot and began working at the V. Chkalov Central Aero Club. In 1976, Svetlana graduated from the Test Pilot School and worked in the NGO "Take-off", and since 1978 in the Machine-building Plant "Speed" of the Design Bureau of A.S. Yakovlev. She mastered more than 20 types of aircraft, qualified as a "test pilot of the 2nd class" with a flight time of more than 1,500 hours. For her test work, she was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor.

In 1980 Svetlana was selected to prepare for space flight and began general space training, and then training immediately in the main crew.

S.E. Savitskaya made her first space flight lasting 7 days, 21 hours, 52 minutes and 24 seconds from August 19 to August 27, 1982 on the Soyuz T-7 TC and the Salyut-7 OK (she returned on the Soyuz T-5), and became the world's second female cosmonaut. For this flight, she was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

In 1983, Savitskaya transferred from MMZ "Speed" to the cosmonaut detachment of NPO Energia and began to prepare for the second space flight, which she made from July 17 to July 29, 1984 at the Soyuz T-12 TC and the Salyut-7 station (return on Soyuz T-11).

During the flight, she was the first woman, together with V.A. Dzhanibekov, to perform a spacewalk lasting 3 hours and 35 minutes. For this feat, S.E. Savitskaya was awarded the second Gold Star medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the second Order of Lenin.

In 1986 Savitskaya successfully defended her thesis of Candidate of Technical Sciences at the Bauman Moscow State Technical University.

In 1989-1990, Savitskaya was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from the Soviet Peace Foundation, in 1990-1993 – a People's Deputy of the Russian Federation, a member of the Communist Deputy Group in the Committee on International Affairs and in the parliamentary group, where she dealt with legislation on social issues. In 1995, S.E. Savitskaya was elected a deputy of the State Duma from the Common Cause bloc, but soon moved to the Communist Party faction, in which she is still actively working.