Beregovoi George Timofeevich - cosmonaut, lieutenant general of aviation, twice Hero of the Soviet Union. He became the only person who received one Star of the Hero for military merit, and another - for space exploration.
Children and teenagers
April 15, 1921 in the small village of Fedorovka (Poltava region, Ukraine) Beregovoi Georgy Timofeevich was born. The family soon after his birth moved to Enakievo (Donetsk region).
Studying in high school, the boy already showed a serious desire for heaven. At first he was an instructor, and then he took the post of head of the aircraft modeling section, which was located in the Enakievo Children’s Station for young technicians. He also took part in the work of the local flying club.
After graduating from high school, Beregovoi began working at a local metallurgical plant, and from there he was drafted into the army.
Battle way
In 1941, Beregovoi George Timofeevich became a graduate of the Voroshilovgrad school of military pilots. He took an active part in hostilities, starting in the summer of 1942 until victory. He was a simple pilot, then a flight commander, and later a squadron commander.
During the war years, 186 times lifted the plane on sorties. Opponents shot down him three times, as many times his plane burned, but Beregovoi fearlessly returned to the sky every time.
In 1944, for the courage shown in flight battles, he was awarded the highest award - the Golden Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union.
Test pilot
After the war, the future astronaut did not leave the sky. In 1948, after graduating from high officer courses, Beregovoi Georgy Timofeevich began testing the latest developments in jet aircraft. He was the co-pilot during the first flight and tests of the R-2 model. Among the aircraft tested by Beregovoy, such as the MiG-19, Su-9, Tu-128, Yak-27K and many others, there are more than 60 models in total. Also, George Timofeevich was a leading test pilot of the Yak-25 jet aircraft.
One of the flights on the Su-9 almost cost Coastal life. Subsequently, the aircraft could not gain height by partially jamming the control system. Typically, in such cases, the pilot should immediately eject. But the pilot refused to do this, and after several unsuccessful attempts he managed to take the plane under his control. For such courage and the salvation of a combat vehicle, the general aircraft designer Sukhoi presented the Coastal movie camera.
In 1956, without breaking away from flights, the test pilot became a graduate of the Air Force Academy. Subsequently, he was taken to the post of Deputy Head of the First Testing Directorate of the Air Force SCNDI, and in 1961 he became Honored Test Pilot.
Preparing for space flight
1964 was a turning point for the famous pilot: he was accepted into the detachment, preparing for flight into space. Despite the fact that 43-year-old Beregovoi was no longer suitable by age (the maximum allowable age was then 35 years old), he was admitted to the preparatory program.
After 4 years, future astronauts visited the Mission Control Center in Yevpatoria , where they demanded that they be involved not only in flights on finished vehicles, but also in their development. According to Beregovoy, due to unnecessary precautions of the state commission and designers, manned launches of spacecraft were delayed for too long. After five training unmanned ships successfully returned to Earth, it was decided to conduct an experiment - the docking of two vehicles in outer space.
On October 25, the Soyuz-2 unmanned vehicle 7K-OK N10, which serves as a target, was successfully launched. It was assumed that the two ships would first approach using the Igla search engine, and at a distance of 150 meters the pilot would begin to bring the vehicles together manually. Since the docking was supposed to happen on the dark side of the orbit, signal lights were provided on the Soyuz-2. Some designers were against such an experiment, but the launch still took place.
Space experience
On October 26, with the help of a launch vehicle, Soyuz-3 launched with Beregovoy on board. The experiment went according to plan, and soon they heard from the astronaut "Range - 40." This meant that the distance between the huge ships was 40 meters. At the same time, the devices left the radio visibility zone of ground observation posts. When the connection was resumed, it became clear that the experiment failed: due to incorrect calculations, Beregovoi was unable to make a “blind” docking. When asked about well-being, in response they heard an irritating phrase: "Well-being is normal, and the mood is lousy."
In this flight, Beregovoi Georgy Timofeevich acted as a pioneer in many aspects, because what he transferred was not taken into account when preparing the astronaut and during technical calculations. After returning to Earth, the pilot made a lot of valuable comments to designers and technicians. Thanks to them, the training of future astronauts was significantly improved, and spacecraft began to be designed more carefully. For this flight, Beregovoi was awarded the Hero Star for the second time.
In the period from 1972 to 1987 - the head of the Cosmonaut Training Center. Gagarin. At the end of this period (in 1987), being at that time a lieutenant general of aviation, he preferred to resign by age.
Scientific and political activities
In addition to flying and training activities, Beregovoi Georgy Timofeevich wrote scientific papers on astronautics and engineering psychology. Also, this great man is a co-author of several discoveries in the field of atmospheric physics. Beregovoi was also the chairman of the Society of Polish-Soviet Friendship and the Inter-Republican Union of Veterans. He wrote George Timofeevich and works of art.
Beregovoi Georgy Timofeevich, whose photo you see in the article, was elected three times as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.
List of awards
Among the many awards received by Beregov, it should be noted:
- two Golden Stars of the Hero;
- two orders of Lenin;
- two orders of the Red Banner;
- two orders of the Red Star ;
- two orders of World War 1 degree.
Also Beregovoi Georgy Timofeevich, whose biography is presented to your attention in the article, was an honorary citizen of Kaluga and other cities.
George Timofeevich died on June 30, 1995. He was reposed with all military honors at the Novodevichy cemetery (Moscow).
With a huge number of various awards and titles, Beregovoi always spoke very modestly about himself: "There are thousands of people like me, maybe hundreds of thousands." But in the history of Soviet aviation and astronautics, he forever remained the only astronaut who went through the war.
Beregovoi Georgy Timofeevich, whose biography can serve as an example for many generations, lived a long and interesting life. An unknown guy became a hero, whose name he knew and knows almost the whole world.