Background
Konstantin Petrovich Feoktistov was born on February 7, 1926, in Voronezh, Russian Federation.
Konstantin Feoktistov
Main Building of the Bauman University. View from the Yauza River side
Hero of the Soviet Union
Order of the Patriotic War 1st class
Order of the Red Banner of Labour
Order of the Badge of Honour
Medal For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945
State Prize of the USSR
Lenin Prize
1964
USSR postage stamp honoring Konstantin Feoktistov
Vladimir Komarov
Konstantin Feoktistov
Main Building of the Bauman University. View from the Yauza River side
Hero of the Soviet Union
Order of the Patriotic War 1st class
Order of the Red Banner of Labour
Medal For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945
State Prize of the USSR
Lenin Prize
Order of the Badge of Honour
Konstantin Petrovich Feoktistov was born on February 7, 1926, in Voronezh, Russian Federation.
During the Nazi occupation of Voronezh, at the age of just 16, Konstantin Petrovich fought with the Soviet Army against the German troops, carrying out reconnaissance missions for the Voronezh Front. After being captured by a Waffen-SS Army patrol, he was shot by a German officer. However, the bullet went right through his chin and neck and did not kill him. Konstantin Petrovich was able to crawl out later and then make his way to the Soviet lines.
After the war was over, Konstantin Petrovich enrolled in the Bauman Moscow Higher Technical School (now the Bauman Moscow State Technical University) as an engineering student and he graduated in 1949. He also later earned a doctorate in physics.
Konstantin Petrovich joined Mikhail Tikhonravov's OKB (design bureau), and in 1955, he formed part of the team that went on to design the Sputnik satellites, the Vostok space capsule, the Voskhod space capsule, and the Soyuz space capsule under the leadership of the Soviet Chief Designer Sergey Korolev. During this time, Konstantin Petrovich also worked on a design for an ion-propelled spacecraft to be capable of taking humans to Mars.
In 1964, Konstantin Petrovich was selected as part of a group of engineers for cosmonaut training, and in October of that very same year, he was hastily assigned to the multi-disciplinary Voskhod 1 crew. He was the first civilian to make a space flight and the only cosmonaut in the Soviet Union who was not a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. During his space flight, he spent just over 24 hours and 17 minutes in space.
After the flight of Voskhod 1, Feoktistov's training for any further space mission was discontinued for medical reasons. However, Konstantin Petrovich continued his outer space engineering work, and he later became the head of the Soviet space design bureau that designed the Salyut and Mir space stations.
Feoktistov resigned from his engineering position with Energia and returned to Bauman Moscow Higher Technical School as a professor in 1990.
