Background
Viktor Vasilievich Gorbatko was born on December 3, 1934.
Viktor Vasilievich Gorbatko was born on December 3, 1934.
In 1949, V. Gorbatko finished the 7th grade of the secondary school No. 2 run by the Voskhod stud-farm;
In 1952, V. Gorbatko finished the 10th grade of the secondary school No. 4 run by the biological manufacturing plant No. 12 in the Novokubansky District, Krasnodar Krai;
In 1953, V. Gorbatko graduated from the 8th Military Aviation School of Basic Pilot Training in the town of Pavlograd, Dnepropetrovsk oblast, Ukraine;
In 1956, V. Gorbatko graduated from the Bataysk Military Aviation Academy for Pilots named after A.K. Serov, Rostov oblast, RSFSR;
From 1961 to 1968, V. Gorbatko studied at the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy and graduated with the diploma of Pilot-Engineer-Cosmonaut.
Since August 22, 1956, V. Gorbatko served as a pilot;
On June 22, 1957 V. Gorbatko achieved the rank of senior pilot of the 86th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment of Odessa Military District, Moldavia.
On March 7, 1960, V. Gorbatko was chosen for the post of cosmonaut-listener by the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force at the Cosmonaut Training Center (first cosmonaut training group);
On April 5, 1961, V. Gorbatko joined the cosmonaut group at the Cosmonaut Training Center (CTC).
From February 1966 to April 1967, V. Gorbatko worked as the research engineer of the back-up crew aboard the Soyuz passive spacecraft under the docking program. At the beginning he worked with A. Nikolayev and P. Kolodin, since September 1966 – with A. Nikolayev and V. Kubasov;
From June 1967 to December 1968, V. Gorbatko worked as the research engineer of the back-up crew aboard the Soyuz passive spacecraft under the docking program together with A. Nikolayev and V. Kubasov. Since August 1968, V. Gorbatko worked together with A. Philipchenko and V. Kubasov;
On January 15, 1969, V. Gorbatov backed up research engineer Y. Khrunov aboard the Soyuz-5 spacecraft;
From July to September 30, 1976, V. Gorbatov served as the back-up spacecraft commander under the 2nd space mission aboard the Manned Orbital Station (MOS-103) Almaz (Salyut-5) together with Y. Glazkov;
On October 14, 1976, V. Gorbatko backed up Soyuz-32 spacecraft commander V. Zudov;
From August 22, 1977 to August 9, 1978 – served as the spacecraft commander of the back-up crew under the mission to the Salyut-6 Long-term Orbital Station (DOS) together with E. Kelner (GDR);
On August 26, 1978, V. Gorbatko backed up Soyuz-31 spacecraft commander V. Bykovsky.
The 1st flight. From October 12 to October 17, 1969, V. Gorbatko served as the research engineer aboard Soyuz-7 together with his two crew mates A.Philipchenko and V. Volkov under the group flight mission of Soyuz-6, Soyuz-7, Soyuz-8. The mission resulted in a failed docking with Soyuz-8.
The flight duration: 4 days, 22 hr., 40 min., 23 sec. Crew code name: Buran-3.
The 2nd flight. From February 7 to February 25, 1977, V. Gorbatko commanded the Soyuz-24 spacecraft and the Salyut-5 orbital station (MOS-103 Almaz) together with Y. Glazkov.
The flight duration: 17 days, 17 hr., 25 min., 58 sec. Crew code name: Terek-1.
The 3rd flight. From July 23 to July 31, 1980, V. Gorbatko commanded the Soyuz-37 spacecraft (landing on Soyuz-36) under the docking mission with the Salyut-6 DOS together with Pham Tuan (SRV). Aboard the Salyut-6 orbital station V. Gorbatko worked together with L. Popov and V. Rumin.
The flight duration: 7 days, 20 hr., 42 min. Crew code name: Terek-1.
In 1982, V. Gorbatko left the cosmonaut team as he had been appointed to a new position.
