Background
Vladimir Afanasievich Lyakhov was born on July 20, 1941 in the city of Anthracite, Voroshilovgrad (Lugansk) region, Ukraine (Ukraine).
Vladimir Afanasievich Lyakhov was born on July 20, 1941 in the city of Anthracite, Voroshilovgrad (Lugansk) region, Ukraine (Ukraine).
In 1959 Vladimir Afanasievich Lyakhov graduated from the secondary school of the mine No. 8-9 of Anthracite. Later, he completed one course of the 8th Military Aviation School of the initial training of air force pilots 69 of the air army of the KVO. He also studied at the Kharkov VAVUL named after S.I. Gritsevets and in 1975 graduated in absentia from the VVA named after Yu.A. Gagarin on the specialty "Command-Staff, Operational-Tactical Aviation".
Before enrolling in a group of cosmonauts, Vladimir Afanasievich Lyakhov served as a pilot and a senior pilot. In 1967 by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force he was enlisted in the cosmonaut corps of the Air Force CTC for the position of the listener-cosmonaut (4th set) and since 1969 started working as a cosmonaut.
Then, Lyakhov served as a commander of the third crew (backup) under the program of the first main expedition to the DOS “Salyut-6” together with V. Ryumin and later as a commander of the backup Soviet-Mongolian crew of the expedition of visiting DOS “Salyut-6” together with M. Ganzorig. In 1982-1983 Lyakhov was appointed to the post of a commander of the third crew on the program of the first and the second main expedition to the DOS “Salyut-7“. In 1987-1988 he was a commander of the third crew under the program of the third main expedition to the OS "Mir" and also a commander of the backup Soviet-Bulgarian crew on the program of the expedition of visiting the OS "Mir".
Vladimir Afanasievich Lyakhov realized 3 cosmic flights. During the first flight of 1979 he served as a a commander of the “Soyuz-32” spacecraft under the program of the third main expedition to the orbital station "Salute-6". In the second flight in 1983 he was a commander of the “Soyuz T-9” spacecraft under the program of the 2nd main expedition at the “Salyut-7” orbital station together with A. Alexandrov. After orbiting, one solar panel did not opened on the ship. During the las flight, the third one, Lyakhov worked as a commander of the “Soyuz TM-6” spacecraft under the Soviet-Afghan visiting expedition program.
In 1984 Vladimir Afanasievich Lyakhov left the cosmonaut group because of his age.