Popov, Leonid Ivanovich

Born on August 31, 1945 in the city of Alexandria, Kirovograd region in the family of an employee. Ukrainian. He graduated from high school.

In the Soviet Army since 1964. In 1968 he graduated from the Chernigov Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots . He served as a fighter pilot in the combat units of the USSR Air Force.

Since 1970 - in the detachment of Soviet cosmonauts. He completed a full course of general space training and preparation for space flights on spacecraft of the Soyuz type and OS of the Salyut type. In 1976 he graduated from the Yu.A. Gagarin Air Force Academy .

Member of the CPSU since 1971.

He made three flights into space as a commander of a spaceship and manned orbital complexes.

The first flight - from April 9 to October 11, 1980, together with flight engineer Valery Viktorovich Rumin on the Soyuz-35 spacecraft and the Salyut-6 OS. During the 185-day flight, four visiting expeditions visited the Salyut-6 OS, three of which were international crews (with the participation of astronauts from Hungary, Vietnam, Cuba). Dockings with cargo spacecraft were made: Progress-8, Progress-9, Progress-10. The return to Earth was carried out at the Soyuz-37 spacecraft.

By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of October 11, 1980, for the courage and heroism shown during this flight, Lieutenant Colonel Leonid Ivanovich Popov was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 11446).

From May 14 to May 22, 1981, Colonel L. I. Popov headed the flight of the Soviet-Romanian international crew together with cosmonaut-researcher citizen of the Socialist Republic of Romania Dumitru Prunariu at the Soyuz-40 spacecraft and the Salyut-6 orbital research complex - Soyuz T-4 - Soyuz-40.

By a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 22, 1981, Leonid Ivanovich Popov was awarded the second Golden Star medal for the successful implementation of space flight and the courage and heroism shown at the same time.

The third space flight, together with flight engineer A. A. Serebrov and astronaut-researcher S. E. Savitskaya , L. I. Popov performed from August 19 to 27, 1982 at the Soyuz T-7 spacecraft and the orbital research complex “ Salyut-7 ”-“ Soyuz T-5 ”-“ Soyuz T-7 ”. After completing space flights, from 1982 to 1987, Colonel L. I. Popov was an instructor-astronaut at the Cosmonaut Training Center named after Yu. A. Gagarin.

He was expelled from the cosmonaut corps on June 13, 1987 in connection with his admission to the General Staff Military Academy .

On October 15, 1990, Colonel L. I. Popov was awarded the military rank of “Major General of Aviation”.

Since June 24, 1989 he served as the head of the 4th Directorate of the Main Directorate of Arms of the Air Force of the USSR Ministry of Defense (since 1992 of the Russian Federation). Since July 22, 1993 - Head of the 3rd Directorate of the Main Directorate of Orders and Deliveries of Aviation Equipment and Arms of the Air Force. November 11, 1995 by order of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation No. 01712 was transferred to the reserve by age.

Carrying out public activities, he headed the Board of the Russia-Romania Society. He was elected as a deputy of the Council of the Union of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 11th convocation (1984-1989) from the Ternopil region ^[2] . Lives in Moscow.

• Lieutenant (10.25.1968).
• Senior Lieutenant (02/03/1971).
• Captain (12/28/1972).
• Major (08/08/1975).
• Lieutenant Colonel (04/26/1978).
• Colonel (10/15/1980).
• Major General of Aviation (10.17.1990)

Highest honors

• Twice Hero of the Soviet Union (10/11/1980, 05/22/1981):
• Hero of Labor of Vietnam ( Socialist Republic of Vietnam , 1980);
• Hero of the Hungarian People's Republic ( Hungarian People's Republic , 1980);
• Hero of Cuba ( Cuba , 1980);
• Hero of the Socialist Republic of Romania ( Socialist Republic of Romania , 1981).

Order

• Three Orders of Lenin (10/11/1980, 05/22/1981, 08/27/1982);
• Order of Ho Chi Minh ( SRV , 1980);
• Order of Playa Chiron ( Cuba , 1980);
• Order of Liberty, 1st Degree ( Laos , 1981);
• Order “Victory of Socialism” ( Socialist Republic of Romania , 05/22/1981).

Medals

• Medal "For Merits in Space Exploration" ( April 12, 2011 ) - for great merits in the field of research, development and use of outer space, many years of conscientious work, active social activity ^[3] ;
• gold medal named after K. E. Tsiolkovsky of the USSR Academy of Sciences;
• 10 anniversary medals.

Honorary titles

• Honored Master of Sports of the USSR ;
• Honored Worker of the Ministry of Internal Affairs ;
• Laureate of the State Prize of the Ukrainian SSR (1982).

• The bust of the Hero is installed on the territory of the Chernihiv VVAUL , and in the homeland, in the city of Alexandria .
• Cosmonaut Popov Street in Kropyvnytskyi .
• Popov Square in Alexandria.

• Soyuz-35
• Soyuz-40
• Soyuz T-7

• Heroes of the Soviet Union: A Brief Biographical Dictionary / Prev. ed. collegium I. N. Shkadov . - M .: Military Publishing , 1988. - T. 2 / Love - Yashchuk /. - 863 s. - 100,000 copies. - ISBN 5-203-00536-2 .
• I. A. Marinin, S. Kh. Shamsutdinov, A. V. Glushko (compilers). Soviet and Russian astronauts. 1960-2000 / Edited by Yu. M. Baturin . - M .: LLC Information and Publishing House "Cosmonautics News", 2001. - ISBN 5-93345-003-0 .

• Popov, Leonid Ivanovich (Russian) . Site " Heroes of the country ".
• Cosmonaut Leonid Popov . Video Encyclopedia "Cosmonauts". Roscosmos television studio .
• Leonid Popov in the Space Encyclopedia .