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Bulgarian cosmonaut (born 1951)
Aleksandr Panayotov Aleksandrov
(
Bulgarian
:
Александър Панайотов Александров
) (born December 1, 1951) is a retired
Bulgarian
cosmonaut. He is the second Bulgarian to have flown to space, behind
Georgi Ivanov
.
[1]
[2]
Biography
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Aleksandrov was born in Omurtag, Bulgaria on December 1, 1951. He graduated from the
Bulgarian Air Force
Academy in 1974 and obtained a degree in technical sciences in 1983. In the Bulgarian Air Force, Aleksandrov rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel.
[2]
Aleksandrov was selected as a research cosmonaut on March 1, 1978, as part of the
Soviet Union
's
Intercosmos
program. The selection featured six semifinalists, including the parachute jump record holder,
Chavdar Djurov
, who was killed during the selection process.
[3]
Aleksandrov was selected as backup to
Georgi Ivanov
on the
Soyuz 33
mission to the
Salyut 6
space station. Subsequently, Aleksandrov was assigned to the prime crew of the
Soyuz TM-5
mission to the
Mir
space station.
[1]
[2]
On June 7, 1988, Aleksandrov launched aboard TM-5 as a research cosmonaut along with mission commander
Anatoly Solovyev
and
Viktor Savinykh
. Upon arriving at Mir, Aleksandrov became the first Bulgarian to reach a
Soviet
space station, as the Soyuz 33 mission carrying Georgi Ivanov failed to reach the
Salyut 6
space station. On June 17, Aleksandrov returned aboard
Soyuz TM-4
along with his fellow crew members. He, along with his crew-mates, spent just under 10 days in space.
[4]
Aleksandrov later became Deputy Director of the Institute of Space Research,
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
.
[2]
Currently Aleksandrov works as a research scientist. He is married and has one child.
[2]
Honours and awards
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See also
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References
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External links
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