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Mongolian cosmonaut and defense minister (born 1947)
Jugderdemidiin Gurragchaa
(
Mongolian
:
Ж?гдэрдэмидийн Г?ррагчаа
;
Russian
:
Жугдэрдэмидийн Гуррагча
,
[??u?d??rd??m??d??jn
??ur?kt??]
, born 5 December 1947) is a Mongolian
cosmonaut
and military leader. He was the first
Mongolian
and second Asian to go into space.
[1]
[2]
He also was Mongolia's
Defense Minister
from 2000 to 2004.
[3]
Early life and spaceflight
[
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]
Born in
Gurvanbulag, Bulgan
, Gurragchaa studied in
Ulaanbaatar
to become an
aerospace engineer
. In 1966, he joined the
Mongolian Air Force
. He graduated from the
Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy
in 1978.
He was selected as part of the eighth
Intercosmos
program on 1 March 1978, at time he was in the rank of
Major General
. His backup was
Maidarjavyn Ganzorig
. Gurragchaa, along with
Soviet
cosmonaut
Vladimir Dzhanibekov
, departed from
Baikonur Cosmodrome
on 22 March 1981. They docked with
Salyut 6
.
[4]
[5]
While in orbit, Dzhanibekov and Gurragchaa carried out experiments on
Earth science
. After 124
orbits
and 7 days, 20 hours and 42 minutes in space, Gurragchaa and Dzhanibekov landed 170 km southeast of
Dzhezkasgan
.
Post-flight career
[
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]
The
Zaisan Memorial
, a monument south of
Ulaanbaatar
dedicated to Russian?Mongolian friendship, includes a mural which depicts amongst its scenes Gurragchaa's 1981 flight.
Gurragchaa worked as the chief of staff of air defense for the
Mongolian Armed Forces
, served as the
Defense Minister of Mongolia
from 2000 to 2004
[6]
[7]
and was a member of
State Great Khural
from 2004 to 2008.
[8]
Personal life
[
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]
Gurragchaa is married and has two children. He heads the fund for development of
bandy
in Mongolia.
[9]
Aside from
Mongolian
, Gurragchaa is fluent in
Russian
due to his time in
Russia
.
Awards
[
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]
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]