Valery Ryumin

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Victorovich and the family name is Ryumin.

Valery Ryumin
Valery Victorovich Ryumin in 1998
Born	(1939-08-16)16 August 1939 Komsomolsk-on-Amur
Died	6 June 2022(2022-06-06) (aged 82)
Nationality	Soviet / Russian
Occupation	Flight engineer
Space career
Cosmonaut
Time in space	371d 17h 24m
Selection	1973 Civilian Specialist Group 5
Total EVAs	1
Total EVA time	1 hour 23 minutes
Missions	Soyuz 25, Soyuz 32, Soyuz 35/Soyuz 37, Soyuz 34, STS-91
Mission insignia

Valery Victorovich Ryumin (Russian: Валерий Викторович Рюмин; 16 August 1939 – 6 June 2022) was a Soviet cosmonaut.

Biography

In 1958, he graduated from the Kaliningrad Mechanical Engineering Technical College with the specialty "Cold Working of Metal." In 1966, he graduated from the Department of Electronics and Computing Technology of the Moscow Forestry Engineering Institute with the specialty "Spacecraft Control Systems."

From 1958 to 1961, Ryumin served in the army as a tank commander.

From 1966 to the present, he was employed at the Rocket Space Corporation Energia, holding the positions of Ground Electrical Test Engineer, Deputy Lead Designer for Orbital Stations, Department Head, and Deputy General Designer for Testing. He helped develop and prepare all orbital stations, beginning with Salyut 1.

In 1973, he joined the RSC Energia cosmonaut corps. A veteran of four space flights, Ryumin logged a total of 362 days in space. In 1977, he spent two days aboard Soyuz-25, in 1979, he spent 175 days aboard Soyuz vehicles and the Salyut 6 space station, and in 1980, he spent 185 days aboard Soyuz vehicles and the Salyut 6 space station.

Leonid Popov and Valery Ryumin on USSR postage stamp, 1981

From 1981 to 1989, Ryumin was flight director for the Salyut 7 space station and the Mir space station. Since 1992, he was the Director of the Russian portion of the Shuttle-Mir and NASA-Mir program.

In January 1998, NASA announced Ryumin's selection to the crew of STS-91. Ryumin served aboard STS-91 Discovery (2–12 June 1998) the 9th and final Shuttle-Mir docking mission, concluding the joint U.S./Russian Phase I Program. The STS-91 mission was accomplished in 154 Earth orbits, traveling 3.8 million miles in 235 hours and 54 seconds.

Married to fellow cosmonaut Yelena Kondakova, he had two daughters and a son. His hobbies included tennis, angling, hunting, walking through forests, and travel.

Awards

• Twice as Hero of the Soviet Union (19 August 1979 and 11 October 1980)
• Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR
• Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" 4th class
• Three Orders of Lenin (USSR)
• Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration"
• Hero of the Republic of Cuba
• Hero of Socialist Labour (Vietnam)
• Order of Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam)

In popular culture

In a 2017 Russian film Salyut 7, a character Valery Shudin (played by Aleksandr Samoylenko) was based on, and bears striking physical resemblance to, Ryumin.

Sources

• Biographical Data
• The official website of the city administration Baikonur - Honorary citizens of Baikonur