Beginning in the early 60s of the twentieth century, space flights had no analogues in the entire history. The path of pioneers can be not only difficult, but also dangerous. So the development of the black abyss was not without tragedies. And the first drama played out with the participation of the hero of this article. Valentin Vasilievich Bondarenko topped the list of cosmonauts who, having taken the star road, never reached their cherished goal. This article will describe his brief biography.
Childhood
Valentin Vasilyevich Bondarenko (see photo below) was born in 1937. The boy's father headed the tailor's shop at the Kharkov fur factory before the war, and then volunteered for the front. During his service, he earned seven military decorations.
Well, Valentine had to endure a two-year occupation with his brother and mother. The boy simply dreamed of the sky. In high school, Bondarenko went to the Kharkov flying club. And after graduation, he entered the Voroshilovgrad Aviation School.
Military career
In 1956, Valentin Vasilyevich Bondarenko was transferred to another educational institution. First to the Grozny School, and then to Armavir. In 1957 he successfully graduated from it. Around the same time, the future cosmonaut got married and had a son, Sasha.
Then Valentin was sent to serve in the B altic States. Bondarenko was a very talented pilot. In his attestation sheet, only positive characteristics were written. Soon a commission arrived at the Valentin Regiment to select pilots for the cosmonaut corps. The hero of this article was called for an interview first. This suggests that he was a born pilot. And only such people were selected for the detachment.
Preparing for flight into space
In the middle of the 20th century, a new program was launched in the USSR. Naturally, it was about space exploration, and everything was strictly classified. In 1959, Valentin Vasilyevich Bondarenko received an offer from doctors to participate in flights on new technology. The young man happily agreed. After a detailed medical examination, he was included in the first space detachment, numbering 20 people. They were selected from several thousand applicants. Then there were long training sessions to prepare for the flight on the spacecraft. In the end, only six people remained. Bondarenko Valentin Vasilievich was not among them, but did not despair. The pilot believed that everything was ahead of him, because he was almost 12 years younger than the oldest member of the squad.
During the spacetraining, some pilots were injured. For example, Anatoly Kartashov received many petechial hemorrhages after being tested in a centrifuge. Valentin Varlamov seriously injured his cervical vertebra. Vladimir Komarov was suspended from training for six months due to a hernia operation, and Pavel Belyaev - for twelve months due to a broken leg. The hero of this article had excellent physical fitness, and he managed to avoid injury.
Experiment in the deaf chamber
March 13, 1961 - this is the date when Valentin Bondarenko informed his family about the business trip. The astronaut actually lied. But he was not allowed to tell his loved ones the truth. Valentin had to undergo a difficult experiment in a deaf chamber. It was a sealed room with low atmospheric pressure and pure oxygen inside. Bondarenko was in the cell for ten days. All this time, scientists tracked his reaction to stimuli. He was completely isolated from the outside world.
After the experiment was completed, the pilot was told that he could detach the medical sensors from the body. Valentin did it with pleasure, and rubbed the remaining traces of them with a cotton swab dipped in alcohol. Then the young man threw it into the trash can. But the tampon did not reach the goal, but fell on the included electric stove. Due to the increased concentration of oxygen and reduced pressure, the entire room instantly burst into flames. The deaf chamber could not be opened immediately due to the huge difference in pressure. When the pilot was pulled out with severe burns (90% of the body), hewas still conscious.
March 23, 1961 - this is the date when Valentin Bondarenko was admitted to the hospital. The astronaut was there for eight hours. Doctors tried to save his life. But it was all in vain. The young man died. And 19 days later, Yuri Gagarin made the first space flight.
Consequences
Valentin Vasilyevich Bondarenko was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Star. He also received the title of astronaut. Due to the fatal outcome of the experiment, scientists and engineers rethought the design of the chamber and corrected a number of elements. Including the composition of the atmosphere and its pressure was changed.
Memory
Information about the death of the astronaut was not disclosed until 1986. A few years after Bondarenko's death, his son and wife moved from Star City to Kharkov. Until the boy turned 16, their family was paid 100 rubles a month. The grandson of the hero of this article was named after him.
In the Museum of the First Flight (Smolensk region, Gagarin) there is a deaf chamber. It was in this that Bondarenko Valentin Vasilyevich died, whose biography was presented above. In honor of the astronaut, a crater on the Moon (diameter 30 kilometers) was named. Also, the pilot's native school was named after him.
The story of Bondarenko is well known in the Kharkov planetarium. Visitors are always shown a stand dedicated to Valentin Vasilyevich. Galina Zheleznyak (director of the planetarium) keeps in touch with Bondarenko's son, who now lives and works in Star City. He transferred toMuseum of Cosmonautics a few things of his father: pages of a personal file, a diploma from a military school, photographs, the Order of the Red Star…
