page_title: State Space Agency of Ukraine
section_title: Human flights
hierarchical_section_title: State Space Agency of Ukraine / Human flights
caption_attribution_description: Portrait cosmonaut Leonid Kadenyuk Українська: Леонід Каденюк, перший космонавт незалежної України Русский: Леонид Каденюк, первый космонавт независимой Украины
context_page_description: The State Space Agency of Ukraine is the Ukrainian government agency responsible for space policy and programs. Along with the Ukrainian Defense Industry and the Antonov Aeronautical Scientific-Technical Complex, it is a major state complex of the national defense industry of Ukraine. The agency was formed in 1992 based on the Soviet space program potential based in Ukraine following dissolution of the Soviet Union.
  The State Space Agency of Ukraine does not specialize in manned astronautical programs. It is the second of two direct Soviet space program descendants. The agency does not have its own spaceport and until 2014, depended on the resources of the Russian Federal Space Agency.
  Until December 9, 2010, the agency was known as Національне космічне агентство України, НКАУ, the National Space Agency of Ukraine
  Until 2014 launches were conducted at Kazakhstan's Baikonur and Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodromes. After the Russian annexation of Crimea, launches were conducted on Sea Launch's floating platform, which was soon mothballed. NSAU has ground control and tracking facilities in Kiev and a control center in Dunaivtsi.
context_section_description: Prior to Ukraine's independence, several Ukrainians flew in space under the Soviet flag. Ukrainian Pavlo Popovych was the fourth cosmonaut in space, in 1962.
  The first Ukrainian to fly in space under the Ukrainian flag was Leonid K. Kadenyuk on 13 May 1997. He was a payload specialist on NASA's STS-87 Space Shuttle mission. It was an international spaceflight mission, involving crew members from NASA (USA), NSAU (Ukraine) and NASDA (Japan).
caption: Leonid K. Kadenyuk, first astronaut from independent Ukraine
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