Leonid Kadeniuk
Leonid Kostyantynovych Kadenyuk (, 28 January 1951 – 31 January 2018) was the first astronaut of independent Ukraine who flew into outer space. He flew on NASA's Space Shuttle "Columbia" in 1997 as part of the international mission STS-87. Kadenyuk held the rank of Major general in the Ukrainian Air Force. He was Deputy of Ukraine of the 4th convocation, People's Ambassador of Ukraine, Hero of Ukraine, President of the Aerospace Society of Ukraine, Adviser to the Prime Minister of Ukraine and Chairman of the State Space Agency of Ukraine, Honorary Doctor of Chernivtsi National University. Biography. Leonid  Kadenyuk was born on 28 January 1951 in the village of Klishkivtsi, Khotyn district, Chernivtsi region in a family of rural teachers. In 1967, after graduating from high school with a silver medal, he entered the Chernihiv Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots. After graduating from the Aviation School in 1971 and receiving a diploma of a pilot-engineer in the specialty "Piloting and operation of aircraft" he worked as a pilot-instructor Kadenyuk was a Soviet military pilot. He began his service in the Soviet Air Forces and was selected in 1976 for the Soviet Cosmonaut Corps being on  a team of test pilots of the Soviet new space shuttle Buran, but was removed after marital issues. He was allowed to rejoin the Cosmonaut Detachment several years later. With the break-up of the Soviet Union, Kadenyuk remained in the Russian Space Forces and adopted Ukrainian citizenship. In 1995, during the preparation of the first Ukrainian space mission, he volunteered to take part and returned to his homeland. In 1977 he graduated from the Test Pilot Training Center. He received a diploma and qualification "test pilot". In 1977–1979, he underwent general space training and qualified as a test astronaut . 1984–1988 – test pilot of the State Research Institute of the USSR Air Force. 1989 – graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute – Faculty of Aircraft. 1988–1990 – underwent engineering and flight training under the Buran program as its commander. He took part in working out the glide path of descent for landing the spacecraft "Buran" on MiG-31 and MiG-25 aircraft. 1990–1992, under the full program, he was trained as the commander of the transport ship Soyuz-TM. During the preparation for space flights and in the process of test work he underwent unique engineering and flight training. He studied the Soyuz, Soyuz-TM , Buran spacecraft, the Salyut orbital station, the Mir orbital complex, and the US Space Shuttle. He participated in the development and testing of aerospace systems, in their sketch and layout design, as well as in flight tests of systems. He flew more than 50 types and modifications of aircraft for various purposes, mainly on fighters, as well as on the American training aircraft Northrop T-38. During the preparation for space flights he was trained to conduct scientific experiments on board spacecraft in various fields: biology, medicine, metrology, ecology, study of natural resources of the Earth from space, geology, astronomy, geobotany . In 1995 he was selected to the group of astronauts of the National Space Agency of Ukraine. Preparing for space flight, from April to October 1996 he worked as a researcher at the Department of Phytohormonology of the Kholodny Institute of Botany of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine He was trained by NASA for a space flight on the US reusable spacecraft Columbia, mission STS-87, as a payload specialist. Yaroslav Pustovy became Kadenyuk's backup.There were two main candidates for the mission, the other being Yaroslav Pustovyi, a civil Ukrainian scientist in space research. Kadeniuk was chosen  as better-trained and accustomed to space mission organization. From 19 November to 5 December 1997, he made a space flight on the American Space Shuttle "Columbia", mission STS-87. After the flight, Leonid Kadeniuk continued his career in the State Space Agency of Ukraine. Since 1998 – Major general of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Deputy Inspector General of the General Military Inspectorate under the President of Ukraine for Aviation and Cosmonautics. In the 2002 parliamentary election, he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada in the list of pro-Kuchma United Ukraine Bloc. Later, Kadeniuk joined the "Trudova Ukrayina – Industrialists and  Entrepreneurs" faction, but had not been politically active. He worked within parliament's Committee on Defense and National Security. In the 2006 parliamentary election, Kadenyuk was No. 3 in the electoral party list of Lytvyn's People's Bloc, but the block won only 2.44% of the popular vote (short of the required 3%) and no seats in the parliament. Kadenyuk died on 31 January 2018, three days after turning 67. He was interred in the central avenue of Kyiv's Baikove Cemetery. On 2 February 2018, the farewell ceremony occurred in Kyiv in the Club of Cabinet of Ministers  of Ukraine building. Author of five scientific papers The book "Mission – Space", published in 2009 by Pulsary Publishing House, won first place in the Book of the Year 2009 competition in the Horizons category. The book was republished in 2017 by Novy Druk Publishing House. Interesting Facts. About preparation for space flights. Skydiving is considered as a kind of simulator – a means of psychological training of astronauts. Leonid Kadenyuk says "Frankly speaking, I never had a passionate love for jumping. I made them because it was required." About the spacecraft "Columbia". Construction of "Columbia" began in 1975. During its existence , "Columbia" has made 28 flights: Flight with Columbia. The space shuttle was launched on 19 November 1997 from the space center. John F. Kennedy, Florida. In the laboratory module "Spacelab" scientific experiments in the fields of astrobiology, physics and materials science were carried out, astronauts were also scheduled to go into outer space. During his flight with shuttle Columbia, he performed biological experiments of a joint Ukrainian-American scientific study with three species of plants: turnip, soybean and moss. The main purpose of the experiments was to study the effect of weightlessness on the photosynthetic apparatus of plants, on fertilization  and embryo development, on gene expression in soybean and turnip tissues, on the content of phytohormones in turnip plants, on hydrocarbon metabolism and ultrastructure of soybean sprout cells. pathogenic fungus late blight. In addition to these experiments in space flight, experiments were performed by the Institute of Systems Human Research on the topic "Man and the state of weightlessness." Interestingly, on 27 November, the 9th day of the flight, the first connection with Ukraine was scheduled. For the first time from space, a citizen of Ukraine had a dialogue with his country. From the astronaut's memoirs: "7 days before  the launch, a special regime was introduced for our crew in order to prevent infectious diseases – quarantine. It excludes the possibility of astronauts in public places and any outside contacts. We were also isolated from families. At the same time, the astronauts are not only under the close supervision of doctors, but also under the supervision of psychologists." Leonid Kostyantynovych recalls: "Every free minute I and my colleagues used to observe and photograph the Earth and space. Such classes were the most popular, and I considered them another impressive and extremely interesting experiment aboard the "Columbia" " The day in Ukraine  begins with the Anthem. Therefore, Leonid Kostyantynovych ordered it to signal the awakening of the crew, which was broadcast from the Flight Control Center on board the "Columbia". Each member of the crew chose a melody to their liking. Thus, the anthem of our state twice sounded in space over the entire planet. Views. ""A state of weightlessness is a physical state that is virtually impossible to create or model in a simulator under the constant action of gravity. In flying laboratory aircraft, it can be created within 25–30 seconds. In orbital flight, it is constant." "It seemed that there  was a struggle between two forces: the forces of nature, which was the earth's gravity and held the ship and did not let go, and the forces of the human mind, represented by the power of the rocket," – quoted from an interview in Igor Sharov's book. Awards and honors. Award of the President of Ukraine "Hero of Ukraine" with the award of the Order "Golden Star" – for services to the Ukrainian state in the development of astronautics, outstanding personal contribution to strengthening international cooperation in space. Distinction of the President of Ukraine – Order "For Courage" I degree – for  outstanding contribution to the international prestige of the national space industry, personal courage and heroism shown during the Ukrainian-American scientific research aboard the spacecraft "Columbia" (19 January 1998). Order "For Merits" III st. – for significant personal contribution to the development of the rocket and space industry, significant achievements in the creation and implementation of space systems and technologies, high professionalism (12 April 2011) Distinction of the President of Ukraine – Order "For Courage" I degree – for outstanding contribution to the international prestige of the national space industry, personal courage and heroism shown during the Ukrainian-American scientific research aboard the  spacecraft "Columbia" (19 January 1998). Asteroid 399673 Kadenyuk, discovered by astronomers at the Andrushivka Astronomical Observatory in 2004, was named in his honor. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on 5 October 2017 (). In September 2018 Chernivtsi International Airport was renamed after Kadeniuk. Death. He died suddenly on 31 January 2018, during a traditional morning run in the Tsarske Selo area of Kyiv, before the ambulance arrived. According to preliminary information, Leonid Kostyantynovych died of a heart attack.