caption death_date birth_place mission image_size nationality article_title birth_date selection image time type occupation
vyacheslav a 1977 soviet stamp zudov and valery rozhdestvensky -lrb- right -rrb- on 31 august 2011 leningrad , soviet union soyuz 23 300px soviet valery rozhdestvensky
 13 february 1939 1965 soyuz-23 . jpg 2d 00h 06m cosmonaut engineer , soviet navy
valery rozhdestvensky

valery ilyich rozhdestvensky -lrb- russian : Валерий Ильич Рождественский , 13 february 1939 -- 31 august 2011 -rrb- was a soviet cosmonaut .
rozhdestvensky was born in leningrad and graduated from the higher military engineering school of soviet navy in pushkin in engineering .
from 1961 to 1965 he was commander of a deepsea diving unit in the baltic sea war fleet .
rozhdestvensky was selected as a cosmonaut on 23 october 1965 and flew as flight engineer on soyuz 23 .
after his space flight he continued to work with the space program at the yuri gagarin cosmonaut training center .
he retired on 24 june 1986 and worked with metropolis industries .
he was married with one child .
he was awarded : hero of the soviet union pilot-cosmonaut of the ussr order of lenin order for service to the homeland in the armed forces of the ussr 3rd class medal `` for merit in space exploration ''
