spacetoday.net: Veteran cosmonaut dies

Veteran cosmonaut dies

Posted: Tue, Jul 6, 2004, 10:30 AM ET (1430 GMT)
Andriyan Nikolayev, the third Russian in space and veteran of two space flights, passed away Saturday at the age of 74. Nikolayev suffered a heart attack while judging a sports competition in the Chuvashian region of Russia, where he was born. Nikolayev was part of the first group of cosmonauts selected in 1960, and first flew in space on Vostok 3 in 1962, spending a record four days in space. He later flew on the Soyuz 9 mission in 1970, spending 18 days in orbit. That flight also revealed that the human body can be weakened by extended exposure to weightlessness without exercise. In 1963 he married the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova; they divorced in 1982. He is scheduled to be buried Tuesday in Chuvashia.