The message reads, in part:
“Vladimir Shatalov was an outstanding representative of the renowned constellation of conquerors of the universe, as well as a brave, strong-willed and highly respectable person. Over the years of his important and responsible work, he made a great personal contribution to the development of domestic aviation and the space industry, and to the popularisation of the national space programme’s key achievements.”
Cosmonaut Vladimir Shatalov, two-time Hero of the Soviet Union, passed away on June 15, 2021, at the age of 93.
Mr Shatalov went on his first space mission on January 14, 1969, aboard the Soyuz-4 spacecraft. He was involved in the creation of the first experimental space station in the world and the spacewalk by cosmonauts Alexei Yeliseyev and Yevgeny Khrunov from Soyuz-5 to Soyuz-4. In total, Vladimir Shatalov performed three space flights. In 1987–1991, he headed the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.