Boris Volynov ^People

In the years after the war, he lived in Chisinau. Once in the military,Volynov attended the Higher Air Force School in Stalingrad as well as the Soviet Military Engineering Academy, becaming a colonel in the Soviet Air Force. In 1960, Volynov was chosen as one of the Soviet's inaugural cosmonauts, though due to anumber of failed missions and, according to many sources, the fact that he was Jewish, Volynov did not actually get tofly in space until 1969. From 1960 to 1963, he served as a backup crewman for the Soviet Vostok 3, 4, and 5 flights and in 1964 he was again a backup for the Voshkod 1and 2 missions. Later that year, Volynow had risen to a po-sition that was to see him command the Voshkod 3 flight into space, though that mis- sion never materialized as near fatal problems in the prior Voshkod capsule had notbeen fixed. Finally on January 15, 1969, Volynov launched into space as commander of the Soyuz 5 mission. Technical failures resulting from an unusual orbital reenty almostkilled Volynov in his spacecraft and though he eventually landed back on Earth safe- ly, the physical and mental trauma he suffered kept him from flying again for nearly seven years. To save face from the near-disaster, the Soviet government commanded Volynov to keep the Soyuz 5 problems under wraps. In 1969, a large parade was held to celebrate the Soviet space achievement and Volynov and his fellow cosmonauts were awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin awards.