Moscow, November 22: Russia’s first civilian cosmonaut and famous spacecraft designer Prof Konstantin Feoktistov died here at the age of 83, state-run ‘Vesti’ TV Channel reported.
Hero of the Soviet Union Feoktistov, who in 1964 made his maiden space flight on board the first of the “Voskhod” (Dawn) series three-seater spaceship with two other cosmonauts, was the first and the only Soviet space traveller who was not the member of the ruling Communist Party.
After his maiden flight Feoktistov was involved in the designing of the new spacecraft like Soyuz, Soyuz-T, Progress, Progress-M and orbital stations Salyut and Mir, initially designed as space based military platforms at the height of the Cold War.
From 1990 he was the professor at the Bauman School (University) of Advanced Technology, his alma mater.
A creator on the invisible side of the Moon has been named in his honour.
–PTI