Lev Dyomin

Lev Dyomin
Dyomin in 1974
Born	Lev Stepanovich Dyomin (1926-01-11)11 January 1926 Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died	18 December 1998(1998-12-18) (aged 72) Zvyozdny Gorodok, Russia
Nationality	Soviet
Occupation	Pilot
Awards	Hero of the Soviet Union
Space career
Cosmonaut
Rank	Colonel, Soviet Air Force
Time in space	2d 00h 12m
Selection	Air Force Group 2
Missions	Soyuz 15

Lev Stepanovich Dyomin (Russian: Лев Степанович Дёмин; 11 January 1926 – 18 December 1998) was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 15 spaceflight in 1974. This spaceflight was intended to dock with the space station Salyut 3, but the docking failed.

Biography

Dyomin was born in Moscow. He gained a doctoral degree in engineering from the Soviet Air Force Engineering Academy and the rank of Colonel in the Soviet Air Force.

Aged 48 at the time of his flight on Soyuz 15, he was the oldest cosmonaut up to that point as well as the first grandfather to go into space. He remained in the program until leaving in 1982 to pursue deep-sea research. Dyomin died of cancer, in Zvyozdny Gorodok, in 1998.

He was awarded:

• Hero of the Soviet Union
• Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR
• Order of Lenin
• Order of the Red Banner of Labour
• Medal "For Battle Merit"
• Medal "For the Development of Virgin Lands"
• Order of the Banner of the People's Republic of Bulgaria