[FPSPACE] Feoktistov dies

[Asif Siddiqi]

> Feoktistov trained with Leonid Kizim and Oleg Makarov for the Soyuz T-3 
> mission to Salyut-6. Physical problems forced Feoktistov to step aside just 
> days before launch.
> The first manned launch of Soyuz TM took place early 1987. Feoktistov was 
> already 60 years old at that time. I think it's unlikely
> he would be still in training for a flight at that age.
> Gr. Rudolf van Beest.


Feoktistov's removal from the Soyuz T-3 crew was rather late in the game, on November 9, 1980, which was less than three weeks before the launch (November 27).

If I'm not mistaken, there were plans to put Feoktistov on a later crew. The idea (sometime in 1982-83) was to launch a crew with a doctor (Oleg Atkov) and Feoktistov (who was 56 at the time) on board. The goal was not unlike John Glenn's flight -- to examine the effects of weightlessness on older subjects. The other goal was to exceed the 'old age' record held by Deke Slayton (51 in 1975). Apparently the whole thing was concocted by Valentin Glushko, head of NPO Energiya, who had a thing for breaking records. The idea was dropped after Feoktistov became ill. Atkov, was, of course, reassigned to fly with Kizim and Solov'yev on Soyuz T-10 in 1984.

I should note had Feoktistov flown on Soyuz T-3, he would have ended up being the oldest person in space anyway.

Asif