Cosmonaut Khrunov biography. The first space postman. Member of the lunar program

Russian cosmonaut.

Evgeny Vasilyevich Khrunov was born on September 10, 1933 in the village of Prudy, Volovsky district, Tula region, into a large peasant family. In addition to him, Vasily Yegorovich and Agrafena Nikolaevna Khrunov had two more daughters and five sons. The childhood of Eugene, like all children of that time, fell on the years of the war. More than once he had to witness the fierce air battles between Soviet and German pilots that unfolded in the sky above the village. According to the recollections of relatives, it was then that he had a desire to become a pilot. Over the years, this desire not only has not disappeared, but has become stronger. were difficult and post-war years especially after the death of his father. Mother alone had to raise a large family.

After graduating from seventh grade high school, Eugene entered the agricultural college in the city of Kashira (Tula region), which he graduated in 1952. In the same year he was drafted into the ranks Soviet army and sent to study at the military aviation school. The following year, he applied and was enrolled in the Bataysk Military Aviation School for Pilots. As his colleagues later recalled, he loved to fly to self-forgetfulness. In 1956 he graduated from college and was sent to serve in the 86th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 119th Fighter Aviation Division of the 48th Air Army stationed on the territory of the Odessa Military District.

It so happened that another future cosmonaut, also a member of the Gagarin recruitment, Viktor Gorbatko, served in the same link with Khrunov. In 1959, they both successfully passed the medical examination and on March 9, 1960, by order of the Commander-in-Chief Air force Konstantin Vershinin were enrolled in the military unit 26266 - the future Cosmonaut Training Center.

A year later, having completed general space training, Khrunov became a full-fledged cosmonaut. At the same time, training began within the framework of specific programs. First long-term plans flights of the Vostok ships, drawn up at the end of 1961, provided for the launches of 15 ships. One of them - Vostok-12 - was to be piloted by Khrunov. The program provided for a flight lasting 10-15 days at an altitude of up to 1000 kilometers. But already in 1963, the plans were revised and Khrunov was included in the group that began preparations for the flight of two Vostoks lasting 8-10 days. However, these plans were not destined to come true - further construction of the Vostok spacecraft was stopped and all the cosmonauts began to prepare for flights under other programs. In 1964, Khrunov began training under the "Exit" program, which provided for the first exit of a person into outer space. On March 18, 1965, Alexei Leonov was the first in the world to leave the cabin of the ship and set off for free soaring over our planet. Aleksey Leonov's understudy was Yevgeny Khrunov. Then only a few knew about it.

After the successful flight of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, plans were drawn up for further flights of spacecraft of this type. Unfortunately, these plans were repeatedly revised and, in the end, remained unrealized. First, Khrunov trained as the commander of the Voskhod-6 spacecraft with a launch date in early 1967, and then as a co-pilot of one of the Voskhods, when he was to make 2-3 spacewalks with a distance of 50 100 meters. But, as I said, there were no more new Voskhod flights. They were replaced by more modern ships Soyuz, for which Khrunov began to prepare for flights. In the mid-1960s, several manned programs were being implemented in the Soviet Union at once. Khrunov was preparing for flights on spacecraft of the Soyuz 7K-OK type in near-Earth orbit and on spacecraft of the L-3 type to the Moon. When preparations were being made for the launch of the first two spacecraft of the Soyuz 7K-OK type, Khrunov, together with Valery Bykovsky and Alexei Eliseev, was included in the main crew of the Soyuz-2 spacecraft. The flight program provided for the docking of Soyuz-2 with the Soyuz-1 spacecraft, on board of which Vladimir Komarov was to go into space. Then Khrunov and Eliseev had to go from ship to ship through outer space and return to Earth on Soyuz-1. The experiment began on April 23, 1967 with the launch of Soyuz-1. "Soyuz-2" was supposed to start the next day. Malfunctions on Soyuz-1 began shortly after launch, and the Soyuz-2 flight had to be cancelled. And on April 24, 1967, while returning to Earth, cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov died.

The tragedy that occurred forced the developers to make significant changes to the design of the ship and, quite naturally, to revise plans for further manned flights. Despite the delay, Khrunov, along with his comrades, continued training. Without interruption from work at the Cosmonaut Training Center, in 1968, he graduated from the N.E. Zhukovsky Military Engineering Academy, having received an engineering education in addition to the military one. And finally, the finest hour of Yevgeny Khrunov came. On January 15, 1969, together with Boris Volynov and Alexei Eliseev, he went into orbit on the Soyuz-5 spacecraft. The next day was marked by the appearance in Earth orbit of the world's first experimental orbital space station. And then another experiment was carried out, which has no analogues. Evgeny Khrunov and Aleksey Eliseev put on space suits and went out into open space. 37 minutes later they were met on the Soyuz-4 spacecraft by Vladimir Shatalov. Until now, this transition from ship to ship through outer space remains the only one. On January 17, the astronauts returned to Earth. Evgeny Khrunov worked in space for 1 day 23 hours 45 minutes 50 seconds.

And then there was preparation for new flights, but Khrunov failed to fly into space again. Whether it was fatal bad luck or something else is hard to say. We state this as a fact. In July 1969, he was appointed commander of the backup crew of the Soyuz-7 spacecraft, instead of Anatoly Kuklin, who fell ill. And a few days later he himself had a car accident and was suspended from further training. The Soviet "lunar program", in which Khrunov played far from the last role, was closed.

Work at the Cosmonaut Training Center did not prevent Yevgeny Khrunov from continuing his education. In 1971, he defended his Ph.D. thesis. The topic is the biomechanics of human work in outer space. And in 1972 he graduated from the Military-Political Academy named after V.I. Lenin with a gold medal. In the future, Khrunov had to prepare for flights under a number of other programs, including the Almaz program (manned reconnaissance orbital station). In the late 1970s, when the implementation of the Interkosmos program began, he was one of those who were preparing for these flights. In 1980, together with Cuban Jose Armando López Falcon, he trained as an understudy under the Soviet-Cuban flight program, and then, together with Dumitru Prunariu, began training for the Soviet-Romanian flight as the commander of the main crew. But here, too, a bitter disappointment awaited him. In December 1980, for violating the regime, Khrunov was removed from training and expelled from the cosmonaut corps. The next place of his work was the NII-30 of the USSR Ministry of Defense. There he worked as a senior researcher 120th laboratory of the 46th department of the 1st department of the institute. From 1983 to 1989 he worked at the Main Technical Directorate State Committee USSR for Foreign Economic Relations (deputy head of department, head of department). After his dismissal in 1989 from the Armed Forces of the USSR with the rank of colonel, he took part in the aftermath of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Hero Soviet Union(Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of January 22, 1969). Awarded with the Order Lenin, the Order of the Red Star, 10 Soviet and two Bulgarian medals. The Academy of Sciences of the USSR awarded him the K.E. Tsiolkovsky gold medal, and the International Aviation Federation - an honorary diploma named after V.M. Komarov and the de Lavoe medal. Honored Master of Sports of the USSR. Honorable Sir Russian cities Kaluga, Tula, Shakhtersk, Chirchik, Prudy villages. Streets in the Volovo district center of the Tula region, Nepryadvenskaya and Krasnoznamenskaya schools of the Shchelkovsky district are named after him.

Author of several books, including "The Conquest of Weightlessness", "The Path to Mars", "In Orbit Outside the Ship" (the last two together with L. Khachaturyants). In addition to writing himself, he was a passionate book lover, had an excellent home library of several thousand volumes.

Russian cosmonaut.

Evgeny Vasilyevich Khrunov was born on September 10, 1933 in the village of Prudy, Volovsky district, Tula region, into a large peasant family. In addition to him, Vasily Yegorovich and Agrafena Nikolaevna Khrunov had two more daughters and five sons. The childhood of Eugene, like all children of that time, fell on the years of the war. More than once he had to witness the fierce air battles between Soviet and German pilots that unfolded in the sky above the village. According to the recollections of relatives, it was then that he had a desire to become a pilot. Over the years, this desire not only has not disappeared, but has become stronger. The post-war years were not easy either, especially after the death of my father. Mother alone had to raise a large family.

After graduating from seven years of high school, Eugene entered an agricultural college in the city of Kashira (Tula region), which he graduated in 1952. In the same year he was drafted into the ranks of the Soviet Army and sent to study at a military aviation school. The following year, he applied and was enrolled in the Bataysk Military Aviation School for Pilots. As his colleagues later recalled, he loved to fly to self-forgetfulness. In 1956 he graduated from college and was sent to serve in the 86th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 119th Fighter Aviation Division of the 48th Air Army stationed on the territory of the Odessa Military District.

It so happened that another future cosmonaut, also a member of the Gagarin recruitment, Viktor Gorbatko, served in the same link with Khrunov. In 1959, both of them successfully passed the medical examination and on March 9, 1960, by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force Konstantin Vershinin, they were enrolled in military unit 26266 - the future Cosmonaut Training Center.

A year later, having completed general space training, Khrunov became a full-fledged cosmonaut. At the same time, training began within the framework of specific programs. The first long-term flight plans for the Vostok ships, drawn up at the end of 1961, provided for the launch of 15 ships. One of them - Vostok-12 - was to be piloted by Khrunov. The program provided for a flight lasting 10-15 days at an altitude of up to 1000 kilometers. But already in 1963, the plans were revised and Khrunov was included in the group that began preparations for the flight of two Vostoks lasting 8-10 days. However, these plans were not destined to come true - further construction of the Vostok spacecraft was stopped and all the cosmonauts began to prepare for flights under other programs. In 1964, Khrunov began preparations for the Exit program, which provided for the first manned spacewalk. On March 18, 1965, Alexei Leonov was the first in the world to leave the cabin of the ship and set off for free soaring over our planet. Aleksey Leonov's understudy was Yevgeny Khrunov. Then only a few knew about it.

After the successful flight of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, plans were drawn up for further flights of spacecraft of this type. Unfortunately, these plans were repeatedly revised and, in the end, remained unrealized. First, Khrunov trained as the commander of the Voskhod-6 spacecraft with a launch date in early 1967, and then as a co-pilot of one of the Voskhods, when he was to make 2-3 spacewalks with a distance of 50 100 meters. But, as I said, there were no more new Voskhod flights. They were replaced by more modern Soyuz ships, for which Khrunov began to prepare for flights. In the mid-1960s, several manned programs were being implemented in the Soviet Union at once. Khrunov was preparing for flights on spacecraft of the Soyuz 7K-OK type in near-Earth orbit and on spacecraft of the L-3 type to the Moon. When preparations were being made for the launch of the first two spacecraft of the Soyuz 7K-OK type, Khrunov, together with Valery Bykovsky and Alexei Eliseev, was included in the main crew of the Soyuz-2 spacecraft. The flight program provided for the docking of Soyuz-2 with the Soyuz-1 spacecraft, on board of which Vladimir Komarov was to go into space. Then Khrunov and Eliseev had to go from ship to ship through outer space and return to Earth on Soyuz-1. The experiment began on April 23, 1967 with the launch of Soyuz-1. "Soyuz-2" was supposed to start the next day. Malfunctions on Soyuz-1 began shortly after launch, and the Soyuz-2 flight had to be cancelled. And on April 24, 1967, while returning to Earth, cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov died.

The tragedy that occurred forced the developers to make significant changes to the design of the ship and, quite naturally, to revise plans for further manned flights. Despite the delay, Khrunov, along with his comrades, continued training. Without interruption from work at the Cosmonaut Training Center, in 1968, he graduated from the N.E. Zhukovsky Military Engineering Academy, having received an engineering education in addition to the military one. And finally, the finest hour of Yevgeny Khrunov came. On January 15, 1969, together with Boris Volynov and Alexei Eliseev, he went into orbit on the Soyuz-5 spacecraft. The next day was marked by the appearance of the world's first experimental orbital space station in near-Earth orbit. And then another experiment was carried out, which has no analogues. Evgeny Khrunov and Aleksey Eliseev put on space suits and went out into open space. 37 minutes later they were met on the Soyuz-4 spacecraft by Vladimir Shatalov. Until now, this transition from ship to ship through outer space remains the only one. On January 17, the astronauts returned to Earth. Evgeny Khrunov worked in space for 1 day 23 hours 45 minutes 50 seconds.

Work at the Cosmonaut Training Center did not prevent Yevgeny Khrunov from continuing his education. In 1971, he defended his Ph.D. thesis. The topic is the biomechanics of human work in outer space. And in 1972 he graduated from the Military-Political Academy named after V.I. Lenin with a gold medal. In the future, Khrunov had to prepare for flights under a number of other programs, including the Almaz program (manned reconnaissance orbital station). In the late 1970s, when the implementation of the Interkosmos program began, he was one of those who were preparing for these flights. In 1980, together with Cuban Jose Armando López Falcon, he trained as an understudy under the Soviet-Cuban flight program, and then, together with Dumitru Prunariu, began training for the Soviet-Romanian flight as the commander of the main crew. But here, too, a bitter disappointment awaited him. In December 1980, for violating the regime, Khrunov was removed from training and expelled from the cosmonaut corps. The next place of his work was the NII-30 of the USSR Ministry of Defense. There he worked as a senior researcher at the 120th laboratory of the 46th department of the 1st department of the institute. From 1983 to 1989 he worked in the Main Technical Department of the USSR State Committee for Foreign Economic Relations (Deputy Head of Department, Head of Department). After his dismissal in 1989 from the Armed Forces of the USSR with the rank of colonel, he took part in the aftermath of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Hero of the Soviet Union (Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of January 22, 1969). He was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Star, 10 Soviet and two Bulgarian medals. The Academy of Sciences of the USSR awarded him the K.E. Tsiolkovsky gold medal, and the International Aviation Federation - an honorary diploma named after V.M. Komarov and the de Lavoe medal. Honored Master of Sports of the USSR. Honorary citizen of the Russian cities of Kaluga, Tula, Shakhtersk, Chirchik, the village of Prudy. Streets in the Volovo district center of the Tula region, Nepryadvenskaya and Krasnoznamenskaya schools of the Shchelkovsky district are named after him.

Evgeny Vasilievich Khrunov(September 10 - May 19, Moscow) - USSR pilot-cosmonaut No. 15, Air Force colonel, Hero of the Soviet Union ().

Biography

From the age of eight, Eugene dreamed of becoming a pilot. He received a secondary education in a rural school, after which he graduated from the Ivankovsky College of Mechanization Agriculture named after V. I. Lenin, specializing in mechanics for tractors and cars.

He was a member of the crew of the Soyuz-2 spacecraft, which was supposed to start on April 24, 1967 to dock with the previously launched Soyuz-1 spacecraft and go along with the second Soyuz-2 crew member (Eliseev) to return to the Soyuz- one". Due to malfunctions on the Soyuz-1 of the same type (the flight of which ended in a disaster with the death of cosmonaut Komarov), the launch of Soyuz-2 was canceled, which saved the lives of its crew.

After the first space flight and the cancellations of the lunar programs, Khrunov continued to prepare for space flights on Soyuz-type spacecraft and Salyut-type orbital stations.

Along with the military, he also received an engineering education - in 1968 Khrunov graduated from the N. E. Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. He defended his diploma in January on the topic of orientation systems for a single-seat aerospace aircraft, the project of which was developed by a group of cosmonaut students, including Gagarin and Titov.

In 1971, Evgeny Vasilievich defended his PhD thesis. Its theme is the biomechanics of human work in outer space. His field of research is the reliability of the "human link" in control systems under extreme conditions. “In order to work out the best ways to control the ship, to rationally distribute functions between a person and an automaton,” Khrunov believes, “it is necessary to know a person, the features of perception and information, its recoding, organization and decision making.”

Awards

Medal "Gold Star" of the Hero of the Soviet Union (January 22, 1969);
Order of Lenin (January 22, 1969);
Order of the Red Star (June 12, 1961);
eleven commemorative medals of the USSR;
medal "25 years of people's power" (Bulgaria, 1969);
medal "20 years of the Bulgarian People's Army";
Honorary Diploma named after V. M. Komarov;
de Lavoe medal (FAI);
Evgeny Khrunov - honorable Sir the cities of Tula, Kaluga, Bataysk, Baikonur and others.

Memory

There are Khrunov streets in the Volovo district center of the Tula region and in the city of Snezhnoye in the Donetsk region (Ukraine).

Khrunov's name is given to schools in the village of Nepryadva (Tula Region) and in the city of Krasnoznamensk (Shchelkovsky District, Moscow Region).

Books

Evgeny Khrunov published books in collaboration with L. Khachaturyants: “Conquest of weightlessness” (in it he spoke about his path to astronautics, about the profession of a space pilot, about “difficult and dangerous flight factors”, about the enormous work and strong-willed efforts that are expended in the process of preparing and fulfilling flight tasks) and sci-fi "The Way to Mars" (on the theme of an expedition to Mars), "On an asteroid" and "Hello, Phobos!". He is also the author of the book In Orbit Outside the Ship.

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Notes

Links

. Site "Heroes of the Country".



1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

An excerpt characterizing Khrunov, Evgeny Vasilyevich

He guessed his movements ahead, and he became more and more cheerful. He noticed a lone tree ahead. This tree was at first in front, in the middle of that line that seemed so terrible. And so they crossed this line, and not only was there nothing terrible, but it became more and more cheerful and lively. "Oh, how I will cut him," thought Rostov, clutching the hilt of the saber in his hand.
– Oh oh oh ah ah!! - voices boomed. "Well, now whoever gets caught," thought Rostov, pressing Grachik's spurs, and, overtaking the others, let him go all over the quarry. The enemy was already visible ahead. Suddenly, like a wide broom, something lashed the squadron. Rostov raised his saber, preparing to cut, but at that time the soldier Nikitenko, galloping ahead, separated from him, and Rostov felt, as in a dream, that he continued to rush forward with unnatural speed and at the same time remained in place. Behind him, the familiar hussar Bandarchuk galloped up at him and looked angrily. Bandarchuk's horse shied away, and he galloped past.
"What is this? am I not moving? “I fell, I was killed ...” Rostov asked and answered in an instant. He was already alone in the middle of the field. Instead of moving horses and hussar backs, he saw around him motionless earth and stubble. Warm blood was under him. "No, I am wounded and the horse is killed." Rook got up on his front legs, but fell, crushing his rider's leg. Blood was flowing from the horse's head. The horse struggled and could not get up. Rostov wanted to get up and fell too: the cart caught on the saddle. Where were ours, where were the French - he did not know. Nobody was around.
He freed his leg and stood up. “Where, on what side was now that line that so sharply separated the two troops?” he asked himself and could not answer. “Has something bad happened to me? Are there such cases, and what should be done in such cases? he asked himself, getting up; and at that time he felt that something superfluous was hanging on his left numb hand. Her brush was like someone else's. He looked at his hand, searching in vain for blood. “Well, here are the people,” he thought happily, seeing several people running towards him. “They will help me!” Ahead of these people ran one in a strange shako and in a blue overcoat, black, tanned, with a hooked nose. Two more and many more fled behind. One of them said something strange, non-Russian. Between the rear of the same people, in the same shakos, stood one Russian hussar. He was held by the hands; his horse was kept behind him.
“That's right, our prisoner ... Yes. Will they take me too? What kind of people are these? Rostov kept thinking, not believing his eyes. "Are they French?" He looked at the approaching French, and despite the fact that in a second he galloped only to overtake these Frenchmen and cut them down, their proximity now seemed to him so terrible that he could not believe his eyes. "Who are they? Why are they running? Really to me? Are they running towards me? And why? Kill me? Me, whom everyone loves so much? - He remembered the love for him of his mother, family, friends, and the intention of the enemies to kill him seemed impossible. "Or maybe - and kill!" He stood for more than ten seconds, not moving from his place and not understanding his position. The hump-nosed Frenchman in front ran so close that you could already see the expression on his face. And the heated, alien physiognomy of this man, who, with a bayonet in excess, holding his breath, easily ran up to him, frightened Rostov. He grabbed a pistol and, instead of firing it, threw it at the Frenchman and ran towards the bushes with all his strength. Not with that feeling of doubt and struggle with which he went to the Ensky bridge, he fled, but with the feeling of a hare running away from dogs. One inseparable feeling of fear for his young, happy life dominated his entire being. Quickly jumping over the fences, with the swiftness with which he ran, playing burners, he flew across the field, occasionally turning his pale, kind, young face, and a chill of horror ran down his back. "No, it's better not to look," he thought, but, running up to the bushes, he looked back again. The French lagged behind, and even at the moment he looked back, the one in front had just changed his trot to a walk and, turning around, was shouting something loudly to his rear comrade. Rostov stopped. "Something's wrong," he thought, "it can't be that they want to kill me." Meanwhile, his left hand was so heavy, as if a two-pound weight was hung from it. He couldn't run any further. The Frenchman also stopped and took aim. Rostov closed his eyes and bent down. One, another bullet flew, buzzing, past him. He gathered his last strength, took left hand to the right and ran to the bushes. There were Russian arrows in the bushes.

Infantry regiments, caught unawares in the forest, ran out of the forest, and companies, mingling with other companies, left in disorderly crowds. One soldier, in fright, uttered a terrible and meaningless word in the war: “cut off!”, And the word, along with a feeling of fear, was communicated to the whole mass.
- Bypassed! Cut off! Gone! shouted the voices of the fugitives.
The regimental commander, at the very moment he heard the shooting and shouting from behind, realized that something terrible had happened to his regiment, and the thought that he, an exemplary, who had served for many years, an innocent officer, could be guilty before his superiors in an oversight or indiscipline, so struck him that at that very moment, forgetting both the rebellious cavalry colonel and his general importance, and most importantly - completely forgetting about the danger and sense of self-preservation, he, grabbing the pommel of the saddle and spurring the horse, galloped to the regiment under a hail of bullets that sprinkled, but happily passed him by. He wanted one thing: to find out what was the matter, and to help and correct at all costs the mistake, if it was on his part, and not to be guilty of him, having served for twenty-two years as an exemplary officer, not noticed in anything.
Having happily galloped between the French, he galloped to the field behind the forest, through which ours ran and, disobeying the command, went downhill. That moment of moral hesitation has come, which decides the fate of the battles: these upset crowds of soldiers will listen to the voice of their commander or, looking back at him, will run further. Despite the desperate cry of the regimental commander’s voice, which was once so formidable for a soldier, despite the furious, crimson, dissimilar face of the regimental commander and brandishing his sword, the soldiers kept running, talking, shooting into the air and not listening to commands. The moral hesitation that decides the fate of the battles, obviously, was resolved in favor of fear.
The general coughed from the scream and gunpowder smoke and stopped in despair. Everything seemed lost, but at that moment the French, who were advancing on ours, suddenly, for no apparent reason, ran back, disappeared from the edge of the forest, and Russian arrows appeared in the forest. It was Timokhin's company, which, alone in the forest, kept itself in order and, having sat down in a ditch near the forest, unexpectedly attacked the French. Timokhin, with such a desperate cry, rushed at the French and with such insane and drunken determination, with one skewer, ran into the enemy that the French, not having time to come to their senses, threw down their weapons and ran. Dolokhov, who fled next to Timokhin, killed one Frenchman point-blank and was the first to take the surrendered officer by the collar. The fugitives returned, the battalions gathered, and the French, who had divided the troops of the left flank into two parts, were momentarily pushed back. The reserve units managed to connect, and the fugitives stopped. The regimental commander was standing with Major Ekonomov at the bridge, letting the retreating companies pass by, when a soldier approached him, took him by the stirrup and almost leaned against him. The soldier was wearing a bluish, factory-made overcoat, there was no knapsack and shako, his head was tied, and a French charging bag was put on over his shoulder. He held an officer's sword in his hands. The soldier was pale, his blue eyes brazenly looked into the face of the regimental commander, and his mouth smiled. Despite the fact that the regimental commander was busy giving orders to Major Ekonomov, he could not help but pay attention to this soldier.
“Your Excellency, here are two trophies,” said Dolokhov, pointing to the French sword and bag. “I have captured an officer. I stopped the company. - Dolokhov was breathing heavily from fatigue; he spoke with stops. “The whole company can testify. Please remember, Your Excellency!
“Good, good,” said the regimental commander, and turned to Major Ekonomov.
But Dolokhov did not leave; he untied the handkerchief, tugged it, and showed the blood clotted in his hair.
- A wound with a bayonet, I remained in the front. Remember, Your Excellency.

The Tushin battery was forgotten, and only at the very end of the case, continuing to hear the cannonade in the center, Prince Bagration sent the officer on duty there and then Prince Andrei to order the battery to retreat as soon as possible. The cover stationed near Tushin's guns left, on someone's orders, in the middle of the case; but the battery continued to fire and was not taken by the French only because the enemy could not imagine the audacity of firing four unprotected cannons. On the contrary, according to the energetic action of this battery, he assumed that the main forces of the Russians were concentrated here, in the center, and twice tried to attack this point and both times were chased away by shots of four cannons standing alone on this hill.

The sky has always attracted mankind, but for some it is not enough - daredevils become astronauts and plunge headlong into the unknown secrets of the starry worlds. It is they who on April 12 can take off their spacesuits, loosen the wires and allow themselves to celebrate Cosmonautics Day. There are space heroes among Tula residents, one of them is a native of the Volovsky district Evgeny Khrunov.

Evgeny Vasilievich became the first of the three Tula cosmonauts. As a research engineer of the Soyuz-5 spacecraft, he is the only one who made the transition in open space from one ship to another. In the memory of his teachers, he remained a talented student, and in the memory of his descendants - an outstanding teacher and legendary cosmonaut.

Khrunov loved native land, but since childhood sought to the sky. Photo: Shutterstock.com

The war gave a dream

In 1933, the small village of Prudy in the Tula region had a little over a hundred households. The house of the Khrunov family stood apart - on a hill, as if striving for the sky. In this house with wooden floors (which was a novelty in those days), the future Hero of the Soviet Union spent his childhood.

“Immediately in front of our house, a rather steep descent began to a large water meadow, covered in summer with tall and juicy grass with bright flowers. Behind the meadow, among the willows, the clean river Nepryadva flowed, in which there were a lot of fish and crayfish, - Evgeny Khrunov recalls in his book “Conquest of Weightlessness”. - I remember very well calloused in fuel oil, but some in a special way gentle hands father, who, leaving the tractor for a minute to stretch a little, stroked my head and affectionately said: “Come on, let’s get used to it.”

Evgeny Vasilyevich Khrunov - research engineer of the Soyuz-5 spacecraft, USSR pilot-cosmonaut No. 16, colonel. He was awarded 10 Soviet and two Bulgarian medals. The Academy of Sciences of the USSR awarded him the K.E. Tsiolkovsky gold medal, and the International Aviation Federation - an honorary diploma named after V.M. Komarov and the de Lavoe medal. The hero of the USSR. Evgeny Khrunov's father is Vasily Egorovich Khrunov. He was the first tractor driver on the collective farm, then a foreman. A strong, economic man, respected in the village. Mother - Agrafena Nikolaevna, worked on a collective farm.

But it was not necessary to get used to the earth ...

Zhenya was the third child out of ten. Born on September 10, 1933, the boy at a young age knew all the hardships of the war. More than once he had a chance to witness the fierce air battles between Soviet and German aircraft that unfolded in the sky above the village. In those terrible years, the guy had a dream to become a pilot.

Over time, the blue canvas over his head attracted him more and more, and in 1952, in the ranks of the Soviet Army, Yevgeny Khrunov was sent to study at a military aviation school. After the career of a novice pilot, she quickly rushed up - to her cherished dream. The following year, he was enrolled in the Bataysk Military Aviation School for Pilots. In 1956, he was sent to serve in the 86th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 119th Fighter Aviation Division of the 48th Air Army of Odessa V.O. in the Moldovan SSF.

In March 1960, he was enrolled in the first detachment of astronauts.

“My first teacher, Elena Matveevna, told us that those who study well will become a teacher, doctor, and pilot in the future,” Evgeny Vasilyevich recalls.

Then the word "pilot" was perceived as something romantic.

Letter from Earth

Yevgeny Khrunov made his first flight into space in January 1969 as a research engineer.

During this flight, a transition through open space was made from Soyuz-5 to Soyuz-4 - the world's first docking of two spaceships. The Soyuz-4 crew started a day earlier than the fifth, on board the latter Evgeny Vasilyevich went into space. The astronaut went to explore the expanses of the universe not with empty handed. With him he had letters from Earth to Vladimir Shatalov, the commander of the Soyuz-4. The letters were delivered, and Yevgeny Khrunov among his friends received the nickname "space postman."

Tula worked in space for 1 day 23 hours 45 minutes 50 seconds.

Ten years later, the research engineer left the cosmonaut corps and began to help people on earth. Fate sent him into the unknown - he became one of the liquidators of the consequences at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. What awaited him there with his comrades, no one knew, but he had to go, and he went ...

A museum dedicated to space has been opened in Khrunov's homeland. Photo: From the personal archive /

But wherever he was, the sky never left his heart and thoughts, proof of this is his books "The Path to Mars", "Conquest of Weightlessness", "In the Open Space", "In Orbit Outside the Ship".

Yevgeny Khrunov lived for 67 years, in May 2000 he died in Moscow, was buried at the Ostankino cemetery.

The memory of the fellow countryman is still kept by the streets in Volovo and two schools, Krasnoznamenskaya and Nepryadvenskaya, named after him.

Keeping memory

Nina Petrunkina- not just an enthusiastic person, but a real enthusiast of his work. As a mathematics teacher, she became the custodian of the memory of the first Tula cosmonaut and the creator of the cosmonautics museum in a small school in the village of Nepryadva.

The Museum conducts regular tours. Photo: From the personal archive / Nepryadvinsky Memorial Museum of E.V. Khrunov

And it all started in 2001 with a small room located in the building of a school boarding school. For eight years, the museum room has accumulated a lot of exhibits and in 2009 turned into a full-fledged museum.

Now it has two halls, in which six permanent exhibitions are open.

Of particular delight are rare photographs of space food - a gift to the museum from another son of the Tula land, a pilot-cosmonaut Sergei Zalyotin.

Tula region gave Russia three cosmonauts who were part of the Soviet, and then the Russian cosmonaut corps. Yevgeny Khrunov - Gagarin cosmonaut, participant of the first docking, Valery Polyakov - the legendary doctor, whose record of long stay in orbit has not been surpassed so far, and Sergey Zalyotin - commander of the last expedition to the Mir station.

“No less valuable for us is the exposition dedicated to cosmonaut Leonov. He presented the museum with a photo with a personal autograph and an album “space painting,” says the head of the museum Elena Malikova. “The second hall occupies one of the central places in the museum, because it is dedicated to our student Zhenya Khrunov.”

Monument to the cosmonaut, installed in the Volovsky district. Photo: From the personal archive / Nepryadvinsky Memorial Museum of E.V. Khrunov

The rural museum still lives and “breathes”, people come here from different parts of Russia to touch the memory of an outstanding engineer, whose transition from one ship to another has never been repeated ...

We thank the Nepryadvinsky Memorial Museum of E.V. Khrunov for help in preparing the material.

7:37 10/09/2017

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On September 10, 1933, Yevgeny Vasilyevich Khrunov was born in the village of Prudy in the Tula region. After graduating from seven classes of secondary school, E.V. Khrunov entered the Ivankovsky Agricultural College, from which he graduated in 1952.

In 1953, E.V. Khrunov completed one course of the 8th Pavlograd VASHPOL, and in 1956 - Batayskoye VAULT. After graduation, E.V. Khrunov was sent to serve in the Odessa Military District, served in the Moldavian SSR as a fighter pilot. In the same aviation link with E.V. Khrunov, his future comrade in the cosmonaut detachment V.V. Gorbatko served. In 1957-1959. E.V. Khrunov studied at the University of Marxism-Leninism in Balti.

In 1960, E.V. Khrunov was declared fit for space training and was selected as a cosmonaut-student in the first set of cosmonauts. In 1960-1961. completed a course of general space training and received the qualification of an Air Force cosmonaut. Since 1963, E.V. Khrunov was admitted to space training as part of crews. In 1961-1968. E.V. Khrunov studied at VVIA them. N.E. Zhukovsky.

E.V. Khrunov went on the first and only space flight on January 15, 1969 as a research engineer on the ship, together with commander B.V. Volynov and flight engineer A.S. Eliseev. During the flight, Soyuz-5 carried out the first ever manned docking with the Soyuz-4 spacecraft, which was controlled by cosmonaut V.A.Shatalov. Then, simulating the transition from the orbiter to the lunar lander, A.S. Eliseev and E.V. Khrunov crossed through open space on board the Soyuz-4. Shortly thereafter, the ships undocked. Soyuz-4 with V.A. Shatalov, A.S. Eliseev and E.V. Khrunov landed on 17 January. Soyuz-5 with B.V. Volynov landed on 18 January.

For courage and heroism shown during the space flight, E.V. Khrunov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and the title of pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR. The total time of E.V. Khrunov's stay in space was 1 day 23 hours, of which 37 minutes in outer space.

In 1971-1980. E.V. Khrunov remained in the service in the CTC of the Air Force. Yu.A. Gagarin. In 1971-1972. E.V. Khrunov studied at the Military-Political Academy. V.I. Lenin, and in 1971 he defended in the VIA. A.F. Mozhaisky Ph.D. thesis. In 1980, E.V. Khrunov left the cosmonaut corps and went to serve in the Main Technical Directorate of the USSR State Committee for Foreign Economic Relations. Since 1987, E.V. Khrunov became the head of the department of the Main Engineering Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Defense for foreign economic relations.