Vladimir Kovalyonok

Vladimir Vasiliyevich Kovalyonok (Уладзі́мір Васі́льевіч Кавалёнак; Влади́мир Васи́льевич Ковалёнок; born 3 March 1942) is a retired Soviet cosmonaut.

He entered the Soviet space programme on July 5, 1967, and was commander of three missions. Together with Aleksandr Ivanchenkov he flew the long-endurance mission EO-2 which set a new record of 139 days in space. He retired from the cosmonaut team on June 23, 1984.

From 1990 to 1992 he was a Director of the 30th Central Scientific Research Institute, Ministry of Defence (Russia).

Missions

 * Soyuz 25
 * Soyuz 29/Soyuz 31
 * Soyuz T-4
 * Salyut 6

Honours and awards

 * Hero of the Soviet Union, twice (2 November 1978 and 26 May 1981)
 * Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR
 * Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 3rd class (16 May 1996)
 * Order of Military Merit (2000)
 * Three Orders of Lenin (15 November 1977, 2 November 1978 and 26 May 1981)
 * Order for Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR, 3rd class (12 August 1991)
 * Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" (12 April 2011) - for great achievements in the field of research, development and use of outer space, many years of diligent work, public activities
 * Hero of the German Democratic Republic (1978)
 * Order of Karl Marx (East Germany, 1978)
 * Hero of the MPR (Mongolia, 1981)
 * Order of Sukhbaatar (Mongolia, 1981)
 * Cross of Grunwald, 3rd class (Poland, 1978)
 * Order for Service to the Homeland, 2nd class (Belarus, 2002)