Leonid Kadeniuk

Leonid Kostyantynovych Kadenyuk (Ukrainian: Леонід Костянтинович Каденюк, 28 January 1951 – 31 January 2018)[1] was the first, and to this day remains the only, astronaut of independent Ukraine who flew into outer space. He flew on NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997 as part of the international mission STS-87.[2] Kadenyuk held the rank of Major General in the Ukrainian Air Force.

This name uses Eastern Slavic naming customs; the patronymic is Kostyantynovych and the family name is Kadenyuk.
Leonid Kostyantynovych Kadenyuk
Born(1951-01-28)28 January 1951
Klishkivtsi, Chernivtsi Oblast, Ukrainian SSR
Died31 January 2018(2018-01-31) (aged 67)
Kyiv, Ukraine
NationalityUkraine
OccupationTest pilot
AwardsHero of Ukraine
Space career
Soviet / Ukrainian cosmonaut
RankMajor General, UAF
Time in space
15d 16h 34 m
Selection1976 Air Force Group 6
MissionsSTS-87
Mission insignia

Biography

Kadenyuk was a Soviet military pilot. He began his service in the Soviet Air Forces and was selected in 1976 for the Soviet Cosmonaut Corps being on a team of test pilots of the Soviet new space shuttle Buran, but was removed after marital issues. He was allowed to rejoin the Cosmonaut Detachment several years later.[3] With the break-up of the Soviet Union, Kadenyuk remained in the Russian Space Forces and adopted Ukrainian citizenship.[4] In 1995, during the preparation of the first Ukrainian space mission, he volunteered to take part and returned to his homeland.[4]

There were two main candidates for the mission, the other being Yaroslav Pustovyi, a civil Ukrainian scientist in space research. Kadeniuk was chosen as better-trained and accustomed to space mission organization.

After the flight, Leonid Kadeniuk continued his Ukrainian space program career in the State Space Agency of Ukraine.

In the 2002 parliamentary election, he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada in the list of pro-Kuchma United Ukraine Bloc. Later, Kadeniuk joined the "Trudova Ukrayina - Industrialists and Entrepreneurs" faction, but hadn't been politically active. He worked within parliament's Committee on Defense and National Security.

In the 2006 parliamentary election,[5] Kadenyuk was #3 in the electoral party list of Lytvyn's People's Bloc, but the block won only 2.44% of the popular vote (short of the required 3%) and no seats in the parliament.

Kadenyuk died on 31 January 2018, three days after turning 67.[6][7] He was interred in the central avenue of Kiev's Baikove Cemetery.[8]

Awards and honors

Asteroid 399673 Kadenyuk, discovered by astronomers at the Andrushivka Astronomical Observatory in 2004, was named in his honor.[2] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 5 October 2017 (M.P.C. 106504).[9]

In September 2018 Chernivtsi International Airport was renamed after Kadeniuk.[10]

See also

References
  1. "Помер космонавт Леонід Каденюк". BBC.
  2. "399673 Kadenyuk (2004 SW19)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  3. Yuri M. Baturin (editor) (2005). World Manned Cosmonautics - History, Equipment, People (Russian language). Moscow Publishing House. pp. 600–601.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  4. (in Russian) Леонид Константинович Каденюк Biography on Peoples.ru
  5. "Народні депутати України IV скликання (2002-2006)". 5 February 2018.
  6. Ukraine's first astronaut Leonid Kadenyuk dies at 67 Kyiv Post, 31 January 2018
  7. First Ukrainian cosmonaut Leonid Kadeniuk dies Interfax, 31 January 2018
  8. (in Ukrainian) On Baykovyi cemetery, farewell to dissident Levko Lukyanenko (video), UNIAN (9 July 2018)
  9. "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  10. Chernivtsi International Airport is now named after Kadeniuk, first Ukrainian astronaut, 112 Ukraine (27 September 2018)
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