German Stepanovich
Titov

1935-2000


German Stepanovich Titov was a Soviet cosmonaut, the first person to make a long space flight (more than a day), the second Soviet cosmonaut, the second person in the world to make an orbital space flight, the youngest person in history to make an orbital space flight, the Hero of the Soviet Union, Doctor of Military Sciences. He was born in the village of Verkhneye Zhilino in the Koshikhinsky district of the West Siberian Territory (now it is the Altai Territory). In 1950 he finished 7 grades of school in the village of Polkovnikovo (the Koshikhinsky district), in 1953 – 10 grades of school in the village of Nalobikha (the Koshikhinsky district). He was in the army since July 1953. In February 1955 he graduated from the 9th Military Aviation School of initial pilot training (the city of Kostanay, now Kostanay, Kazakhstan). He flew a MiG-17 jet fighter. He was in the cosmonaut detachment from March 1960 to June 1970. He made 1 space flight lasting 1 day, 1 hour, 18 minutes. Since October 1960, he was trained as a part of the first six cosmonauts selected for the first space flight. On April 12, 1961 he was the understudy of the pilot of the Vostok spacecraft, the first cosmonaut of the planet Yuri Gagarin. Throughout the history of manned cosmonautics, Herman Stepanovich Titov remains the youngest person on Earth to have been in space (at the time of the flight he was less than 26 years old). Major German Stepanovich Titov was awarded the title of the Hero of the Soviet Union with the award of the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star Medal by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated August 9, 1961 for his outstanding flight into space on the Vostok-2 satellite ship. In 1966-1970 he was trained in a group on the flight program of the Spiral orbital aircraft. As a part of this program in January – July 1967 he performed test flights at the State Red Banner Scientific Testing Institute of the Air Force (the city of Akhtubinsk, the Astrakhan region) on supersonic fighters MiG-21, Su-7, Su-9, Su-11, Yak-28. In August 1972 – June 1973 – he was the Deputy Head of the Center for the Management of Military Spacecraft of the Command and Measurement Complex of the Main Directorate of Space Assets of the Ministry of Defence of the USSR. In July 1986 – October 1991 – he was the First Deputy Head of the Department of the Chief of Space Assets of the Ministry of Defence of the USSR. Since October 1991 Colonel General of Aviation G.S. Titov was in reserve. He lived in Zvezdnyi Gorodok of the Moscow region, since 1987 – in Moscow.  He was the Hero of the Mongolian People’s Republic, Hero of Labor of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, Hero of Socialist Labor of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria. He was awarded the Russian Order of Merit for the Fatherland of the 3rd degree, the Soviet 2 Orders of Lenin, the Orders of the October Revolution, the Red Banner of Labor, medals, the Ukrainian Order of Merit of the 3rd degree and numerous foreign awards.

Address: Moscow, Trade Union str., 84/32, p. 14