Deep-sea vehicle “Mir”. Photo: wikipedia.org
Artur Nikolaevich Chilingarov
There are many Heroes in the history of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. Heroes become not only on the battlefields, but also in space, and even at depth. In the history of the Russian Federation, there are only four people who have been awarded the titles of Heroes of both the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. This article is about them.
Artur Chilingarov is a Soviet and Russian scientist, researcher, and oceanographer. The creator of a huge number of scientific papers. He was a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. He had the degree of Doctor of Geographical Sciences.
Artur Nikolaevich was born in Leningrad in 1939. In 2023, Chilingarov turned 84 years old. He devoted his entire life to research and scientific work in the field of oceanology. On February 14, 1986, Artur Nikolaevich was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union Star. Chilingarov received the award for the operation to release the Mikhail Somov research ship from the drifting ice, which got bogged down near the coast of Antarctica.
Artur Nikolaevich was awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation in 2008 for a successful scientific expedition to the bottom at the geographical north pole. This expedition was called “Aktika-2007”. Then, for the first time in history, people reached the bottom at the north pole. Artur Nikolaevich was part of the crew of the deep-sea spacecraft Mir-1.
By the way, this expedition made it possible to prove that the Lomonosov Ridge is a continuation of the Siberian continental platform. The Lomonosov Ridge itself, according to scientists, has up to 25 percent of the world’s hydrocarbon reserves. The expedition allowed the Russian Federation to claim these reserves in accordance with international law.
Putin V.V. and Chilingarov A.N. Photos from free sources
Nikolay Sainovich Maidanov
The legendary pilot Nikolai Sainovich Maidanov was born on February 7, 1956 in the village of Taskuduk of the Kazakh SSR. Nikolai Sainovich became the only person in our history who was awarded the titles of Hero of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation for his exploits on the battlefield.
Nikolai Sainovich is a legend of Soviet aviation. In 1984, he was sent on his first business trip to Afghanistan. In 1987, he was sent there for the second time. In Afghanistan, Nikolai Sainovich carried out more than 1,250 combat sorties with a total flight time of 1,100 hours. During his work, he took 85 wounded soldiers and officers from the battlefield. He transported more than a thousand paratroopers and a hundred tons of various cargoes. Nikolai Sainovich Maidanov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1988 for courage and heroism in the performance of military duty.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Nikolai Sainovich lived in Kazakhstan for several years. But in 1997, he moved with his family to Russia, where he joined the army aviation. In the period from 1999 to 2000, Colonel Maydanov was directly involved in the anti-terrorist operation on the territory of the Chechen Republic. He rescued wounded soldiers from the inferno many times. Often in violation of orders and even under threat of a tribunal. Maidanov did not allow those who, in his opinion, could still be saved to die.
On January 28, 2000, while performing another task in the area of the Argun Gorge, Colonel Maidanov was wounded. He was able to reach the airfield by helicopter, but there was no strength left to land the car. The soot helicopter is his assistant. Colonel Maydanov had died by this point. In 2000, Nikolai Maidanov was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation. Posthumously. Nikolay Sainovich Maidanov is buried in St. Petersburg at the Serafimovsky cemetery. He was 43 years old.
Sergey Konstantinovich Krikalev
The famous Russian cosmonaut was born in 1958 in the hero city of Leningrad. Almost immediately after graduating from high school, Sergey Konstantinovich began to engage in airplane sports at the DOSAAF base. He received his education at the Leningrad Mechanical Institute, from which he graduated with honors.
Sergey Krikalev has long held the palm for the longest stay in space. In total, Krikalev made six flights, in which he went into outer space eight times. The duration of Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev’s flights is 803 days 09 hours 41 minutes 12 seconds, of which 41 hours 26 minutes in outer space.
For his first flight into space, which took place on November 26, 1988 and lasted 151 days, 11 hours, 08 minutes, 24 seconds, Krikalev received the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Krikalev’s second space flight is unique in that the Soyuz TM-12 spacecraft was launched from the territory of the Soviet Union, but the famous cosmonaut returned to Earth when such a country no longer existed. During this flight, which was 311 days, 20 hours, 00 minutes, 34 seconds long, cosmonaut Krikalev received the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.
Sergey Konstantinovich also became the last Russian cosmonaut who also received a Volga car for a flight into space. So Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev became one of the four holders of the Hero Star of both the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. Today, Sergey Konstantinovich continues his work on space exploration in one of the senior positions of the State Corporation Roscosmos.
Valery Vladimirovich Polyakov
The story of Valery Vladimirovich is similar to the story of cosmonaut Krikalev. Valery Polyakov also flew into space, both from the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. Valery Vladimirovich was born in Tula in 1942. He is a Doctor of medical Sciences and professor of medicine. The first flight into space, for which Valery Vladimirovich was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, took place in 1988 and lasted 240 days, 22 hours and 34 minutes.
The second flight took place in the Russian Federation. Valery Vladimirovich went on a space trip on January 9, 1994. Then the flight lasted more than a year, namely 437 days, 17 hours and 58 minutes. For the successful implementation of this flight, Valery Vladimirovich Polyakov received the Hero of the Russian Federation star. Valery Vladimirovich died at the age of eighty on September 7, 2022 in Moscow. He was buried at the Vagankovo cemetery.
By Denis Mironov
