Leonid Konstantinovich Kadenyuk is a Ukrainian test pilot of the 1st class, the first and only cosmonaut of independent Ukraine, People’s Deputy of Ukraine (2002 – 2006).
Place of Birth, Education
He was born on January 28, 1951 in the village of Klishkivtsi, Khotyn district, Chernivtsi region, in a family of teachers.
In 1967 he became a cadet at the Chernihiv Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots, and in 1977 – at the Test Pilot Training Center. He received a diploma and the qualification of a “test pilot”.
In 1989 he completed his studies at the Aircraft Faculty of the Moscow Aviation Institute.
Career
In 1971, he became an instructor pilot at the Chernihiv Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots.
In August 1976, he was included in the Soviet cosmonaut squad as part of the group working on the Buran reusable space system. In the period from 1977 to 1979, he completed a course of general space training, after which he received the qualification of a test cosmonaut.
From 1977 to 1983, he served as a test cosmonaut in the Buran reusable space system group.
In the period from 1984 to 1988, he was a test pilot at the State Research Institute of the USSR Air Force.
From 1988 to 1996, he served as a test cosmonaut and test pilot within the Buran program.
During 1988-1990, he underwent engineering and flight training under the Buran program as a crew commander. After that, until 1992, he underwent a full training course as the commander of the Soyuz-TM transport spacecraft. He studied the design and functioning of the Soyuz, Soyuz-TM spacecraft, the Buran reusable transport space system, the Salyut orbital station, the partially orbital Mir complex, as well as the American Space Shuttle transport spacecraft.
He participated in the design and testing of aerospace systems, including the development of sketches, the creation of mock-ups and flight tests.
He had experience flying on more than 50 varieties of aircraft, mostly fighters, and also flew the American Northrop T-38 training aircraft.
In 1995, he was enrolled in the group of cosmonauts of the National Space Agency of Ukraine. Trained for spaceflight at NASA as a payload specialist for a flight on an American reusable spacecraft.
In the period from November 19 to December 5, 1997, he took part in a space flight on the American reusable transport spacecraft Columbia as part of the STS-87 mission.
In January 1998, he became the head of the aviation department of the Air Defense Forces of Ukraine.
Since July 1999, he has been a freelance assistant to President Leonid Kuchma on aviation and space issues.
Since 2001, Kadeniuk served as deputy head of the Main Military Inspectorate under the President of Ukraine.
Since February 14, 2006, he has been a member of the Commission on Space Activities.
In January 2011, he became an adviser to the Prime Minister of Ukraine on aviation and astronautics.
On January 31 , 2018, he died during a morning jog in Kyiv.
Political Activities
In 2002, he became a people’s deputy of Ukraine. He served as Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security and Defense.
Interesting Facts
Here are some interesting facts from the life of Kadenyuk:
- after returning from space, Kadenyuk took up environmental issues and headed the public organization “Council for Environmental Safety”. He advocated the adoption of the Earth’s Ecological Constitution and initiated the collection of signatures of famous astronauts from different countries under an appeal to the United Nations (UN) in support of the initiative;
- was the author of 5 scientific publications, as well as an artistic and journalistic book called “Mission – Space”;
- Shortly before his death, he got the opportunity to go into space for the second time – he received an offer to join the crew of a mission scheduled for 2021 on a private space station. NASA also considered his candidacy for the post of shuttle commander;
- In everyday life, he was an extremely modest person – he moved on foot, did not use security, traveled by subway or other public transport. He loved dogs and helped homeless animals;
- had a twin brother, Serhiy, who passed away in 2015 under similar circumstances – during a morning jog due to coronary heart disease.
