Georgi Ivanov

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For other uses, see Georgi Ivanov (disambiguation).

**Georgi Ivanov**
Intercosmos Cosmonaut

Nationality	Bulgarian
Born	July 2, 1940 Lovech, Bulgaria
Occupation¹	Pilot
Rank	Major General
Space time	1d 23h 01m
Selection	1978 Intercosmos Group
Mission(s)	Soyuz 33
¹ previous or current

Georgi Ivanov (Bulgarian: Георги Иванов) (né Kakalov, born July 2, 1940) is the first Bulgarian cosmonaut. Member of the National Assembly of Bulgaria (1990).

Born in Lovech, Georgi Kakalov attended the Military Air-force School in Dolna Mitropolia. After completing the 5 years education he attended the Bulgarian National Army as a military pilot. A few years later he became instructor and head of division.

As soon as he entered the Soviet International Space Programme Intercosmos in 1978, he had to change his family name to Ivanov, because his original surname Kakalov occasionnally had negative connotations in Russian language. After intensive training, Ivanov was selected for the fourth mission under the Intercosmos program.

He, along with Soviet cosmonaut Nikolai Rukavishnikov, was launched into space as part of the Soyuz 33 mission from Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 10, 1979, at 17:34 (GMT).

Though take-off was smooth, the mission was a disaster, with severe damage of the engine preventing docking in orbit to Salyut 6 orbital station as it was initially planned. A premature return to Earth became the only possible decision for Ivanov and Rukavishnikov. Due to some additional technical problems landing was difficult to endure - more than 9Gs.

When Soyuz 33 finally landed, it was 320 km southeast of Dzhezkazgan. It completed 31 orbits, and was in space for 1 day, 23 hours and 1 minute.

Georgi Ivanov earned a Ph.D. in space engineering. He was elected in the National Assembly and took part in the creation of the new democratic Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria.

Since 1993 Georgi Ivanov is executive director of Air Sofia Ltd.

Till 1982 Ivanov was married to Natalya Rousanova and they had one daughter, Ani (born 1967). Later they divorced.

Now he is married to Lidia and they have one son, Ivan (born 1984).

His hobbies include skiing, fishing and golf. Member of the ASE - Association of the Space Explorers. Founded Future in Space Foundation.