Rimantas Antanas Stankevičius

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Rimantas Antanas Stankevicius (July 26, 1944 – September 9, 1990) was a Lithuanian astronaut who test flew Soviet space shuttle Buran and its test vehicles. He was born in Kapsukas (now Marijampolė), Lithuania, and died in Salgareda, a small village near Treviso, Italy, airshow after a crash of his Su-27 fighter plane.

[edit] Biography

In 1966, he graduated from Chernigov Higher Aviation School. He served as USSR pilot in Germany, Egypt, Turkmenia.

In 1975, Stankevicius became a test-pilot. He accomplished spin testing in the MiG-29. He flew 57 types of aircraft and had over 4000 hours of flying experience. In 1982 he was graded as a 1st class test-pilot.

Stankevicius was assigned, in 1979, to prepare to pilot Buran, the USSR Space Shuttle. The training was completed in February, 1982 and he became first Lithuanian astronaut.

His astronaut training continued in September, 1984 as he trained to fly space shuttle Buran. Stankevicius has accomplished 14 test-flights with Buran's counterpart, the BTS-02 aircraft. He was both pilot and commander of the space shuttle.

In 1990, Rimantas Stankevičius participated in the Everett Air Show and piloted an Su-27. Soon after his return home, he went to Italy to replace another USSR pilot in the Salgareda Air Show.

On September 9, 1990 he was again flying an Su-27. As he performed a loop maneuver, the aircraft's altitude was lower than his estimates. He had had an option to eject from the aircraft, but that would have meant letting the plane crash into the crowd. Instead, stayed in the plane and died in the crash, keeping the impact clear of the spectators at the show.

Rimantas Stankevicius is buried in Kaunas, Lithuania.