Viktor Patsayev

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Viktor Ivanovich Patsayev
Cosmonaut
Nationality	Soviet
Status	Died during mission
Born	June 19, 1933 Aktyubinsk, Kazakh SSR
Died	June 30, 1971 Karaganda, Kazakh SSR
Other occupation	Engineer
Space time	23d 18h 21m
Selection	1968 USSR Civilian Specialist Group 3
Missions	Soyuz 11

Viktor Ivanovich Patsayev (Russian: Виктор Иванович Пацаев; June 19, 1933, Aktyubinsk – June 30, 1971) was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 11 mission and had the unfortunate distinction of being part of the second crew to die during a space flight. Onboard space station Salyut 1 he operated the Orion 1 Space Observatory (see Orion 1 and Orion 2 Space Observatories), he became the first man to operate a telescope outside the Earth’s atmosphere.

After a normal re-entry, the capsule was opened and the crew was found dead. It was discovered that a valve had opened just prior to leaving orbit that had allowed the capsule's atmosphere to vent away into space, suffocating the crew.

One of Patsayev's hands was found to be bruised, and he may have been trying to shut the valve manually at the time he lost consciousness.

Patsayev's ashes were inurned in the Kremlin Wall on the Red Square in Moscow.

Persondata
NAME	Patsayev, Viktor Ivanovich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Виктор Иванович Пацаев (Russian)
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Soviet cosmonaut
DATE OF BIRTH	June 19, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH	Aqtöbe, SOviet Union
DATE OF DEATH	June 30, 1971
PLACE OF DEATH	Space