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). The scientific program for the flight was prepared entirely by Bulgarian scientists, along with some of the equipment.
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.
Ivanov was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on April 13, 1979 Georgi Ivanov earned a Ph.D. in space engineering. He was elected to the National Assembly and took part in the creation of the new democratic Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria.
Read more about this topic: Georgi Ivanov
Famous quotes containing the word program:
“A candidate once called his opponent “a willful, obstinate, unsavory, obnoxious, pusillanimous, pestilential, pernicious, and perversable liar” without pausing for breath, and even his enemies removed their hats.”
—Federal Writers’ Project Of The Wor, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)