Leonid Kadenyuk's Birthday. How the Astronaut Introduced Americans to Ukrainian Songs.

Today marks the 74th anniversary of the first and only astronaut of independent Ukraine, a first-class test pilot, cosmonaut, major general of aviation, people's deputy of Ukraine, Hero of Ukraine, president of the Aerospace Society of Ukraine, head of the State Space Agency of Ukraine, and honorary doctor of Chernivtsi National University named after Yuri Fedkovych – Leonid Kadenyuk.

«Glavkom» tells fifteen interesting facts from the life of the legendary Ukrainian.

He Added a Year to Enter Flight School

Leonid Kadenyuk was born on January 28, 1951, in the small village of Klishkivtsi, Khotyn district, Chernivtsi region, in the family of village teachers. He graduated from school with a silver medal. He wrote the graduation essay in Ukrainian with a grade of 'good'.

To get into the flight school, the boy had to add a year to his age. They accepted students from 17 years, while he was 16. During the commission, Leonid confessed to the local military commissioner that he needed one more year to enter. After some persuasion, the officer called the Civil Registry Office and asked for a new birth certificate. «Maybe someday we will meet him at the cosmodrome with flowers. Let's help the young man, – the commissioner said jokingly over the phone.

3. «The Forgery» was discovered during the selection for the cosmonaut group. «The head of the Cosmonaut Training Center, twice Hero of the Soviet Union Georgy Beregovoy, called me: «The personnel department discovered in the documents that your brother was born on January 28, 1951, while you were born on January 28, 1950. How do you explain such a coincidence?». «And my brother and I are twins, born 15 minutes apart, and without trying to justify myself, saying, supposedly, our parents calculated it that way, I told the truth. In response, Georgy Timofeyevich said that his frontline friends added up to 5 years to get into aviation. He shook my hand, and that was the end of the matter», – recalled Leonid Kadenyuk.

4. In 1971, the Ukrainian managed to pass a huge selection process and join the group of Soviet test cosmonauts for the reusable space system «Buran». In particular, he participated in practicing the glide path for landing the spacecraft «Buran» using MiG-31 and MiG-25 aircraft. After completing the test pilot training center, Leonid Kadenyuk received a diploma and the qualification of «test pilot».

5. Significant funds are needed for preparation for space flight. However, Leonid Kadenyuk's flight occurred through an agreement between the presidents of Ukraine and the USA, Leonid Kuchma and Bill Clinton. Ukraine paid not a penny for that flight.

«Americans Loved Our Songs So Much That They Started Learning Ukrainian»

6. For the wake-up signal during the flight on «Columbia», Leonid Kostyantynovych chose the national anthem of Ukraine, which sounded in space twice. Also, during this flight, the emblem and flag of Ukraine were in space for the first Time. Kadenyuk also took a portrait of Taras Shevchenko and «Kobzar», which he later donated to the National Museum of Taras Shevchenko in Kaniv.

7. During the flight, Leonid Kadenyuk organized two evenings of Ukrainian songs in space. The crew members were delighted with «Two Colors» and «Cheremshyna» performed by Dmytro Hnatiuk, «My Native Land» – performed by Sofia Rotaru, and songs performed by Nazariy Yaremchuk and Anatoliy Solovyanenko.

«Americans Loved Our Songs So Much That They Started Learning Ukrainian», – recalled Leonid Kadenyuk. The first astronaut of independent Ukraine gifted embroidered Ukrainian shirts to all crew members of «Columbia» after the flight, which the astronauts took a memorable photo in.

8. Each crew member had their own assignment in orbit. The Ukrainian acted as a scientific biologist. The crew conducted experiments with three types of plants: turnip, soybean, and moss. The cosmonauts had to determine how the state of weightlessness affects the growth and development of these plants.

9. According to Leonid Kadenyuk, the most challenging part in space was sleeping, as in a state of weightlessness, a person can fall asleep on the ceiling or wall. He personally slept on the wall – he had to secure his sleeping bag with six special fasteners. Notably, the reusable NASA space shuttle «Columbia», which our fellow countryman flew on, was used for filming the American movie «Armageddon» (1998).

10. Leonid Kadenyuk spent 15 days and 16 hours in orbit (from November 19 to December 5, 1997). To one of the most popular questions from journalists «was it scary in space?», Leonid Kadenyuk always replied, «it was very interesting. The most impressive aspect in space is that...