The former Soviet cosmonaut Waleri Bykowski is dead. He died on Wednesday at the age of 84 years near Moscow, said the cosmonaut training center „Yuri Gagarin“.

Overall, the trained fighter pilot Bykowski spent more than 20 days in space. In space flight with the German Sigmund Jähn In 1978 Bykowski was commander of the Soviet spacecraft „Soyuz 31“. For almost eight days, the two stayed in space and circled the earth 125 times. Jähn was then in the GDR as a hero.

„He was my commander“

Bykowski continued to work for the Gagarin Center on his return, but ended his active career as a spaceman in the 1980s. „He was my commander,“ Jähn said to the death notice.

The 82-year-old had recently seen his colleague in Russia. He was there but already drawn by health problems, Jähn said. „We got along well and we had regular contact for holidays.“

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Bykowski as „people of extraordinary courage and strength.“ Berlin’s governing mayor, Michael Müller, also commented on Bykowski’s death: „Berlin mourns for its honorary citizen and a brave man who was one of the first to take the risk and challenge of opening the door to the cosmos . „