SACRED LEGACY ARCHIVES™

Vasily Lazarev

1928-02-23 – 1990-12-31

USSR stamp, "Soyuz-12", 1973. Lazarev & Makarov. Марка СССР, Полёт космонавтов В. Г. Лазарев и О. Г. Макарова на космическом корабле "Союз-12", 1973, 10 коп.Credit: USSR Post

Life & Legacy

Vasily Grigoryevich Lazarev (Russian: Васи́лий Григо́рьевич Ла́зарев; 23 February 1928 – 31 December 1990) was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 12 spaceflight as well as the abortive Soyuz 18a launch on 5 April 1975.
He was injured by the high acceleration of the abort and landing and was initially denied his spaceflight bonus pay, having to appeal directly to Leonid Brezhnev to receive it. Brezhnev was at the time the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Lazarev held a degree in medicine and the rank of colonel in the Soviet Air Force. He remained in the space programme until failing a physical in 1981. He never fully recovered from the injuries sustained on Soyuz 18a and died on the last day of 1990 at the age of 62.
He was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, the title Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR and the Order of Lenin.

Occupation & Career

physician, aircraft pilot, astronaut

Education

Ural State Medical University; Saratov State Medical University; Ivan Kozhedub National University of the Air Force

Accomplishments, Inventions & Publications

Order of Lenin; Hero of the Soviet Union; Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR; Medal "Veteran of the Armed Forces of the USSR"; Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin"; Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"; Jubilee Medal "40 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"; Jubilee Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"; Jubilee Medal "60 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"; Jubilee Medal "70 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR"; Medal "For Impeccable Service"; aircraft pilot qualification (class); Medal "For Impeccable Service", 3rd class; Medal "For Impeccable Service", 2nd class

Legacy Highlights

Honors & Awards

aircraft pilot qualification (class) · Hero of the Soviet Union · Jubilee Medal "40 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" · Jubilee Medal "50 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" · Jubilee Medal "60 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" · Jubilee Medal "70 Years of the Armed Forces of the USSR" · Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" · Jubilee Medal "Twenty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945" · Medal "For Impeccable Service" · Medal "For Impeccable Service", 2nd class · Medal "For Impeccable Service", 3rd class · Medal "Veteran of the Armed Forces of the USSR" · Order of Lenin · Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR