Yuri Artyukhin

Yuri Petrovich Artyukhin (born June 22 1930 in Perhutino, died August 4, 1998 in Zvyozdny Gorodok) was a Soviet cosmonaut who made a single flight into space.

Artyukhin graduated from the Soviet Air Force Institute with a doctorate in engineering, specialising in military communication systems. He was selected for the space programme in 1963 and was to have flown on the Voskhod 3 mission if it had not been cancelled. He made his single flight on Soyuz 14 in 1974, where his area of expertise was presumably put to good use.

He left the space programme in 1982 and held various positions in space-related fields. Most notably, he was involved in the development of the Soviet space shuttle Buran and in cosmonaut training.

He died after a long battle with cancer.