Another pioneer gone...

[diankra]

Obit in the (London) Times (and elsewhere) today for Pavel Popovich, pilot of Vostok 4 and hence sixth man in orbit (and eighth man in space), aged 78.
I think that means there's only four left - Glenn, Carpenter, Bykovsky and Tereshkova - from that first group of cosmonauts and astronauts who flew Vostok and Mercury.

 

[Sky]

That is sad.

I saw Tereshkova when she was lecturing in Finland a few years ago.. she was a childhood hero of mine, so I was very happy to hear her speak about her experiences.

(Another childhood cosmonaut hero of mine, Alexei Leonov, who was the first human to conduct a space walk, once visited my grandfather to congratulate him on his birthday - and my parents didn't take me there since I was too small for an official fancy party! I'm still kinda bitter.)