NIKOLAYEV, ANDRIYAN GRIGORYEVICH

born , Sept. 5, 1929, Shorshely, Chuvash A.S.S.R., U.S.S.R. [now Chuvashiya, Russia] Soviet cosmonaut who piloted the Vostok 3 spacecraft, launched Aug. 11, 1962. When Vostok 4, piloted by Pavel R. Popovich, was launched a day later, there were, for the first time, two manned craft in space simultaneously. The two made radio and visual contact, but there was no attempt at docking. Both landed on August 15. The son of a worker on a collective farm, Nikolayev studied and worked in forestry until drafted into the Soviet army in 1950. An early interest in flying persisted, and he soon transferred to the air force; in 1954 he became a pilot. In 1957 he joined the Communist Party and in March 1960 entered cosmonaut training. From 1964 Nikolayev was the commander of the Soviet Astronauts' Detachment. On Nov. 3, 1963, Nikolayev married Valentina Tereshkova, who in June 1963 had become the first woman to travel in space. They had one child and were subsequently divorced. Nikolayev and Vitaly I. Sevastyanov manned the Soyuz 9 flight on June 1, 1970, and set a space endurance record of almost 18 days in orbit. The mission, primarily one of determining the effects of prolonged spaceflight, ended on June 19.