Ivan Anikeyev, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Ivan Anikeyev

Soviet cosmonaut

Date of Birth: 12-Feb-1933

Place of Birth: Liski, Russia

Date of Death: 08-Aug-1992

Profession: aircraft pilot, explorer

Zodiac Sign: Aquarius


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About Ivan Anikeyev

  • Ivan Nikolayevich Anikeyev (Russian: ???? ?????????? ???????; February 12, 1933 - August 8, 1992) was a Soviet cosmonaut who was dismissed from the Soviet space program for disciplinary reasons.
  • Senior Lieutenant Anikeyev, age 27, was selected as one of the original 20 cosmonauts on March 7, 1960 along with Yuri Gagarin.
  • On March 27, 1963 Anikeyev, Grigori Nelyubov and Valentin Filatyev were arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct by the militia at Chkalovskiy station.
  • According to reports, the officers of the security patrol that arrested them were willing to ignore the whole incident if the cosmonauts apologized; Anikeyev and Filatyev agreed but Nelyubov refused, and the matter was reported to the authorities.
  • Because there had been previous incidents, all three were dismissed from the cosmonaut corps on April 17, 1963, though officially not until May 4, 1963.
  • Anikeyev never completed a space mission. To protect the image of the space program, efforts were made to cover up the reason for Anikeyev's dismissal.
  • His image was airbrushed out of cosmonaut photos.
  • This airbrushing led to speculation about "lost cosmonauts" even though the actual reasons were often mundane. Alexei Leonov recounts that years later, while Anikeyev was at a party one night, someone stole his keys from his pocket and stole his car.
  • The thief hit and killed a pedestrian, and to avoid responsibility, returned the keys to Anikeyev's pocket.
  • The latter was sent to prison for a year before authorities realized he was innocent and released him, but he was never given the chance to fly again.

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