Leonid Kostyantynovych Kadenyuk
Leonid Kostyantynovych Kadenyuk was a Ukrainian Air Force pilot, cosmonaut, and the first astronaut of independent Ukraine to fly in space. His STS-87 flight made him a national figure in Ukrainian space history.
- Born
- January 28, 1951
- Died
- January 31, 2018
- Birthplace
- Klishkivtsi, Chernivtsi Oblast,Ukraine
Flights
1
Spacewalks
0
EVA time
N/A
In space
15 days, 16 hours, 34 minutes
Bio
Kadenyuk trained as a military pilot and test pilot in the Soviet system before Ukraine became independent. He was connected to Soviet cosmonaut training and later represented independent Ukraine on a NASA shuttle mission.
He flew aboard Columbia on STS-87 in 1997 as a . His work included plant-growth and biological experiments connected to Ukrainian scientific participation in the mission.
After spaceflight, Kadenyuk served in Ukrainian public life, including roles in government, aerospace organizations, and education. He was designated a Hero of Ukraine and became a prominent symbol of Ukrainian achievement in space.