Shonin, Georgi (1935–1997)

Soviet cosmonaut whose one flight on Soyuz 6 with Valeri Kubasov in October 1969 was part of the record (at the time) of three spacecraft (Soyuz 6, 7, and 8) and seven cosmonauts in Earth orbit at the same time. The cosmonauts manoeuvred their vehicles in relation to one another and conducted medical, scientific, and technical experiments. They landed in numerical order one day apart after each had spent 118 hours in space. Shonin was selected as a cosmonaut in 1960 and left the programme in 1979.