Person
Vladimir Kovalyonok
Also known as Vladimir Vasilyevich Kovalyonok, Kovalenok, Kovalyonok
- Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, twice Hero of the Soviet Union; commander of Soyuz 25, Soyuz 29 and Soyuz T-4 / Salyut 6
- Colonel General, Soviet Air Force; former head of the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy
Vladimir Vasilyevich Kovalyonok is a Soviet cosmonaut and Air Force colonel general, twice Hero of the Soviet Union. He commanded three missions, including the long-duration Soyuz 29 / Salyut 6 flight of 1978 and Soyuz T-4 to Salyut 6 in 1981, and later headed the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.
He has described on Russian television an object he watched from Salyut 6 in 1981 that seemed to contract and explode in two flashes. He insists that distance cannot be judged in orbit and believes the object was man-made, of terrestrial origin.
Sources: Russian television interview (Homocosmicus mirror)
Facts and claims
- claimed He says that during his 1981 flight with Viktor Savinykh he watched an object below Salyut 6, in its orbital plane, shrink inward and burst in two explosions before the station entered shadow. He stresses that "в космосе определить расстояние невозможно" and gives his professional opinion that the object was man-made and of terrestrial origin. — Vladimir Kovalyonok Source: "UFO eyewitness": cosmonaut Col. Gen. Vladimir Kovalyonok on the Salyut 6 sightings (Russian TV) at 5:16
- claimed He says he reported the sighting officially to the State Commission, and that apart from television journalists nobody has ever asked him about it. — Vladimir Kovalyonok Source: "UFO eyewitness": cosmonaut Col. Gen. Vladimir Kovalyonok on the Salyut 6 sightings (Russian TV) at 7:55
Connected files
Incidents
Videos
- "UFO eyewitness": cosmonaut Col. Gen. Vladimir Kovalyonok on the Salyut 6 sightings (Russian TV) (appears in)