Birthday of cosmonaut Georgi Beregovoy was celebrated in Donetsk lands. He was the only person in the Russian space team who came there as a battle-front veteran. Twice a Hero of the Soviet Union, ground-attack aviation pilot, Beregovoy got his first Gold Star at the times of war. The second star was given for teaching “Soyuz” spacecraft how to fly.

Enakievo is a heart of Donbass. Cozy and clean, despite it’s a city of coal-miners and metal-makers. But with a rough mining temper. And nevertheless local streets and houses are saturated by not coal dust, but space.
“As Frederick Schiller said: space  – is a thought of God, and soviet people challenged that and tried to riddle this puzzle”, – Enakievo-city major Valery Oleynik said.
On April 15 the city celebrated a birthday of a person who was born and grew up here, cosmonaut Georgi Beregovoy. Exactly this guy made a revolution in soviet cosmonautics, entered the history of manned space flights as # 12.
“He started from that plane in the flying club, and then as a cadet passed through the school of pilots named by proletariat of Donbass”, – the son of cosmonaut Georgi Beregovoy, Victor says.
They called him “King of nose-dive”. Almost 200 battle flights, every time he was within a hair’s breadth of death. In 1944 – rank of Hero of the Soviet Union, after war – experience of test pilot. At the age of 40 he realized that the sky is too tight for him. But the limit age for selection to cosmonauts team was 30. And nevertheless he decided to apply, secretly.
“For many years I work as test pilot. Testing of new equipment is a natural desire of a test pilot”, – Georgi Beregovoy (archive).
AT the age of 47 Beregovoy flew in space. After several failures of the new “Soyuz” spacecrafts.
“The flight was not easy. Even the training process was not usual. At the beginning of 1968 we lost Gagarin, which definitely affected the flight. For the first time docking was planned for the night time”, – Official secretary-deputy chief of Federal Space Agency Vitali Davydov says.
Bless his flight, “Soyuz” spacecrafts became the main “workhorse” of cosmonautics. And Georgi Beregovoy became a national hero. But his soul and his heart remained in the native town.
“Thanks to him, new schools were opened, some of them followed the Cuban project, thanks to him we opened new children’s gardens”, – Valery Oleynik explains.
Everybody speaks about space here science the children’s garden, and every kid knows that he has to go for stars. But each person has his own stars. Older people often come here to the museum of their famous fellow-townman.
“Georgu Timofeevich presented us a unique collection. Without him we wouldn’t have “Yastreb SK-2” spacesuits, descent modules”, – the head of museum named after Beregovoy Irina Zaria says.
In schools of Enakievo by the birthday of cosmonaut they prepare space lessons – make various exhibitions, compose songs, watch specific movies.
“To foster a good spirit of a kid he needs a star to steer by”, – headmaster of IT college Olga Degtyareva explains.
That’s amazing that kids do, think and try to be like their hero not because somebody advise them, but because it is assumed to be like that.
“Donbass is a multinational region, may be that’s the main reason the most strong, smart and brave people are born here because of allegation of blood and cultures”, – Valery Oleynik explains.
Half a year later, on October 26, to celebrate the 45^th anniversary of Beregovoy’s flight Enakievo-city is going to make a great festival. And now it’s just a warm up before the take-off roll…to reach stars.
  Based on materials of  Roscosmos TV

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