Non-Soviet HSU's - Research results to date

[Taz]

Sqn.Ldr Rakesh Sharma, India, Cosmonaut, 11/4/1984, #11510 or #11557?

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Born on 13th January 1949 in Patiala, Sqn Ldr Rakesh Sharma was a test pilot in the IAF. He was selected on 20th September 1982 to become a cosmonaut. In 1984 he became the first citizen of India to go into space when he flew aboard the Russian rocket Soyuz T-11. The take-off from Baikonur in Moscow on April 2, 1984 was a high point in Indo-Soviet relations.
The Soyuz T-11 docked and transfered the three member Soviet-Indian international crew which also included the Ship's Commander Y.V. Malyshev and Flight Engineer G.M. Strekalov (USSR) to the SALYUT-7 Orbital Station. The crew spent seven days aboard the Salyut space station during which they conducted scientific and technical studies which included 43 experimental sessions. Sharma used Yoga techniques to combat the debilitating effects of weightlessness. His work was mainly in the fields of bio-medicine and remote sensing

[Taz]

Muhammed Ahmed Faris, Syria, Cosmonaut, 30/7/1987, #?
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Syrian Pilot Cosmonaut. Born 26 May 1951 in Aleppo, Syria.
First Syrian to fly in space on the Soyuz TM-3 on July 22 1987.

Faris Spaceflight Log.

22 July 1987 - Soyuz TM-3 Assignment: Prime Crew. Flight details: Soyuz TM-3, Mir EP-1, Mir EO-2, Mir LD-1.

Manned three crew. Transported to the Mir orbital space station a Soviet-Syrian crew comprising cosmonauts A S Viktorenko, A P Aleksandrov and M A Faris to conduct joint research and experiments with cosmonauts Y Romanenko and A Laveykin. Maneuvered from initial 231 X 217 km orbit to Mir's 311 X 359 km orbit. Docked with rear Mir port at 3:30 GMT 24 July. Undocked with rear port 30 July and docked to forward port.

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30 July 1987 - Landing of Soyuz TM-2 Assignment: Return Crew. Flight details: Soyuz TM-3, Mir EP-1, Mir EO-2, Mir LD-1.
Undocked from Mir at 8:34 GMT on 29 July. The Orbital Module was jettisoned before retrofire and left in a 308 X 356 orbit. Soyuz TM-2 landed at 01:05 GMT with the crew of Faris, Laveykin and Viktorenko aboard.

[Taz]

Stasi- General Erich Mielke, Germany (DDR), 25/12/1987, #11565
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A lifelong communist who fled the Nazis in the 1930s, Mielke was jailed shortly after the collapse of East Germany and reunification in 1990.
He was sentenced in Berlin to six years in prison in 1993 for the murder of two policemen in 1931. However he was freed after two years when he was diagnosed as senile.
But Mielke escaped prosecution for his leadership of the Stasi, including charges related to shooting deaths at the Berlin Wall, because of poor health and senility.
In 1997, another Berlin court refused to give him back DM380,000 ($180,000) blocked in a bank account since 1990.
The court ruled that he had misused his privilege and power to amass the money while running the Stasi.
At its height, the Stasi employed 85,000 agents and over 100,000 informers to oversee almost every aspect of life in communist East Germany.
Born in Berlin in 1907, Mielke became a full member of the Communist Party in 1925 and worked as a reporter for the party's newspaper, Red Flag.
He became a member of the party's paramilitary force, leading to his participation in the August 1931 demonstration in Berlin during which the two policemen were shot and killed.
Wanted for the killings, Mielke escaped to Belgium. He went on to the Soviet Union where he attended the elite International Lenin School in Moscow in the mid-1930s.
Mielke served in 1936 in the International Brigade that fought in the Spanish Civil War against General Franco, whose forces triumphed and set up a fascist dictatorship.
In 1940, Mielke returned to the Soviet Union and then to Soviet-occupied eastern Germany in 1945. He helped organise police in the Soviet-occupied zone and became deputy chief of state security when East Germany was founded in 1950.
He took over as minister in 1957, a post he held until the Stalinist regime collapsed with the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989.
He went on trial for shootings at the Wall along with East Germany's last Communist leader, Erich Honecker, in 1992. But the case against Mielke was dropped because he was also on trial for the 1931 police killings, and was later declared too senile to follow the proceedings.
The case against Honecker was also dropped for health reasons, and he died in exile in Chile in 1994.
Mielke lived with his wife in eastern Berlin until March, when he was admitted to a home for the elderly.


On May 26th 2000, Erich Mielke, who for years had headed the East German secret police, or Stasi, died aged 92 years in an East Berlin old people's home. Mielke was probably the most hated man in the German Democratic Republic (GDR—East Germany). History will record him as one of the greatest Stalinist criminals, whose name will be mentioned in the same breath as Vyshinsky, the chief prosecutor at the Moscow trials, or Stalin's secret service bosses Yezhov , Yagoda and Beria.

[Taz]

Lieutenant Colonel Aleksandr Panayatov Aleksandrov, Bulgaria,Cosmonaut, 17/6/1988, #11578
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Aleksandr Panayatov Aleksandrov was Born 1st December 1951 in Omurtag Bulgaria
Graduated from Airforce Academy; doctorate degree; Deputy Director, Institute of Space Research; Academy of Science, Bulgaria; was selected as backup for Soyuz 33; currently he works as a research scientist.
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Soyuz TM-5 - 07 June 1988 Assignment: Prime Crew. Flight Time: 9.84 days.

Flight details: Soyuz TM-5.

Transported to the Mir orbital station a Soviet/Bulgarian crew comprising cosmonauts A Y Solovyev, V P Savinykh and A P Aleksandrov (Bulgaria) to conduct joint research and experiments with cosmonauts V G Titov and M K Manarov. Interim orbit 343 x 282 km. Maneuvered to Mir's 355 x 349 km orbit. Docked 15:57 GMT 9 June to Mir's aft port. Moved to forward port 18 June. Undocked 22:55 GMT 5 September. Jettisoned Orbital Module 23:35 GMT 5 September. Planned landing 02:15 September 6 1988 failed due to confusion of infrared horizon sensors. Repeat retrofire attempt one orbit later resulted in a partial burn only. The crew had to spend a tense 24 hours in the cramped Descent Module (the Orbital Module having already been jettisoned before the retrofire burn) before making last chance deorbit. Finally Lyakhov and Afghani cosmonaut Mohmand (Soyuz TM-6) returned safely to Earth and landed September 7, 1988 00:50 GMT, 160 km SE Dzhezkazgan.

[Taz]

Colonel Abdul Ahad Mohmand, Afghanistan, Cosmonaut, 7/9/1988, #11584
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Abdul Ahad Mohmand was born on January 1, 1959 in Sardah, Afghanistan, Mohmand graduated from Polytechnical High school in Kabul and then the Air Force Academy. He served in the Afghan Air Force and later trained in the USSR as a pilot.
He was the first Afghan cosmonaut and spent nine days in space aboard the Mir space station in 1988.
He currently lives in Stuttgart, Germany as an Afgan refugee.

Along with Commander Vladimir Lyakhov and Dr. Valery Polyakov, Mohmand was part of the Soyuz TM-6 three-man crew, which launched at 04:23 GMT August 29, 1988. Mohmand's inclusion in the mission was a significant symbol during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.

During his brief time on the Mir, Mohmand took photographs of Afghanistan, participated in astrophysical, medical and biological experiments, spoke to Afghan president Najibullah and brewed Afghan tea for the crew.

The September 6 landing of Soyuz TM-6 was delayed because of mechanical complications on the Mir. Radio Moscow reassured listeners that Lyakhov and Mohmand were fine and in touch with Mission Control. A recording was played of them laughing. The British media jumped on the story and incorporated words like "marooned" and "lost in space" into their headlines. They even suggested (erroneously) that the cosmonauts had run out of food. With each passing orbit, the danger for the crew became more and more serious. Fortunately, a day later the retro-fire was successful, and at 00:50 GMT Soyuz TM 5 landed near Dzhezkazgan. During touchdown there was no live radio coverage, only live television pictures of Mission Control.

Abdul Ahad Mohmand received the Order of Lenin and a gold star, and Lyakhov was given the Order of the October Revolution.

[Taz]

Forum members:
Eddie, Kim, Al-Muell, Tal, Ed, Art, Mark, Alexei, EK-1939, Rusty, Esteban, Kabanchik, Eric, Christophe, William, DougD, Dietrich & Christer.
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Vojtěch Šír (aka egli)- www.fronta.cz
Andrew Kuznetsov - www.mondvor.narod.ru
Nikolay Efimov

Various Web sites

To everybody many, many thanks!
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BTW please post any additional info in the Thread "A Collective Research"
please.
Thanks again.
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Eddie.

[Taz]

02.04.2004 ( New photo of Brig. Gen Jean-loup Chrétien #37 from Art )
05.04.2004 ( New photo of Antonín Sochor #7 from Dietrich )
11.04.2004 ( Unit Details of Capt. Ruben Ruis Ibarruri #16 found by Eddie )
22.05.2004 ( Photo of Stepan Vajda #15 from Eddie)
30.05.2004 ( Info on Stěpan Vajda #15 found collective)
05.06.2004 ( HSU s/n from Lt. Marcel Lefèvre #14 from Christophe)
12.06.2004 ( New photo of Jacques Andre #13 from Christophe)
09.08.2004 ( s/n of the HSU. #42. Erich Mielke confirmed as 11565 by Dietrich)
14.09.2008 ( Tesařík and Svoboda updated)

Eddie.