Lev Dyomin

Lev Stepanovich Dyomin (Russian: Лев Степанович Дёмин; January 11, 1926, in Moscow – December 18, 1998, in Zvyozdny Gorodok) was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 15 spaceflight in 1974. This spaceflight was intended to dock with the space station Salyut 3, but the docking failed.

Dyomin gained a doctoral degree in engineering from the Soviet Air Force Engineering Academy and the rank of Colonel in the Soviet Air Force.

Aged 48 at the time of his flight on Soyuz 15, he was the oldest cosmonaut up to that point as well as the first grandfather to go into space. He remained in the program until leaving in 1982 to pursue deep-sea research. Dyomin died of cancer in Zvyozdny Gorodok in 1998.

He was awarded:

• Hero of the Soviet Union
• Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR
• Order of Lenin
• Order of the Red Banner of Labour
• Medal "For Combat Merit"
• Medal "For the Development of Virgin Lands"
• Order of the Banner of the People's Republic of Bulgaria