Andrian Grigoryevich Nikolayev

Andrian Grigoryevich Nikolayev (Chuvash: Андриян Григорьевич Николаев), (September 5, 1929–July 3, 2004) was a Soviet cosmonaut. Ethnic Chuvash.

Nikolayev flew on two space flights: Vostok 3 (effectively becoming the third Soviet cosmonaut) and Soyuz 9. His call sign in these flights was Falcon (Russian: Со́кол). On both, he set new endurance records for the longest time a human being had remained in orbit. He also served as backup for the Vostok 2 and Soyuz 8 missions. On January 22, 1969, Nikolayev survived an assassination attempt on Leonid Brezhnev, undertaken by Soviet Army officer Viktor Ilyin . He left the cosmonaut corps on January 26, 1982.

On November 3, 1963, he married Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to fly in space (see Vostok 6). They had one daughter, Elena Andrionova (now a Doctor of Medicine), before their marriage collapsed. However, it was not until 1982 that they divorced.

A lunar crater was given his name, Nikolayev.

In 2004, Nikolayev died of a heart attack in Cheboksary, the capital of Chuvashia in Russia. A scandal ensued. His daughter, who lives in Moscow, desired that he be interred in the cemetery at Star City. The president of Chuvashia had other ideas. After a farewell ceremony in Cheboksary, Nikolayev was buried in his native village of Sorseli. He has no family living in the republic.