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Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez

Cuban - (RFSA)

Retired

Date of Birth: Jan. 29, 1942
Age: 83


Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez (born January 29, 1942) is a Cuban military officer, legislator, and former cosmonaut and the first person of African heritage in space. As a member of the crew of Soyuz 38, he became the first Cuban citizen and the first person from a country in the Western Hemisphere other than the United States to travel into Earth orbit.

Soyuz-U | Soyuz 38

Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) | Russia
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
Sept. 18, 1980, 7:11 p.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

Soyuz 38 was the 12th mission to visit the Salyut 6 space station and carried the EP-8 crew, which visited the long-duration Soyuz 35 resident crew. The mission began on September 18, 1980, 19:11:03 UTC, launching Commander Yuri Romanenko and Research Cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, the first Cuban cosmonaut, into orbit. They docked with the station the next day. During their 7-day stay on the station, EP-8 crew carried out medical and other experiments, including Earth and solar observation, plant and crystal growing. The mission concluded with a safe landing back on Earth on September 26, 1980, 15:54:27 UTC.

Low Earth Orbit
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Administrator: Yuri Borisov

The Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities, commonly known as Roscosmos, is the governmental body responsible for the space science program of the Russian Federation and general aerospace research. Soyuz has many launch locations the Russian sites are Baikonur, Plesetsk and Vostochny however Ariane also purchases the vehicle and launches it from French Guiana.


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 8 hours ago
Cygnus CRS-2 NG-23 (S.S. William “Willie” C. McCool)
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

This is the 23rd flight of the Northrop Grumman's uncrewed resupply spacecraft Cygnus and its 22nd flight to the International Space Station under th…


Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 12 hours ago
Starlink Group 17-10
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat
Success
5 days, 4 hours ago
Glonass-K1 No. 18 (Kosmos 2595) & Kosmos 2596
43/3 (43L) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation

Glonass-K1 are the third generation of satellite design for GLONASS satellite navigation system. GLONASS is a Russian space-based navigation system c…


Falcon 9
Success
6 days, 4 hours ago
Nusantara Lima
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

Nusantara Lima is an Indonesian geostationary communications satellite with a capacity of more than 160 Gbps.


Soyuz 2.1a
Success
6 days, 14 hours ago
Progress MS-32 (93P)
31/6 - Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

Progress resupply mission to the International Space Station.