Soviet war hero, cosmonaut, and the earliest-born human to travel into space. Born in 1921 in what is now Ukraine, Beregovoy entered the Soviet Cosmonaut Corps in 1964 and four years later piloted the Soyuz-3 spacecraft into Earth orbit. During the four-day mission, he twice rendezvoused with the unmanned Soyuz-2 but failed to dock with it. His flight, however, marked a giant step for the nation’s piloted space programme. Shortly after his return, Beregovoy retired from the Corps and in 1972 took a position at the Centre for Cosmonaut Training. He died during heart surgery in 1995.