Cosmonaut Levchenko, 47, Dies
MOSCOW — Anatoly Levchenko, a Soviet cosmonaut who took part in a mission to the Mir space station last December, has died, the official Soviet press agency Tass said today. Without elaborating, Tass said Levchenko, 47, died Saturday after a grave illness.
Levchenko was part of a three-man crew launched in the Soyuz TM-4 spacecraft on Dec. 21 last year to relieve the crew aboard the orbiting Soviet space station Mir. He spent a week in orbit and on his return confessed to a “momentary weakness†after being helped from the space capsule. “But then, I had spent the previous 15 minutes on my head,†he said.
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