Nikolai Kamanin

Born on the official date of 18 October 1908, which the same record calls probably a year too early, Nikolai Kamanin becomes one of the first Heroes of the Soviet Union on 14 April 1934 (the Russian record gives 20 April) for rescuing the Chelyuskin expedition from the Arctic ice, a celebrity aviator turned general.

Twenty air-force pilots are chosen in 1960 and trained for the first flights under Kamanin and physician-selectors.

Kamanin becomes deputy chief of combat training for space in 1960, takes over the preparation of crewed flights in January 1961 and serves as the air-force commander-in-chief's assistant for space from 1966 to 1971; he oversees training, crew assignments and the endless politics of who flies.

Kamanin backs the idea of a woman in space for its propaganda value but treats the female group paternalistically; his diaries record the calculations behind Tereshkova's selection over Ponomaryova.

The deaths of the Soyuz 11 crew end Kamanin's career; he retires from the cosmonaut directorate in August 1971.

Kamanin dies in March 1982, on the 11th or the 12th depending on the source; his detailed private diaries, published after the USSR fell, become one of the most revealing accounts of how the programme really made its decisions.