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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.


Ceres-1S
Success
1 day, 2 hours ago
Tianqi 16-18 & 20
Oriental Spaceport mobile launch ship - Sea Launch

4 small satellites for LEO Internet of Things (IoT) communication purposes.


PSLV-XL
Failure
2 days, 10 hours ago
EOS-09 (RISAT-1B)
Satish Dhawan Space Centre First Launch Pad - Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India

RISAT-1B is the third in the series of radar imaging RISAT-1 satellites of ISRO using an active C-band SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar), providing all-…


Electron
Success
3 days, 2 hours ago
The Sea God Sees (iQPS Launch 2)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1A - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Synthetic aperture radar Earth observation satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company iQPS.


Zhuque-2E
Success
3 days, 6 hours ago
6 satellites
Launch Area 96 - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

6 satellites from satellite manufacturer SpaceTY, including 3 multi-spectral Earth observation satellites and 3 technology demonstration satellites f…


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 20 hours ago
Starlink Group 15-5
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 26 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.