Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez
Cuban - (RFSA)
Retired
Date of Birth: Jan. 29, 1942
Age: 82
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) | RussiaBaikonur 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 OrbitThe 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
Sirius SXM-9
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USASXM-9 is the 10th high-powered, digital, audio radio satellite built by Maxar (SSL) for SiriusXM. The SXM-9 satellite will be based on Maxar’s proven…
PSLV-XL
Proba-3
Satish Dhawan Space Centre First Launch Pad - Satish Dhawan Space Centre, IndiaProba-3 (Project for On-Board Autonomy 3) is the first close formation flying mission for the European Space Agency (ESA). It consists of two indepen…
Long March 6A
G60 Polar Group 03
Launch Complex 9A - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China18 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technolo…
Falcon 9
Starlink Group 9-14
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USAA batch of 20 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Soyuz 2.1b
Kosmos 2580 (Lotos-S1 #9)
43/4 (43R) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian FederationNote: Payload identity uncertain. Multiple other military payloads that are not identified may be on board. Lotos-S1 spacecraft is a part of the L…
