Arnaldo tamayo mendez biography of mahatma
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He became a fighter pilot and underwent MiG-15 fighter pilot training in the Soviet Union, when he was only 19 years old. He served during the Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam War
The same year that he qualified as a combat pilot, he flew 20 reconnaissance missions during the Cuban Missile Crisis as part of the Playa Girón Brigade of the Cuban Revolutionary Air and Air Defense Force.
In all, between 1977 and 1988, 14 non-Soviet cosmonauts went on missions as part of the Interkosmos program.
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In March 1978 Tamayo was selected along with his compatriot José López to participate in the Soviet Union's Intercosmos space program. Over the following seven days, they completed 124 orbits and landed back on earth on 26 September.
He grew up a poor orphan
Tamayo was born in 1942 in Baracoa, Guantánamo province, to an impoverished family of Afro-Cuban descent. He also is a recipient of the Hero of the Soviet Union award.
Tamayo is married and has two daughters and a son.
His space suit is preserved at the Museum of the Revolution in Havana.
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Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez
Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez (Baracoa, Cuba, January 29, 1942) is a war pilot, cosmonaut, Hero of the Republic of Cuba and Hero of the Soviet Union.
On September 26, 1980, at 15:54 UTC, he landed southeast of the city of Zhezkazgan, in the steppes of the Kazakhstan SSR. Arnaldo Tamayo orbited the Earth 128 times and his total residence time in space it was 7 days, 20 hours, 43 minutes and 24 seconds. His backup in the Intercosmos program was fellow Cuban José López Falcón.
Tamayo, along with Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Romanenko, was launched into space aboard Soyuz 38 from Baikonur Cosmodrome on September 18, 1980, at 19:11 UTC.
After docking with Salyut 6, Tamayo and Romanenko conducted experiments in an attempt to find what caused space adaptation syndrome (SAS), and perhaps even find a cure, and on the crystallisation of sucrose in microgravity, for the benefit of Cuba's sugar industry.
In Moscow he received the Order of Lenin and was also named a Hero of the Soviet Union.
After his promotion to brigadier general, he became Director of International Affairs in the Cuban armed forces.
Since 1980, he has been a Deputy in the Cuban National Assembly, representing his home region of Guantánamo Province.
He has been honored by the Cuban Government for being the first Cuban, the first Caribbean, and the first Latin American to go into orbit.
He was the first black person and Latin American to go into orbit
Tamayo’s mission was particularly historic since he was the first black person, Latin American and Cuban to go into orbit.
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Upon his return to Earth, he was decorated by Raúl Castro with the first honorary medal of Hero of the Republic of Cuba and the Playa Girón Order.
In a novel about his life, Tamayo makes no mention of his father, and explains that his mother died of tuberculosis when he was only eight months old. Cuban scientific experiments included areas such as: medicine, biology, physics, psychology and geology.
Today, apart from his work as a legislator, General Tamayo also works as head of the Department of Foreign Relations of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba (MINFAR) and director of the Cuban Civil Defense organization.
Born into an impoverished Cuban family and then orphaned at a young age, Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez’s childhood dreams to fly seemed near impossible. I had no chance of getting an education’.
However, on 18 September 1980, the Cuban became the first black person, Latin American and Cuban to go into space, and upon his return received the Hero of the Republic of Cuba medal and the Order of Lenin from the Soviets.
On June 12, 2011, Tamayo was awarded the Medal "For Merits in Space Exploration" by the Russian Federation. A year after the revolution triumphed and Castro assumed power, Tamayo joined the revolution in the Sierra Maestra Mountains and then attended the Rebel Army’s Technical Institute, where he took a course for aviation technicians, which he excelled in.
During the government of General Fulgencio Batista, he participated in several student demonstrations in protest against his government. He later also joined the Revolutionary Work Youth Brigades. Fidel Castro watched the mission reports on television as the mission took place.
8. He became Director of International affairs in the Cuban armed forces
After his time in the Interkosmos program, Tamayo was made Director of the Military Patriotic Educational Society.