What is Valery Rozhdestvensky?
{{Infobox astronaut | image = Soyuz-23.JPG | caption = [[Vyacheslav Zudov]] and Valery Rozhdestvensky (right) on a 1977 Soviet stamp | name = Valery Ilyich Rozhdestvensky | type = Cosmonaut | nationality = [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1939|2|13}} | birth_place = [[Saint Petersburg|Leningrad]], [[Russian SFSR]] | occupation = [[Engineer]], [[Soviet Navy]] | selection = [[List of astronauts by selection#1965|1965]] | time = 2d 00h 06m | mission = [[Soyuz 23]] | insignia = }} '''Valery Ilyich Rozhdestvensky''' (February 13, 1939–August 31, 2011) was a [[USSR]] [[cosmonaut]]. Rozhdestvensky was born in [[Leningrad]] and studied [[engineering]] at the Higher Military Engineering School of the [[Soviet Navy]] in Pushkin. From 1961 to 1965 he was commander of a deep sea diving unit in the [[Baltic Sea War Fleet]]. He was chosen to be a cosmonaut on October 23, 1965 and flew as Flight Engineer on [[Soyuz 23]] in 1976.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/cosmonauts/english/rozhdestvensky_valeri.htm |title=Cosmonaut Biography: Valeri Rozhdestvensky |first= |last= |work=spacefacts.de |year=2011 |accessdate=3 January 2012}}</ref> After his space flight he continued to work with the space program at the [[Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center]]. He retired on June 24, 1986 and worked with Metropolis Industries. ==References== {{Reflist}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Rozhdestvensky, Valery}} [[Category:1939 births]] [[Category:2011 deaths]] [[Category:Cosmonauts]] [[Category:Soviet engineers]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]]