Initially part of the Soviet army, Andrian Nikolayev later became a pilot and then joined the Communist Party, before stepping into cosmonaut training. He soon scripted history as the third Russian cosmonaut to make it to space. He was also the husband of pioneering female cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.
Initially a coppersmith at the Russian aircraft manufacturer OKB-1, or RSC Energia, Gennady Strekalov later joined the company’s engineer cosmonaut group. He not only flew 5 times in space, but was also part of the first Russian-American collaborative flight to the Mir space station. He was made a Hero of the Soviet Union.