Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez: 40 years after his trip to space

September 18, 2020

Today marks 40 years since the return of the first joint space flight of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Cuba.

Regarding this feat that began on September 18, 1980, we remember Soviet astronaut Yuri Romanenko and brigadier general and Hero of the Republic of Cuba, Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, who thanks to the Intercosmos program, became the first Latin American to travel to space, along with Soviet cosmonauts Leonid Popov and Valeri Riumin.

In this way, Tamayo became the "cosmonaut number 97 who flew to space" and Cuba became the ninth country to have representation within this select group.

Before taking the trip to space, Tamayo and Romanenko completed a year of study and training, which demanded much perseverance and willpower to execute not only mechanical tasks, or to be capable of solving difficulties that might arise, but also to carry out a total of 24 medical-biological and geophysical, physical and technical investigations and numerous experiments.

The theoretical preparation was conducted at the Cosmonaut Preparation Center of Star City Yuri Gagarin, a complex for cosmonaut training near Moscow.