Andriyan Grigoryevich Nikolayev (Chuvash and Russian: Андриян Григорьевич Николаев; 5 September 1929 – 3 July 2004) was a Soviet cosmonaut.

[2] Andrian Grigoryevich Nikolayev was born on 5 September 1929, in Shorshely, a village in the Chuvash region of the Volga River valley, and spent his time growing up on a collective farm.

Nikolayev's future wife was cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, and he reportedly kissed her goodbye before boarding Vostok 3.

On 22 January 1969, Nikolayev survived an assassination attempt on Leonid Brezhnev, undertaken by a Soviet Army deserter, Viktor Ilyin.

In the early days of space travel, it was usual to place trainee astronauts into isolation chambers to see how long they could last alone.

Nikolayev was also a keen skier: Service in the Air Force made us strong, both physically and morally.

Gherman Titov was a gymnastics enthusiast, Andriyan Nikolayev liked skiing, Pavel Popovich went in for weight lifting.