Senior Lieutenant Rafikov, age 26, was selected as one of the original 20 cosmonauts on 7 March 1960 along with Yuri Gagarin.

On 24 March 1962, Rafikov was dismissed from the cosmonaut corps, officially for "a variety of offenses, including womanizing and 'gallivanting' in Moscow restaurants, and so forth".

[1] Other cosmonauts (notably Gagarin) had exhibited similar behavior, but could not be officially disciplined because of their stature and international reputation.

Gherman Titov later suggested that the real reason for his dismissal was because he and his wife had divorced.

[3] To protect the image of the space program, efforts were made to cover up the reason for Rafikov's dismissal.