Pavel Romanovich Popovich (Russian: Па́вел Рома́нович Попо́вич; Ukrainian: Павло́ Рома́нович Попо́вич, romanized: Pavló Románovych Popóvych; 5 October 1930 – 29 September 2009)[2][3] was a Soviet cosmonaut.

[4] During World War II, the Germans occupied Uzyn and burned documents, including Popovich's birth certificate.

[4] In 1951, Popovich graduated as a construction engineer from a technical school in Magnitogorsk,[4] as well as receiving a pilot's degree.

He married Marina Popovich, a retired Soviet Air Force colonel and test pilot.

From 1978 he was the deputy chief of the Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center responsible for research and testing work.

In January 1982, he was removed from the list of active cosmonauts, so that he could serve as Deputy Chief for Scientific Testing and Research at the Center.

[2][4] In 1991, he became director of the Institute Rossiyskogo for Monitoring of Land and Ecosystems, then worked as chairman of the board of directors of the All-Russia Institute of Aero-Photo-Geodesic Studies (VISKhAGI), dealing with the compilation of a land inventory of Russia using images from space.

In the 2002 SciFi Channel documentary Out of the Blue, Popovich relays a sighting of a UFO next to the airplane he was travelling aboard as he was returning home from Washington, D.C., with a delegation of scientists.

It was perfect triangle shaped and emitted a very bright, white light at a distance of about 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) and an altitude about 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) above the airplane.

The object had an estimated speed of 1,500 kilometres per hour (930 mph) travelling parallel to the airplane and passed and overtook the plane in about 30 to 40 seconds.