Viktor was given the opportunity to learn from Nadezdha Karaulova who taught from ABC books that were often censored by the Nazis of everything that had to do with the Soviet histories.

Viktor finished seventh grade in 1949 and then attended a secondary school in the Novokubanski district.

[3] Following his enlisting, Viktor was sent to the 8th Military Aviation School of Pilot Basic Training in the Ukrainian town of Pavlograd, Dnepropetrovsk Region where he was taught to fly.

Gorbatko and Pham Tuân flew to Salyut 6 and landed in the Soyuz 36 capsule that had earlier docked at the space station.

After leaving the space program in 1982 he taught at the Air Force Engineering Academy in Moscow.