Yuri Romanenko was born on August 1, 1944, in Koltubanovskiy village in Orenburg Oblast, Soviet Union.

His hobbies in school included building model aircraft and ships, boxing, shooting and underwater fishing.

[1] In his second mission on September 18, 1980, together with the first Cuban cosmonaut Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, Romanenko flew Soyuz 38 to Salyut 6 and returned 7 days later.

[1] Romanenko retired from flights in 1988 and became the director of Buran program, which was a Soviet alternative to the Space Shuttle.

Romanenko prepared for a spacewalk and pushed against the wall flying outside, but forgot to attach his safety cord.

This accident was dramatized in press due to the joke of Grechko who implied Romanenko was on the verge of death.

[7] After the Romanenko-Méndez flight and retirement of Romanenko in 1988, he and his family were invited to Cuba, where he was personally met by Fidel Castro.

[8] This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.