On the 5th December 2017, Alexander Boltenko, a Head of the Department of the history of the aviation and cosmonautics of the National Polytechnic Museum of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, a lieutenant colonel in resignation, the Head of the Ukrainian Central Council of veterans of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, has turned 75 years-old.
In 1964, after graduating from the Kazan artillery technical school, A. S. Boltenko was sent to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, where he served for 20 years. Initially, he served the launch equipment and participated in the preparation and launching of the S. P. Korolev rockets R-9. In 1969, he was designated for a post of a head of the calculation of rocket motor correction and inhibition of the automatic interplanetary stations (AIS). In particular, A. S. Boltenko was preparing for the flight AIS "Luna-16" which has delivered 101 grams of the lunar soil to the Earth, AIS "Luna-17" which landed on the moon a self-propelled vehicle "Lunokhod-1". Then, in the area of AIS installation, he was preparing AIS "Mars-2, -3", "Venera-5, -6, -7" for the flight. For this work, he received the honorary title "Honored test engineer of Baikonur".
When the program of AIS launching has finished, A. S. Boltenko was appointed a commander of the operational and technical company, which had 120 soldiers and 4 officers. All life support systems of military units and launch facilities of Baikonur (boilers, water supply, heating system, heating line, electricity, etc.), located in a large area, were served by the soldiers of his company. Before the appointment of A. S. Boltenko the commander, the company was problematic from the viewpoint of discipline but over three years it became excellent. Perhaps, this was one of the reasons for the appointment of A. S. Boltenko the head of the Baikonur prelaunch cosmonaut training center where the crews arrive two weeks before the departure into space and return there after decaying from orbit to let the body to readapt to the Earth's conditions.
From 1976 to 1984 Alexander Sergiyovich was directly involved in the preparation for the flight of crews from 29 manned spaceships - from "Soyuz-21" to "Soyuz-40" and from "Soyuz T-3" to "Soyuz T-11". Among these crews were 11 international crews, which included representatives of Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Poland, Germany, Hungary, France, Vietnam, Cuba, Mongolia, Romania, and India.
In 1984 O. S. Boltenko was relocated to the Kiev military district on the post of commander of the cadre tank regiment. Immediately after arrival in the Kiev, Alexander Sergiyovich took an active part in the creation of the Federation of cosmonautics of Ukraine and he was elected a bureau member of the organization. He worked for many years in the Federation and he was an active member of the Council of veterans of the Baikonur Cosmodrome. In 2002 he was elected a chairman of the Kiev Council of veterans of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in 2005 - the Chairman of the Kiev United Council of veterans of Baikonur, Kapustin Yar, Plesetsk, where he was one of the originators.
One of the greatest deeds of the Baikonur Cosmodrome veterans was the creation of the Museum of space history in Kyiv. The opening of the museum, on 27 April 1991, was attended by pilots-cosmonauts of the USSR, twice Hero of the Soviet Union P. R. Popovich, Hero of the Soviet Union V. M. Zholobov, veterans of cosmonautics and all citizens of Kyiv city who were not indifferent to the history of the conquest of the Universe . But in 2001 the Museum was "evicted" from the premises. The Council of Baikonur veterans headed by A. S. Boltenko Put a lot of effort to save the Museum and its unique exhibits.
Now they are located in the National Polytechnic Museum of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, where on May 14, 2008, the Department of the history of aviation and cosmonautics was opened.
Thanks to the Alexander’s longtime acquaintances with the astronauts, our University was visited by the famous space pilots, twice heroes of the Soviet Union: O. A. Leonov who was the first in the world who stepped into space, G. M. Grechko, V. O. Dzhanibekov, S. E. Savitska. The Museum regularly organizes scientific readings, round tables dedicated to the memorable dates in the history of astronautics and rocket techniques.
His anniversary Alexander greets full of energy and new plans for the future.
The team of the National Polytechnic Museum at Igor Sikorsky KPI wishes Alexander to remain at duties as long as he will want to, good health, optimism, the realization of planned, and more and more of new achievements in his interesting life journey!