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:Vladimír Remek

{{Short description|Czech cosmonaut and politician (born 1948)}}

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{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Vladimír Remek

| image = VladimirRemek.jpg

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption =

| native_name =

| native_name_lang =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1948|9|26|df=y}}

| birth_place = České Budějovice, Czechoslovakia

| nationality = {{plainlist|

}}

| other_names =

| education =

| alma_mater =

| occupation = Pilot, cosmonaut, politician, ambassador

| years_active =

| title = {{plainlist|

| term =

| party = {{plainlist|

}}

| opponents =

| spouse = {{plainlist|

  • {{marriage|Hana Davidová|end=divorced}}{{cite web |title=Hana Davidová |url=http://www.csfd.cz/tvurce/29311-hana-davidova/ |website=Czecho-Slovak film database |access-date=2 December 2014 |language=cs}}
  • Jana Remková}}

| children = 2

| parents =

| relatives =

| callsign =

| order =

| ambassador_from = Czech Republic

| country = Russia

| term_start = 16 January 2014

| term_end = 31 January 2018

| predecessor = Petr Kolář

| successor = Vladimír Pivoňka

| president = Miloš Zeman

| office1 = Member of the European Parliament

| term_start1 = 20 July 2004

| term_end1 = 15 December 2013

| nickname = Volodya{{cite web |url=http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/international/english/remek_vladimir.htm |title=Biographies of International Astronauts; Remek, Vladimír "Volodya" |publisher=Space Facts |access-date=5 July 2014}}

| module = {{Infobox military person |embed=yes

| allegiance =

| branch = Czechoslovak Air Force

| serviceyears = 1970–1995

| rank = Colonel

| servicenumber =

| unit = 1st Fighter Air Regiment

| commands = Deputy, 2nd Air Defense Division

| battles =

| battles_label = }}

| awards = {{plainlist|

| module2 = {{Infobox astronaut

| child = yes

| type = Intercosmos Cosmonaut

| selection = Air Force Group 6

| space_time = 7d 22h 17m{{Sfn|Molloy|2009|p=104}}

| missions = Soyuz 28

| insignia = 30px

}}

| module4 =

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| signature = Vladimír Remek - podpis.jpg

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| website = {{URL|vladimirremek.cz}}

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}}

Vladimír Remek (born 26 September 1948) is a Czech politician and diplomat, as well as a former cosmonaut and military pilot. He flew aboard Soyuz 28 from 2 to 10 March 1978, becoming the first and only Czechoslovak in space. As the first cosmonaut from a country other than the Soviet Union or the United States, and with the entry of the Czech Republic and Slovakia into the European Union, Remek is considered to be the first astronaut from the European Union. Remek was a member of the European Parliament between 2004 and 2013 for the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia. From 2014 to 2018, he was the Czech Ambassador to Russia.

Early life and military career

Remek was born on 26 September 1948 in České Budějovice (now in the Czech Republic).{{cite web |url=http://mek.kosmo.cz/pil_lety/rusko/sojuz/so-28/lk1.htm |title=Sojuz 28 v L+K č. 5/1978 |work=MEK |date=17 February 2003 |access-date=3 October 2014 |language=cs}} He spent two years studying at the observatory in Kraví hora, Brno between 1962 and 1964.{{cite web |url=http://www.hvezdarna.cz/?page_id=61 |title=Historie |language=cs |work=Hvězdárna a planetárium Brno |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314152751/http://www.hvezdarna.cz/?page_id=61 |archive-date=14 March 2012}} Remek was influenced by his father, Jozef Remek, himself a military pilot.{{Cite book |title=kol. aut.: Kdo byl kdo v našich dějinách 20. století |publisher=Libri |location=Prague |year=1994 |isbn=978-80-901579-5-8 |page=452 |language=cs}}

Remek was an active member both in the Pioneers and the Czechoslovak Union of Youth. He studied mathematics and physics at middle school in Čáslav where he earned awards in track running the 400-meter, 800-meter, and 1,500-meter events. Remek graduated in 1966 and proceeded to Vyšší Letecké Učiliště, an aviation school in Košice, where he trained in an Aero L-29 Delfín.{{Cite web |url=http://www.au.af.mil/au/goe/eaglebios/94bios/remek94.htm |title=Gathering of Eagles bio: Vladimir Remek |website=Air University (United States Air Force)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060423013117/http://www.au.af.mil/au/goe/eaglebios/94bios/remek94.htm|archive-date=23 April 2006}} Remek graduated in 1970, and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Czechoslovak Air Force.{{Sfn|Evans|2011|p=316}} Remek served as a fighter pilot, flying MiG-21s in the 1st Fighter Air Regiment.{{Cite web |title=On-line rozhovor : Ptejte se prvního a zatím posledního Čechoslováka ve vesmíru |url=http://technet.idnes.cz/odpovedi.asp?t=REMEK&strana=2 |date=10 March 2008 |website=technet.idnes.cz |language=cs |access-date=2 December 2014}} In the 1970s Remek married his first wife, Czech actress Hana Davidová, the daughter of politician Václav David. They had a daughter together, Anna, in 1980. He had a second daughter, Jana, three years after the first,{{cite web |first=Andrej |last=Šimončič |url=http://zivot.cas.sk/clanok/2601/vladimir-remek-prvy-od-nas |title=Vladimír Remek: Prvý od nás |language=sk |date=6 March 2008 |access-date=8 September 2015 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} with his second wife, also called Jana.{{cite web |first=Lucie |last=Strašíková |url=http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/ct24/domaci/1461787-remek-stravil-ve-vesmiru-osm-dni |title=Remek strávil ve vesmíru osm dní |language=cs |work=ČT24 |date=10 March 2009 |access-date=8 September 2015}}

From 1972 to 1976, Remek studied at the Gagarin Air Force Academy. Upon his return to Czechoslovakia in 1976, he was promoted to captain and appointed deputy commander of his fighter regiment, after which Remek went back to Russia to train for the Soviet-led space program. Following his return from space in March 1978, Remek spent time in the Czechoslovak People's Army (ČSLA) staff as the deputy director of the Flight Research Institute in Prague.{{Cite web |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1512635/Vladimir-Remek |title=Vladimír Remek |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=2 December 2014}} In 1986, Remek became the deputy commander of a flight division based in Čáslav. In 1988, he graduated from Voroshilov-Staff Academy of Soviet Air Force and was appointed to his highest command, as deputy of the 2nd Air Defense Division stationed in Moravia. Following the Velvet Revolution in 1989, Remek was relegated to a role as Director of the Museum for Aviation and Astronautics in Prague. Following his retirement from the Czech Air Force in 1995, Remek represented Czech firm CZ Strakonice and joint venture CZ–Turbo-GAZ in Moscow.{{Cite report |title=Vladimír Remek Curriculum Vitae |url=http://www.mzv.cz/file/1110436/Vladimir_Remek_CV_EN.doc |type=doc |publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs |access-date=2 December 2014}}{{Cite news |title=Prvý československý kozmonaut, plukovník Vladimír Remek, sa vrátil na miesta, kde kedysi študoval |url=http://kosice.korzar.sme.sk/c/5617072/prvy-ceskoslovensky-kozmonaut-plukovnik-vladimir-remek-sa-vratil-na-miesta-kde-kedysi-studoval.html |newspaper=Košický Korzár |date=30 October 2010 |language=cs |access-date=2 December 2014}}

Interkosmos program

File:Vladimír Remek - modul.jpg in Kbely, Prague]]

Remek (then a Captain) joined the Interkosmos program in 1976; his backup was Oldřich Pelčák, the other Czechoslovak cosmonaut selected to participate with the program. During the flight, Remek experimented with the Kristall furnace on board the capsule.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q8KfpXloLIMC |page=122 |title=Man, Medicine and Space: A Manifesto for the Millennium |first=Michael |last=Martin-Smith |publisher=iUniverse |year=2000 |isbn=0-595-14808-5}} The mission, coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the Soviet-backed 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, and including Remek, the son of a Czech mother and Slovak father, had propaganda value in stressing Czechoslovak-Soviet cooperation.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BWg8CdosOpMC |page=141 |title=From Good King Wenceslas to the Good Soldier Švejk: A Dictionary of Czech Popular Culture |first=Andrew Lawrence |last=Roberts |publisher=Central European University Press |year=2005 |isbn=963-7326-26-X}} Remek himself has not denied this although he retains pride in his voyage regardless of the circumstances. On the Soyuz 28 mission that launched 2 March 1978, he became the first cosmonaut from a country other than the Soviet Union or the United States, and with the entry of the Czech Republic into the European Union, Remek is considered to be the first astronaut from the European Union.{{cite web |url=http://cordis.europa.eu/news/rcn/29313_en.html |title=Commemorating 30 years of European human space flight |access-date=15 June 2017 |publisher=EU CORDIS}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.esa.int/About_Us/Welcome_to_ESA/ESA_history/50_years_of_humans_in_space/Vladimir_Remek |title=Vladimir Remek |website=European Space Agency |access-date=2 December 2014}} After Remek's flight, he was celebrated in his home country with a series of receptions at factories and other civil workplaces. He was also recognized at a ceremony at Prague Castle as a guest of Gustáv Husák, then the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.{{Cite web |url=http://www.americaspace.com/?p=15195 |title='It Wasn't a Sense of Guilt": The Flight of Vladimir Remek |first=Ben |last=Evans |date=6 March 2012 |access-date=2 December 2014}} On 16 March, Remek and Aleksei Gubarev, the other member of the crew, were awarded the medal Hero of the Soviet Union.{{Sfn|Molloy|2009|pp=103–106}} Czechoslovak reaction to Remek's flight included comments about the media's inundation focused on Remek and the fact that he was only able to journey with a Soviet cosmonaut as if Remek needed a minder. One joke went: "Why didn't the Soviets send up two Czechoslovak cosmonauts? Because they would've landed in West Germany." Remek himself joked that his Soviet counterpart would slap Remek's hands off of controls if he touched anything without permission.{{Cite journal |first=Vera |last=Rich |year=1999 |author-link= Vera Rich |title=Watch this space |journal=Index on Censorship |volume=28 |issue=3 |doi=10.1080/03064229908536592 |pages=89–93|s2cid=145304247 }} French astronaut Jean-Loup Chrétien experienced this same behavior onboard Soyuz TM-7 in 1988.{{Cite news |title=Remek Jokes a New Fad |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1988&dat=19780517&id=xqMxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8KsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2882,1698322 |page=17 |newspaper=Argus-Press |date=17 May 1978}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zk_MkKERUokC |page=213 |title=Russia's Cosmonauts: Inside the Yuri Gagarin Training Center |series=Springer-Praxis books in space exploration|author1-first=Rex D.|author1-last=Hall|author2-first=Shayler|author2-last=David |author2-link=David Shayler |author3-first=Bert|author3-last=Vis |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-387-73975-5}}

Political career

Due in part to his previous business contacts in Russia, Remek was appointed to the Czech Embassy in Moscow as a Trade and Economic Counselor. During the 2004 European Parliament election, Remek was a candidate for the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia and, being second on the list behind Miloslav Ransdorf, was elected into the European Parliament.{{cite news |url=http://praguemonitor.com/2014/01/14/remek-take-post-ambassador-russia-16-jan |title=Remek to take up post as ambassador to Russia on 16 Jan |date=14 January 2014 |newspaper=Prague Daily Monitor |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116213149/http://praguemonitor.com/2014/01/14/remek-take-post-ambassador-russia-16-jan |archive-date=16 January 2014}} During his first term (20 July 2004 to 13 July 2009), Remek was a member of the Confederal Group of the European United Left–Nordic Green Left in the European Parliament.{{cite web |url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/28330/VLADIMIR_REMEK_home.html |title=European Parliament / MEPs |publisher=European Parliament |access-date=5 July 2014}} He was a vocal proponent of the EU's Galileo satellite constellation, warning that bureaucratic delay could cede opportunity to the BeiDou, a Chinese competitor.{{Cite web |url=https://www.foxnews.com/story/ex-cosmonaut-eu-space-lag-could-put-china-ahead/ |website=Fox News Channel |title=Ex-Cosmonaut: EU Space Lag Could Put China Ahead |date=7 June 2007 |agency=Associated Press |access-date=2 December 2014}} He was reelected in 2009. When Petr Kolář resigned as the Czech Ambassador to Russia in December 2012, the ambassadorship sat empty for a year until the President of the Czech Republic, Miloš Zeman, appointed Remek in January 2014.{{cite news |title=Ex-cosmonaut to be Czech ambassador to Russia |newspaper=The Prague Post |url=http://www.praguepost.com/czech-news/34151-ex-cosmonaut-to-be-czech-ambassador-to-russia |date=30 December 2013 |access-date=2 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141202003826/http://praguepost.com/czech-news/34151-ex-cosmonaut-to-be-czech-ambassador-to-russia|archive-date=2 December 2014}} The appointment met with controversy as it was against the wishes of Zeman's Foreign Minister, Karel Schwarzenberg.{{Cite web |title=Zeman proposes Livia Klausova as ambassador to Slovakia |date=29 March 2013 |url=http://www.expats.cz/prague/article/weekly-czech-news/zeman-proposes-livia-klausova-as-ambassador-to-slovakia/ |access-date=2 December 2014 |archive-date=9 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209134844/http://www.expats.cz/prague/article/weekly-czech-news/zeman-proposes-livia-klausova-as-ambassador-to-slovakia/ |url-status=dead }} Observers have noted Remek has a friendly history with the Russians and although his communist affiliations are a minority in Russia, his appointment represents Zeman's pragmatic and pro-Russia stance.{{Cite web |url=http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/cosmonaut-and-communist-mep-remek-returning-to-moscow-as-czech-ambassador |website=Radio Prague |title=Cosmonaut and Communist MEP Remek returning to Moscow as Czech ambassador |date=13 November 2013 |first=Ian |last=Willoughby}}{{Cite news |url=http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/zpravy/czech-press-survey-january-17/1031539 |title=Czech press survey |date=17 January 2014 |first=Petr |last=Pesek |newspaper=Lidové noviny |access-date=2 December 2014}}

In popular culture

File:Kozmonauti V Remek a V Gubarev v epoxidovom ruchu.jpg

Czech astronomer Antonín Mrkos discovered an asteroid in September 1978 and named it 2552 Remek after the cosmonaut.{{Cite web |url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2552+Remek |title=2552 Remek (1978 SP) |website=Jet Propulsion Laboratory |access-date=2 December 2014}} Remek is featured in a 2009 independent comedy film called Osadne about three residents from Osadné that seek out Remek at his office in Brussels to help tourism in their town.{{Cite web |url=http://www.idfa.nl/industry/tags/project.aspx?id=e63c921b-5a2e-4a0b-a6c0-b9a5b69e596d |title=Osadne |website=International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam |access-date=2 December 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141211073412/http://www.idfa.nl/industry/tags/project.aspx?id=e63c921b-5a2e-4a0b-a6c0-b9a5b69e596d |archive-date=11 December 2014 }} Sculptor Jan Bartoš created a statue of Remek and Gubarev, which is located at Háje metro station, formerly known as Kosmonautů (meaning [station] of the cosmonauts) until 1990, in Prague.{{cite web |first=Anton |last=Fedorenko |url=http://www.hrady.cz/?OID=4784 |title=sousoší Kosmonautů (Cosmonaut Statue) |language=cs |date=18 November 2006 |access-date=8 September 2015}} Another statue of Remek is located in Košice, Slovakia.{{cite news |first=Miroslav |last=Sambor |url=http://kosice.korzar.sme.sk/c/5617072/prvy-ceskoslovensky-kozmonaut-plukovnik-vladimir-remek-sa-vratil-na-miesta-kde-kedysi-studoval.html |title=Aby pred letom nechytil herpes, ruky si musel ošetrovať alkoholom Prvý československý kozmonaut, plukovník Vladimír Remek, sa vrátil na miesta, kde kedysi študoval (The first Czechoslovak cosmonaut, Colonel Vladimír Remek, returned to the places where he once studied)|language=sk |date=30 October 2010 |newspaper=Korzár |access-date=8 September 2015}}

Bibliography

  • {{Cite book |title=Splněné náděje |publisher=Panorama |year=1979}}
  • {{Cite book |title=Pod námi planeta země|editor-first=Karel|editor-last=Richter |location=Prague |publisher=Naše Vojsko |year=1982}}
  • {{Cite book |title=Kosmická budoucnost lidstva: Města v kosmu |publisher=MF |year=1986}}

See also

Citations

{{Reflist|30em}}

References

  • {{Cite book |title=At Home in Space: The Late Seventies into the Eighties |series=Springer-Praxis books in space exploration |first=Ben |last=Evans |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-4419-8810-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IWht0brbIfEC }}
  • {{Cite book |pages=103–106 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TTtYt8NLCTYC |title=The Lost World of Communism |first=Peter |last=Molloy |publisher=Random House |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4090-7007-8 }}

Notes

{{Notelist}}

External links

{{Commons category-inline}}

  • [http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/searchForm/view.do?id=28330&language=en Biography of Vladimír Remek at the European Parliament]
  • [http://www.lib.cas.cz/www/space.40/ASTRON/CSR/REME-V.HTM Short biography] (in Czech)
  • [http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/international/english/remek_vladimir.htm Spacefacts biography of Vladimír Remek]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Remek, Vladimir}}

Category:1948 births

Category:Living people

Category:Politicians from České Budějovice

Category:Communist Party of Czechoslovakia members

Category:Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia MEPs

Category:MEPs for the Czech Republic 2004–2009

Category:MEPs for the Czech Republic 2009–2014

Category:Ambassadors of the Czech Republic to Russia

Category:Czechoslovak Air Force officers

Category:Czechoslovak cosmonauts

Category:Czech cosmonauts and astronauts

Category:Astronaut-politicians

Category:Salyut program cosmonauts

Category:Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union alumni

Category:Heroes of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic

Category:Recipients of the Order of the White Lion

Category:Recipients of the Order of Klement Gottwald

Category:Foreign Heroes of the Soviet Union