Anatoly Levchenko

{{Short description|Soviet cosmonaut (1941–1988)}}

{{distinguish|Anatoly Nikolayevich Levchenko}}

{{Infobox astronaut

| name = Anatoly Semyonovich Levchenko

| image = Anatoly Semyonovich Levchenko.jpg

| caption = Levchenko in 1987

| type = Cosmonaut

| nationality = Soviet

| birth_date = {{birth date|1941|5|5}}

| birth_place = Krasnokutsk, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1988|8|6|1941|5|5}}

| death_place = Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union

| occupation = Test Pilot

| rank = Captain, Soviet Air Force

| selection = 1988 Cosmonaut Group

| time = 7d 21h 58m

| mission = Mir LII-1 {{nobr|(Soyuz TM-4 / Soyuz TM-3)}}

| insignia =

| awards = Hero of the Soviet Union

}}

Anatoly Semyonovich Levchenko ({{langx|ru|Анатолий Семёнович Левченко}}; May 5, 1941 – August 6, 1988) was a Soviet cosmonaut in the Buran programme.

Trained as a test pilot and selected as a cosmonaut on 12 July 1980,{{cite web|url=http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/cosmonauts/english/levchenko_anatoli.htm|title=Cosmonaut Biography: Anatoli Levchenko|publisher=spacefacts.de|access-date=26 November 2010| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101221221621/http://spacefacts.de/bios/cosmonauts/english/levchenko_anatoli.htm| archive-date= 21 December 2010 | url-status= live}} Levchenko was planned to be the back-up commander of the first Buran space shuttle flight. As part of his preparations, he also accomplished test-flights with Buran's counterpart OK-GLI aircraft.

In March 1987, Levchenko began extensive training for a Soyuz spaceflight, intended to give him some experience in space.{{cite book | last = Hendrickx | first = Bart | author2 = Bert Vis | title = Energiya-Buran : The Soviet Space Shuttle | publisher = Praxis | date = 2007-10-04 | pages = 526 | isbn = 978-0-387-69848-9 }} In December 1987, he occupied the third seat aboard the spacecraft Soyuz TM-4 to the space station Mir, and returned to Earth about a week later on Soyuz TM-3. His mission is sometimes called Mir LII-1, after the Gromov Flight Research Institute shorthand.{{cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/flights/mirlii1.htm|title=Mir LII-1|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|access-date=15 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101130020104/http://astronautix.com/flights/mirlii1.htm|archive-date=30 November 2010|url-status=dead}}

In the year following his spaceflight, Anatoly Levchenko died of a brain tumor, in the Nikolay Burdenko Neurosurgical Institute in Moscow.{{cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/astros/levhenko.htm|title=Levchenko|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|access-date=26 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101020160835/http://astronautix.com/astros/levhenko.htm|archive-date=20 October 2010|url-status=dead}}

He was married with one child.