Rimantas Stankevičius

Cenotaphin honor of Rimantas Stankevicius

Rimantas Antanas Stankevičius(Lithuanian:Rimantas Antanas Stankevičius,Russian:Римантас Анта́нас Станкявичюс;26 July 1944 inMarijampolė,Lithuania– 9 September 1990 inSalgareda,Italy) was aLithuaniantest pilotandcosmonautin theSovietspace shuttleBuran programme.He was killed in a crash of hisSu-27fighter planeduring an airshow in Salgareda.

Biography

In 1966 he graduated from Chernigov Higher Aviation School. After that he served as aUSSRpilot inGermany,Egypt,andTurkmenistan.In 1975 Stankevičius graduated from theFedotov Test Pilot Schooland became atest pilot.He accomplishedspintesting ofMiG-29.He flew 57 types of aircraft and had over 4000 hours of flying experience. In 1982 he was graded as a 1st class test-pilot.

In 1979 he was assigned to theBuran programme.In February 1982 he passed all the required exams and became the first Lithuaniancosmonaut.After September 1984 he trained to fly the 11F35 (Buran, USSR space shuttle). Stankevičius accomplished 14 test-flights with Buran's counterpartBTS-02aircraft and 6 taxi tests with Buran. He was both the pilot and the commander of the space shuttle.

In 1990 Rimantas Stankevičius participated theEverett Air Showwith aSu-27fighter jet. Soon after his return home, he went to Italy to replace another USSR pilot inSalgareda Air Show.On 9 September, during a flight in the show in a Su-27, he started aloopin a lower altitude than he estimated and made an unintentional touchdown. He died in the crash. The crash resulted in only one fatality aside from the pilot.

Stankevičius, along with Soviet cosmonauts Igor Volk and Sergei Tresvyatskiy, worked closely with Americans in the late 1980s to improve relations during the Cold War. The three were involved in what is believed to be the first formation flight with Soviet SU-27 fighter planes and American F-16s in history in July 1990 (before the breakup of the USSR) at the Opening Ceremonies of the Goodwill Games in Seattle. The three also flew the first Americans, (8 members of the Organizing Committee of the 1990 Goodwill Games) since World War II in anIlyushin Il-62from Seattle toPetropavlovsk-Kamchatsky,USSR in 1989. Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky was one of the most important and secretive air and submarine bases in the USSR.

Death

Stankevičius was killed in the crash of aSukhoi Su-27fighter, '14 Red', at the Salgareda Air Show atTreviso, Italyon 9 September 1990.

Stankevičius is buried inKaunas,Lithuania.

External links

• Su-27 crash Salgareda Airshow 1990 – YouTube