science

Igor Volk

Igor Volk is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Igor Volk rather than just read about it. In short: Igor Petrovich Volk (Russian: Игорь Петрович Волк, Ukrainian: Ігор Петрович Волк; 12 April 1937 – 3 January 2017) was a Soviet test pilot and cosmonaut in the Buran programme. Military and test pilot Volk became a pilot in the Soviet Air Forces in 1956 and was in active service till 1963.

Key takeaways

Igor Volk belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Igor Volk to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Igor Volk from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Igor Petrovich Volk (Russian: Игорь Петрович Волк, Ukrainian: Ігор Петрович Волк; 12 April 1937 – 3 January 2017) was a Soviet test pilot and cosmonaut in the Buran programme.

Military and test pilot Volk became a pilot in the Soviet Air Forces in 1956 and was in active service till 1963. After graduation from the Fedotov Test Pilot School in 1965, he joined the Gromov Flight Research Institute. He logged over 7000 flight hours in over 80 different aircraft types. Over the years, he flew on all types of Soviet fighters, bombers, and transport aircraft. He showed outstanding abilities in complex tests of various airplanes at critical angles of attack, stall, and spin. He was the first to test aircraft behavior at high super-critical angles of attack (around 90°) and performed aerobatics such as the "cobra" maneuver.

Space program

Volk was selected as a cosmonaut on 12 July 1977 and subsequently assigned to the Buran programme. As part of his preparations for a space shuttle flight, he also accomplished test-flights with Buran's counterpart OK-GLI aircraft. In July 1984, Volk flew aboard Soyuz T-12, intended to give him some experience in space. With Volks's participation as research cosmonaut on the 7th expedition to Salyut 7, one goal of the mission was to evaluate the effects of long-duration spaceflight on a pilot's skills and ability to fly and land an aeroplane safely (in order to prove Volk's ability to control Space Shuttle Buran atmospheric segment of flight). At the time of the Soyuz T-12 mission, the Buran program was still a state secret. The appearance of Volk as a crew member caused some, including the British Interplanetary Society magazine Spaceflight, to ask why a test pilot was occupying a Soyuz seat usually reserved for researchers or foreign cosmonauts. After his orbital flight, Volk served as the head of pilot-cosmonaut training department for the Buran program and later (after the project's cancellation) worked for the Gromov Flight Research Institute as a Flight Tests Deputy Chief before retiring in 1996. He previously served as President of the National Aero Club of Russia and Vice President of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. As recognition for his contributions as a test pilot and cosmonaut he was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union on 29 July 1984.

Social work Member of the City Council of the city of Zhukovsky (1984-1987) President of the All-Union Tennis Federation of the USSR (1986-1990) President of the Federation of Aviation Fans (since 1988) Member of the Executive Committee of the Green Movement (since 1989). An active supporter of the environmental movement in the USSR and Russia. First Vice-President of the Federation of Cosmonautics of Russia (FKR), Chairman of the Executive Committee of the FKR (2003-2005) Since April 1990, Volk has been a member of the editorial board of the Wings of the Motherland magazine. He participated in the transcontinental flight Moscow - Canberra - Moscow on a Yak-18T aircraft (November 12, 1991 - February 2, 1992). On 21 November 2013, he signed an open letter to the President criticizing the United Aircraft Corporation and its leader Mikhail Pogosyan for curtailing the program for the production of the Tu-334 aircraft. Also, in this letter, the Superjet project is directly criticized. In May 2016, Volk supported the program of environmentalists in the elections and primaries of United Russia in the Moscow Oblast. He actively supported the environmental projects of the EkoGrad magazine.

Other accomplishments Volk was an inventor. He also supported a number of startups including a four-person concept flying car, etc.

Personal life Volk was married and had two children. He died on 3 January 2017 while on holiday in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. He is buried together with his daughter at the Bykovskoye Memorial Cemetery in Zhukovsky.

Honours and awards Hero of the Soviet Union Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR Honoured Test Pilot of the USSR Zhukovsky Honorary Citizen Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" 4th class Order of Lenin Order of the Red Banner of Labour Order of Friendship of Peoples Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration"

Memory

Bust of Igor Volk is installed at Solnechnaya Street in the city of Zhukovsky.

References

External links Detailed biography of Igor Volk Biography at Astronautix

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Igor Volk

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Igor Volk claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Igor Volk before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Igor Volk ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Igor Volk

In research: Igor Volk appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Igor Volk in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Igor Volk is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1937 births, 2017 deaths, Buran programme, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Igor Volk outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Igor Volk in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Igor Volk means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Igor Volk out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Igor Volk in simple terms?

Igor Petrovich Volk (Russian: Игорь Петрович Волк, Ukrainian: Ігор Петрович Волк; 12 April 1937 – 3 January 2017) was a Soviet test pilot and cosmonaut in the Buran programme. Military and test pilot Volk became a pilot in the Soviet Air Forces in 1956 and was in active service till 1963.

Why does Igor Volk matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Igor Volk?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Igor Volk.