The telegram of condolences reads, in part:
”Throughout his life, Konstantin Feoktistov served his Motherland devotedly. A principled, selfless man, he enjoyed undisputed authority among his colleagues and friends.
He passed the severe tests of the Great Patriotic War. Following the war he invested his talent and strength into developing cosmonautics. In many ways it is thanks to his scientific and technological inventions that our country holds a leading role in the history of space exploration and creation of orbital research stations. He generously shared his knowledge with his students, many of whom now work in Russia's space industry.“
Feoktistov died in Moscow at the age of 83.
Born on February 7, 1926, in Voronezh, the future cosmonaut was only fifteen when the Great Patriotic War began. He became a scout for the Soviet Army at sixteen.
An engineer and designer, Feoktistov participated in the development of the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth and was one of the founders of the Vostok spacecraft. Feoktistov travelled into space in October 1964 on the first three-person spacecraft Voskhod-1, together with pilot Vladimir Komarov and doctor Boris Yegorov. The flight lasted more than a day.