Zhugderdemidiyn Gurragcha

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zhugderdemidiyn Gurragcha
Жугдердемидийн Гуррагча
Intercosmos Cosmonaut

Nationality	Mongolian
Born	December 5, 1947 Gurvan-Bulak, Mongolia
Occupation¹	Flight engineer
Rank	Major General
Space time	7d 20h 42m
Selection	1978 Intercosmos Group
Mission(s)	Soyuz 39
¹ previous or current

Zhugderdemidiyn Gurragcha (Mongolian: Жугдердемидийн Гуррагча Jugderdemidiin Gurragcha; born December 5, 1947) was the first Mongolian cosmonaut and the second Asian in space. He was Mongolia's defense minister from 2000 to 2004.

Born in Gurvanbulag, Mongolia, Gurragcha studied in Ulan Bator to become an aerospace engineer. He then joined the air force, rising to the rank of Major General.

He was selected as part of the eighth international programme for Intercosmos on March 1, 1978. His backup cosmonaut was Maidarzhavyn Ganzorig. Gurragcha, along with Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Dzhanibekov, departed from Baikonur Cosmodrome on March 22, 1981. They docked with Salyut 6.While in orbit, Dzhanibekov and Gurragcha carried out experiments on earth science. After 124 orbits and 7 days, 20 hours and 42 minutes in space, Gurragcha and Dzhanibekov landed 170 km southeast of Dzhezkasgan.

After Mongolia removed the Communist-era ban on clan names in 1997, and unable to identify his original clan heritage, Gurragcha chose the clan name Sansar - Mongolian for "cosmos". Clan names have only symbolic significance today and should not be confused with western style "family names", which are unknown in Mongolia.

Before becoming minister of defense, Gurragcha worked as chief of staff of Air defence of Mongolian Armed Forces. He is married and has two children.

Zhugderdemidiyn Gurragcha was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on March 30 1981^[1]The Zaisan Memorial, a monument south of Ulan Bator dedicated to Russian-Mongolian friendship, includes a mural which depicts amongst its scenes Gurragcha's 1981 flight.