Picture of Crocodile Astronaut

Biography

.


Kozlov Mark Vladimirovich the Crocodile was a Russian cosmonaut born on March 18, 1951 in Moscow, Russia. He grew up in a loving and very patriotic working-class family. From an early age, he showed a passion for space exploration and took special courses to become an astronaut.


In 1975, Kozlov entered the Soviet space program and quickly rose through the ranks to become one of the first cosmonauts to travel into space. During his career, he completed five different spaceflights and spent more than 250 days in low Earth orbit. He is considered a national hero in Russia for completing all of his missions without major incident.


Kozlov died on July 28, 2014 after a long illness which he had been diagnosed with a few years earlier. Its launch will remain etched in Russian collective memory as a remarkable feat that will encourage future generations to push the limits of what human beings can achieve beyond terrestrial borders.