Georgy Shonin belongs to the record of technology as a figure whose work outlasted the moment that produced it.
The record lists Georgy Shonin as Soviet cosmonaut (1935-1997).
Georgy Shonin was born at Rovenky in 1935. His recorded nationality is the Soviet Union. He was educated at Yeysk Higher Military Aviation Institute and Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.
The twentieth century made work collective, expensive and political, with consequences that reached well beyond the people doing it.
He worked as aircraft pilot, astronaut and military officer.
Technology is judged by adoption: an invention nobody uses is a curiosity.
His work was formally recognised with the Order of Lenin, Hero of the Soviet Union and Order of the October Revolution.
That the work was done from the Soviet Union matters. Opportunity has never been evenly distributed, and where a person is based shapes which doors open and whose work gets seen.
Georgy Shonin died in 1997, aged 62. What survives is the work, which is the only durable form of a reputation.
Achievements
- Educated at Yeysk Higher Military Aviation Institute, Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy and Krasnodar Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots named after Hero of the Soviet Union A.K. Serov
- Worked as aircraft pilot, astronaut and military officer
