Vladimir Remek, first non Russian or American in the space

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Vladimir Remek was born on September 1948 in Czechoslovakia. He is currently a Czech politician and diplomat and former military pilot. He became the first cosmonaut aboard Soviet Soyuz 28 from a country different than Soviet Union or United States on March 2-10, 1978. 


Remek joined the Intercosmos program in 1976. His backup was Oldřich Pelčák.

The Soviet cosmonaut was A. Gubarev. They have docked with space station Salyut 6. Cosmonauts accomplished scientific experiments and spent over 7 days in space. 

 There was a joke which was reflecting a bit the atmosphere behind it: "Why didn't Soviets send up two Czechoslovak cosmonauts? Because they would have landed in West Germany."
Remek was joking himself that his Soviet colleague would slap his hand off the controls if he would touch anything without the permission. French astronaut Jean-Loup Chretien experienced the same in 1988.

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