Leonid Kadeniuk, astronaut, dies

Ukrainian-born Space Shuttle astronaut Leonid Kadeniuk, who entered the Soviet-era cosmonaut corps in 1976 but didn’t fly in space until 1997, dies at the age of 67. The first Ukrainian national to fly in space, Kadeniuk was a member of the STS-87 crew, a microgravity science mission aboard Columbia during which he performed experiments on vegetation in zero gravity. Following his single flight into space, Kadeniuk spent a few years continuing to try to build Ukraine’s space program, before becoming involved in politics in the 21st century.