Leonid Kostyantynovych Kadenyuk , born 28 January 1951 in Klishkivtsi, Chernivtsi Oblast

Chernivtsi Oblast

Chernivtsi Oblast is an oblast in western Ukraine, bordering on Romania and Moldova. It has a large variety of landforms: the Carpathian Mountains and picturesque hills at the foot of the mountains gradually change to a broad partly forested plain situated between the Dniester and Prut rivers....

 of the Ukrainian SSR

Ukrainian SSR

The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...

) is the only astronaut

Astronaut

An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....

 of independent Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

. He made his flight on NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

's Columbia

Space Shuttle Columbia

Space Shuttle Columbia was the first spaceworthy Space Shuttle in NASA's orbital fleet. First launched on the STS-1 mission, the first of the Space Shuttle program, it completed 27 missions before being destroyed during re-entry on February 1, 2003 near the end of its 28th, STS-107. All seven crew...

 in 1997 as part of the international mission STS-87

STS-87

STS-87 was a Space Shuttle mission launched from KSC pad 39-B on 19 November 1997. It was the 88th flight of the Space Shuttle, and the 24th flight of Columbia...

. Kadeniuk holds the rank of Ukrainian Air Force

Ukrainian Air Force

The Ukrainian Air Force is a part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Ukrainian Air Force Command and headquarters are located in the city of Vinnytsia....

 Major General

Major General

Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...

.

Kadeniuk was a career Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 military pilot

Aviator

An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...

. He began his service in the Soviet Air Force

Soviet Air Force

The Soviet Air Force, officially known in Russian as Военно-воздушные силы or Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily and often abbreviated VVS was the official designation of one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces...

 and was selected in 1976 for the Soviet Cosmonaut Corps. With the break-up of the Soviet Union

History of the Soviet Union (1985-1991)

The history of the Soviet Union from 1982 through 1991, spans the period from Leonid Brezhnev's death and funeral until the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Due to the years of Soviet military buildup at the expense of domestic development, economic growth stagnated...

, Kadeniuk remained in the Russian Space Forces and adopted Russian citizenship

Citizenship

Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...

. In 1995, during the preparation of the first Ukrainian space mission, he volunteered to take part and returned to his homeland.

There were two main candidates for the mission, the other being Yaroslav Pustovyi, a civil Ukrainian scientist

Scientist

A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...

 in space research. Kadeniuk was chosen as better-trained and accustomed to space mission organization.

After the flight, Leonid Kadeniuk continued his Ukrainian space program career in the NKAU

Nkau

Nkau is a community council located in the Mohale's Hoek District of Lesotho. Its population in 2006 was 9,092.-Villages:The community of Nkau includes the villages of Ha 'Muso, Ha Boroko, Ha Chalotsane, Ha Emile, Ha Jopo, Ha Kahlolo, Ha Kajeng, Ha Kepa, Ha Kojoana, Ha Lechesa, Ha Lenyatsa, Ha...

.

In the 2002 parliamentary election

Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2002

Ukrainian parliamentary election of 2002 took place on March 31. Half of the deputies to Verkhovna Rada were elected on proportional basis, while the other half were elected by popular vote in single-mandate constituencies...

, he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada

Verkhovna Rada

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is Ukraine's parliament. The Verkhovna Rada is a unicameral parliament composed of 450 deputies, which is presided over by a chairman...

 in the list of pro-Kuchma

Leonid Kuchma

Leonid Danylovych Kuchma was the second President of independent Ukraine from 19 July 1994, to 23 January 2005. Kuchma took office after winning the 1994 presidential election against his rival, incumbent Leonid Kravchuk...

 United Ukraine Bloc

For United Ukraine

For United Ukraine was a political alliance and an electoral bloc in Ukraine founded in December 2001 to participate in the parliamentary election in held on March 30, 2002.-2002 parliamentary election:...

. Later, Kadeniuk joined the "Trudova Ukrayina - Industrialists and Entrepreneurs

Labour Ukraine

Strong Ukraine ; former Labour Party Ukraine , is a political party in Ukraine registered in August 1999. The party claims to have over 80,000 members as of mid-May 2010. It is currently negotiating a merge with the Party of Regions....

" faction, but hasn't been politically active. He worked within parliament's Committee on Defense and National Security.

In the 2006 parliamentary election

Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2006

The Ukrainian parliamentary election took place on March 26, 2006. Election campaigning officially began on July 7, 2005. Between November 26 and December 31, 2005 party lists of candidates were formed....

, Kadenyuk was #3 in the electoral party list of Lytvyn's People's Bloc

Lytvyn's People's Bloc

The Lytvyn Bloc, formerly Lytvyn's People's Bloc, is a centrist political alliance in Ukraine led by Volodymyr Lytvyn. According to Lytvyn the party had 400,000 members in October 2009....

, but the block won only 2.44% of the popular vote (short of the required 3%) and no seats in the parliament.