Georgy Shonin Status: Deceased 8/3/1935 – 4/7/1997 Nationality: Ukrainian Type: Government Agency: Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) Georgy Stepanovich Shonin (Ukrainian: Гео́ргій Степа́нович Шо́нін) (August 3, 1935 – April 7, 1997; born in Rovenky, Luhansk Oblast, (now Ukraine) but grew up in Balta of Ukrainian SSR) was a Soviet cosmonaut, who flew on the Soyuz 6 space mission. Shonin was part of the original group of cosmonauts selected in 1960. He left the space programme in 1979 for medical reasons.