One of the first Soviet cosmonauts to ever go into space, Pavel Popovich, died on Wednesday. His death comes on the same day as the successful launch of a Soyuz spacecraft up to the ISS.
Popovich was best known for taking part in the world’s first-ever group space flight in 1962.
He manned one of the two Soyuz spaceships orbiting the Earth just several kilometers from each other.
The 79-year-old was often called “cosmonaut number four”, having been part of the very first team of Soviet cosmonauts which also included Yury Gagarin, the first man in space.