According to a statement by the Russian space agency Roscosmos, the 83-year-old spacecraft designer and cosmonaut Konstantin Petrovich Feoktistov, a member of first-ever 'group' space flight and the first scientist in space, died in Moscow on Saturday, November 21.

Feoktistov, who is survived by his wife and four children, was awarded the status of 'Hero of the Soviet Union' in 1964.

Born on February 7, 1926 in Voronezh in Russia, Feoktistov was interested in astronomy and space exploration ever since his childhood. It was on October 12, 1964 that Feoktistov made his one and only space flight aboard the USSR's Voskhod 1.

The one-day mission of the Voskhod 1 trio - comprising Feoktistov; Boris Yegorov, the first medical doctor in space; and Vladimir Komarov, who later became the first person to fly to space twice - included the testing of the craft's design and performing biomedical research.

Recounting his sole space experience, Feoktistov - the only Soviet space explorer who was not a Communist Party member at that time - had told the Boston Globe in 1998: "I had many enemies who did not want me to make that flight. Once we took off, I remember thinking 'That's it. No one can get me off this spaceship now!' For me, it was a thrill to ride that beast."

After lending a helping hand in designing Soviet space ships and stations, like Mir, Progress and Soyuz, Feoktistov left the space program, to teach at Moscow State Technical University.