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It was during the test for geometry and trigonometry that Iosif faced a dilemma. Sitting behind Iosif was Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov, who was destined to become a Soviet cosmonaut. But at this point he was a junior officer, like Iosif, sitting for an examination that would decide his career. When there were 20 minutes le in the exam, Iosif heard Komarov whisper to him: "Iosif, did you solve the last problem?" "Yes," Iosif whispered back. "Please, Iosif, pass me the solution," Komarov pleaded. Iosif hesitated. There was risk here. There wasn't much time and he had to check his own solutions. There was the additional problem of how to pass the answer back. While students were issued scrap paper for their calculations, the exam proctor required that all scrap paper be accounted for. Finally, Iosif made a decision. He took some paper om his pocket, wrote down the solution, and passed it quietly to Komarov. Aer the exam, Iosif and Komarov became great iends. This story illustrates that for Iosif, iendship and loyalty were more important than following the rules. Aer Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov (Владимир Михайлович Комаров) graduated om the Moscow Aircra Military Engineering Academy, he became one of the first cosmonauts in 1960. His first spaceflight was with the Voskhod 1 mission. He was the first Soviet cosmonaut to travel into space more than once. On his second flight, Soyuz 1, Komarov was killed on April 24, 1967, during re-entry when the spacecra crashed owing to failure of life support systems. He was the first confirmed person to die during a space mission. It was a dramatic death. Just before impact, Soviet premier Alexey Kosygin told Komarov his country was proud of him. An American NSA listening post in Istanbul noted Komarov's reply was inaudible, though persistent rumors stated that Komarov died cursing the spacecra designers and flight controllers. Iosif Helps a Future Cosmonaut Iosif Helps a Future Cosmonaut case involved the tradition of military officers receiving wristwatches each year on Red Army Day (February 23). The watch could be gold, silver, or stainless steel, depending on the honor being bestowed that year. At one point, Iosif was called into the chief 's office and asked if Major Volsun wanted his name to be submitted for the wristwatch honor. Iosif knew that because he was a Jew, the honor would be denied him. Moreover, he knew that the honor would be denied any officer whose application was with his own. "So I told the chief, 'Please don't do it,'" Iosif recalls. The chief asked why. Iosif replied that if his own name was among the list of officers to be awarded wristwatches, none of them would receive the honor. But the chief didn't believe him and submitted Iosif 's name along with other members of the unit. As Iosif had predicted, when February 23rd came the entire unit was denied the gi. "In that year, not one of the officers in my unit received a wristwatch, and it was because the list had the name of a Jew on it. Moscow killed the list," he says. Despite—or maybe because of—such situations, Iosif was desperate to be accepted to the academy in Moscow and further solidify his military career path. Aer much pressure om the college in Volsk for Iosif to go to an academy in Leningrad, the commander said he would see what he could do. The next day, the commander made an unannounced visit to Iosif 's classroom to see how he was teaching. What the commander was interested in was not how well Iosif taught aircra repair, but how carefully he hewed to the political orthodoxy of the day. Finally he gave Iosif permission to take the entrance exam for the Moscow Aircra Military Engineering Academy. When Iosif reported to the academy for the entrance examinations, he met the same major who had told him to bide his time. The major hugged Iosif. "See, I told you things would change," he said. Iosif began a grueling process of technical examinations, political orthodoxy,

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