Thank you for your questions. I did have a wife, the lovely Valentina Ivanovna Goryacheva.

On the day I was leaving for space, my cosmonaut team leader, Karpov, said, "Valya is wonderful! In helping Yuri get ready to leave, and in seeing him off, she displayed extraordinary self-control and courage - like a genuine cosmonaut's wife."

I didn't end up missing her too much on my space flight as I was just too excited (and I wasn't up there very long)... but I'm sure if I'd been up there as long as today's astronauts are I would have missed her terribly.

Remember, reach for the stars!

Yuri G.