The legendary airwoman, Marina Popovich, who has set 101 world records, has celebrated her 80th birthday on July 20th, RIA Novosti reports.
Marina Popovich was born in Smolensk region in 1931. Being a child during the Second World War she has taken a decision to become a pilot.
She entered Voluntary Association for Assistance to Army, where she has learned the basics of pilotage. She has won the right to become an airwoman from the Marshal of Soviet Union, Kliment Voroshilov in Moscow. Women were not allowed to enter aviation these years.
The legendary airwoman has mastered more than 40 types of aircraft during her career and has a flight experience of more than 5600 hours. Marina Popovich is the first female pilot, who has broken the sound barrier using MiG-21 fighter, thus she was dubbed “Madam MiG”.
Popovich has dreamed to become an astronaut; she has passed the physical evaluation board, tests in anechoic room, altitude chamber and on centrifuge. However, she has not managed to perform a space flight.
Popovich is the author of more than 15 books and she is saying about their contents: "Books are just all bygones. I started writing to express what I feel, what I have been through and what I would like to tell people ".
Nowadays the legendary test-pilot is carrying on an active public work and holds several positions simultaneously: vice-president of Roerich International Center, pro-rector of International Institute of Management (Arkhangelsk), president of the Academy named after P.K. Oshepkov (Moscow).
