Nikolai Kamanin (1908-1982) was a Soviet Air Force general and Hero of the Soviet Union since 1934, recognised for his role in rescuing the survivors of the icebreaker Chelyuskin. From 1960, he headed the Soviet cosmonaut training programme, personally supervising Gagarin, Titov, Tereshkova, and the Voskhod crew. His personal diaries, published posthumously as Skrytyi Kosmos (Hidden Space), are a primary documentary source on the Soviet space programme.