MOSCOW, January 4. /TASS/. Cosmonaut and test pilot Igor Volk, Hero of the Soviet Union, has died aged 79, the administration of the town of Zhukovsky near Moscow said on Wednesday.

"Igor Volk died on January 3," the statement said.

Volk served a bomber pilot in the Soviet Air Force before he was selected as a cosmonaut.

On July 30, 1980, Volk flew as a research cosmonaut on Soyuz T-12, the 7th expedition to Salyut 7.

He was awarded title of the Hero of the Soviet Union in 1984.