Marina Popovich
Marina Lavrentievna Popovich (née Vasilieva) was a prominent figure in both the world of aviation and the field of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), or Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO) as they are commonly called.
Born on July 20, 1931, in the Smolensk Oblast of Russia, Marina showed an early interest in aviation. She went on to graduate from the Kharkiv Aviation Institute in Ukraine, an esteemed establishment dedicated to the study of aeronautics and astronautics. She specialized in aero-engineering, specifically focusing on jet engines.
Marina Popovich’s career was indeed unique and varied. She was not only a retired Air Force colonel in the Soviet Union but also a military test pilot. Her contributions to aviation were vast and distinguished, with Popovich setting more than 100 aviation world records during her time as a test pilot. She earned the prestigious title of Honoured Master of Sports of the USSR in 1962 and was a ten-time world record holder in various categories of air sports.
She was also known for being an instructor for the “Cosmos” detachment and was responsible for the selection and training of female astronauts in the USSR, which included Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to fly into space.
But her fame was not confined to the realm of aviation alone. Marina Popovich also emerged as a prominent figure in the field of UAP research in Russia. She was deeply interested in the phenomenon of UAPs, authoring several books on the subject. These include “UFO: Top Secret” and “UFO Glasnost,” both published in the 1990s.
In “UFO Glasnost,” Popovich claimed that Soviet military and civilian pilots had confirmed 3,000 UFO sightings, and that the Soviet Air Force and KGB had recovered fragments of five crashed UFOs. The crash sites she mentioned include Tunguska (1908), Novosibirsk, Tallinn, Ordzhonikidze, and Dalnegorsk (1986). Her accounts are based on her personal investigations and the testimonies of her contacts in the military and scientific community.
One unique fact about Marina Popovich is that her husband, Pavel Popovich, was a well-known cosmonaut and became the eighth person in space. Interestingly, Pavel also had a purported encounter with a UFO, adding another layer to Marina’s interest in UAPs. This information comes from Marina’s own account in her books and other public statements (Source: UFO Glasnost, Marina Popovich).
A second unique fact about her is that she holds the female record for number of aircraft types flown. She flew 102 different types of aircraft, a record that has not been broken to this day (Source: Federation Aeronautique Internationale).
A third unique fact about her is that she was one of the first people to publicly discuss the alleged UAP crash at Tunguska in 1908. In her book, she cited evidence from her contacts in the scientific community, suggesting that an extraterrestrial craft, rather than a meteor or comet, was responsible for the event (Source: UFO Glasnost, Marina Popovich).
Books written about Marina Popovich, a biographical work titled “Marina Lavrentievna Popovich: In Service to the Motherland,” written by Valentin Sokolov, details her life and achievements in aviation and her interest in UAPs.
Marina Popovich was a woman of many talents and interests. From breaking records in aviation to pushing the boundaries of UAP research in Russia, her life was undoubtedly fascinating and full of intrigue.
