Valo Ilati

Valo Ilati (born 9 February 1951) is a Ordrish and  as well as former  and  during the Ordrish Revolution. He flew aboard the Tripartite Selene-8 lunar landing mission from 25 June to 4 July 1981, becoming the first Ordron in space and the second person to walk on a beyond Vanatas. Ilati was a delegate to the Aarneiu Fraternity for the Workers' Party of Ordrey between 2006 and 2012, and served as the Ordrish Ambassador to Velorenkya from 2012 to 2018.

Early life and military career
Ilati was born on the 9th of February, 1951 in the city of Lemdon. His father, Aldis Ilati, was a fighter pilot during the Second World War, which influenced Valo to pursue a career in aviation himself, taking a keen interest in the mechanical operations and upkeep of aircraft and working at a small hangar outside of Lemdon proper where he quickly took to a career as a mechanic between his studies. He would additionally recieve awards for a number of events during his secondary school years, and graduated in 1968, from hence he received his piloting license and continued his career as an airplane mechanic, primarily working on smaller single- and dual-engine propeller-driven planes for use in local and regional flights. At this point, he began engaging in local politics by campaigning for the Social Democrats in the Lem region, and was a campaign staffer for SDP candidate Tito Comanis during the 1969 Presidential Elections. Due to the ongoing effect of the East Alutran Recession in late 1969, the hangar where Ilati was employed went out of business, and was convinced by his father and former coworkers to take on a career in military aviation after becoming disillusioned with the SDP after the victory of Gueric-Jacoub Omnes in the 1969 elections.

Ilati enlisted with the Republican Ordrish Air Force in the spring of 1970, where he quickly advanced to the OAF fighter pilot program thanks to his prior experience and familial background in the service. He trained first in a Methinsirn A-14b Damath, and would pilot during his term of service. Upon completing his initial training program, he attended the Wallis Contani Air Force Academy in Vernon from 1970 to 1974, and was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the OAF with the 5th Air Fighter Regiment. During this time following his commission, he would meet his future spouse, Nina Jaffre, which helped to rekindle his interest in government through her familial connections to the mining industry in the north of the country. The two would keep a close eye on the worsening circumstances of the ongoing Miners' Strike, and would quietly support the strikers in his community, volunteering in a community kitchen during time between training operations. He would later be barred from participating in supporting the striking miners and colliers directly by his commanding officer, much to his chagrin, due to the "depoliticization" measures that the Omnes government placed on the military.

1975-1980
With the declaration of the SRNO Government in opposition to Omnes' increasingly authoritarian tendencies and refusal to work with the striking miners in the face of the continuing recession, Ilati was called up, alongside other active-duty personnel, to high alert in January of 1975. His writings at the time suggest that he worried for the future of the country, but was not yet convinced that the Second Republic was irreparably damaged by Omnes. This changed following the Battle of Lagadec Ridge in February and the generally-recognized beginnings of the Ordrish Revolution, where he was alarmed at the deployment of the Army to raid an SRNO-affiliated community. When the Air Force was called in to engage in limited bombing runs of the now openly-rebelling parts of the country, Ilati joined the bulk of the 5th Air Fighter Regiment in a mutiny against the local top brass, and pledged loyalty to the SRNO.

Throughout the Ordrish Revolution, Ilati would engage in a number of missions to intercept Republican aircraft, disrupt materiel and personnel convoys, and engaged in a number of confrontations with enemy fighter planes. One particular event, where an enemy missile salvo came within meters of the cockpit of his Comet, earned him the nickname "Maíbar" (lit. "flat top"), as a fellow pilot later remarked the strike grazed close enough to shave his head clean. Throughout the conflict, Ilati would down 6 enemy planes, earning him the designation as a and becoming a minor propaganda figure late in the war. Following the conflict's conclusion, he was often tapped to participate in the testing of new experimental aircraft, and was consulted during the early phases of development of the which began as reconstruction efforts came to a close.

OSS program
In 1980, he was selected to be part of the new 1st Ordrish Spaceflight Wing, a precursor to the modern OSS which formed in conjunction with their Velorenkyan counterparts due to his mechanical expertise and reputation in both aeronautics circles and the young post-revolution government.

In popular culture
A statue of Ilati and fellow astronaut Bertelan Faric was erected in 1990 in Ilati's hometown of Lemdon.