Vladimir Komarov
Vladimir Komarov was a Soviet test pilot and cosmonaut who commanded Voskhod 1 and died when Soyuz 1 crashed during its return to Earth in 1967.
Voskhod 1: The first spacecraft to carry a multi-person crew, launched by the Soviet Union in October 1964. Komarov commanded this three-cosmonaut mission, the first crewed flight of the Voskhod program.
Soyuz 7K-OK: The first-generation Soviet Soyuz spacecraft designed for Earth-orbit missions and rendezvous experiments. Komarov flew the 7K-OK spacecraft whose systems failed during Soyuz 1.
Yuri Gagarin: The Soviet cosmonaut who became the first human to orbit Earth, in 1961. Gagarin and Komarov were close colleagues in the first cosmonaut group.
Soyuz 1 investigation: The inquiry into the technical failures and circumstances surrounding the Soyuz 1 crash. Its findings examined the spacecraft defects that preceded Komarov’s death.
Soyuz 1: The first crewed flight of the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft, launched in April 1967. Komarov commanded the mission, which ended in his death after a parachute-system failure.
Soyuz 1 parachute failure: The failure of Soyuz 1’s main parachute to deploy correctly during its descent on April 24, 1967. The parachute failure caused the impact that killed Komarov.
Konstantin Feoktistov: A Soviet engineer and cosmonaut who flew on Voskhod 1. He was one of the two crewmates Komarov commanded on Voskhod 1.
Soviet space program: The state-directed Soviet effort to develop rockets, satellites, and crewed spaceflight. Komarov’s missions and death belong to this program’s early crewed-spaceflight history.
Soyuz 11: The 1971 Soviet mission whose three-person crew died during reentry after their spacecraft depressurized. Its crew became the only other people to die during a spaceflight, linking it to Komarov’s fatal mission.
Soyuz 1 solar panel failure: The failure of one Soyuz 1 solar panel to deploy, reducing electrical power and complicating spacecraft operations. It was among the early failures that led mission control to end the flight prematurely.