Vladimir Komarov

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**Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov**
Cosmonaut

Nationality	Soviet
Born	March 16, 1927 Moscow, USSR
Died	April 24, 1967 Orenburg Oblast, USSR
Occupation¹	Engineer
Rank	Colonel, Soviet Air Force
Space time	2d 03h 04m
Selection	Air Force Group 1
Mission(s)	Voskhod 1, Soyuz 1
Mission insignia
¹ previous or current

1964 USSR postage stamp honouring Vladimir Komarov

Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov (Russian: Владимир Михайлович Комаров; March 16, 1927 – April 24, 1967) was a Soviet cosmonaut. He was the first confirmed human to die during a space mission, on Soyuz 1, and the first Soviet cosmonaut to travel into space more than once.

He was born in Moscow, USSR (now Russia).

He was selected to become a cosmonaut in 1960 with the first cosmonaut group. After being the backup for Pavel Popovich on Vostok 4, his first spaceflight was with the Voskhod 1 mission. On his second flight, Soyuz 1, he was killed during a return, when the spacecraft crashed owing to failure of the parachute.

Just before impact, Soviet premier Alexey Kosygin told Komarov his country was proud of him. An American NSA listening post in Istanbul noted Komarov's reply was inaudible [1], though persistent rumours stated that Komarov died cursing the spacecraft designers and flight controllers. Whatever the truth of the matter, a tape from a West German tracking station bearing some of Komarov's brief phrases was forwarded to the Command-Measurement Complex of the Soviet Union after the disaster and was reported to contain the word "killed", mixed in with Komarov's distraught unclear transmissions, among other flight data recorded on radio by the West Germans. The recording was made, apparently, on one of the last orbits, if not the final one.

Since Komarov's death it has emerged that the Soyuz 1 space flight had been dogged by problems from the beginning, and that the craft was not ready for manned flight.

But objections from the engineers were overruled by political pressures for a grand space flight to mark the anniversary of Lenin's birthday.

Vladimir Komarov went on to be awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin, each one twice. His ashes rest in the Kremlin wall alongside those of other Soviet luminaries.

Komarov was married to Valentina Yakovlevna Kiselyova and had two children, Yevgeni and Irina.

The asteroid 1836 Komarov, discovered in 1971 is named in his honour, as is a crater on the Moon. The asteroid and the cosmonaut inspired composer Brett Dean in writing a symphonic piece commissioned by conductor Simon Rattle in 2006.

Among other honours, the Vladimir M. Komarov Astronautical Rocketry Club (ARK) in Ljubljana has also borne his name since 1969.

The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale's V.M. Komarov Diploma is named in his honour.