Vladimir Komarov: The Cosmonaut Who Fell to Earth

This is the true story of Vladimir Komarov, the brave cosmonaut who fell from space.

Komarov was born on the 16th of March 1927 in Moscow. From an early age, Komarov showed a natural flair for maths and especially a keen interest in aviation. After graduating from flight school, Komarov would go on to become one of the USSR's best test pilots.

Richard Hollingham, a journalist on the Space Boffins Podcast, states, "For the Soviets, Komarov was pretty much perfect. He turned out to be a great pilot, very patriotic, which is probably why he got selected for two really prestigious space missions."

During the 1960s, tension was at a boiling point between the USA and USSR. As space flight technology advanced into what became known as the Space Race, both giants were trying to be the first to put their man on the moon.

And the Soviets got there before the Americans, in almost everything. They launched Sputnik, which was the first satellite to be put into orbit. They even managed to send Laika, a dog, into orbit! Hollingham says, "The Americans just appeared to be just trailing behind all the time."

Cosmonauts such as Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, received highly intensive training, like being spun quickly in a cylinder to experience the ship tumbling in space and being dropped into the woods with just a match and an axe to see how they would survive without many materials or if their spaceship drifted off of course.

In 1964, Komarov successfully completed his first spaceflight, Voskhod 1, and was praised in many tons of glory by the public and media.

A day after his landing, a new ambitious mission was set into place: the Soyuz series. The plan was to send one rocket, containing Komarov, into orbit, then to send another rocket with two more cosmonauts. Komarov would then transfer over to the other spacecraft and everyone would descend safely back to Earth.

This was nowhere near the truth. As the day of launch came ever closer, it became clear that Soyuz 1 was riddled with faults.

"In 1967, the program was a mess, and there was no way that spacecraft should have been allowed to fly," Hollingham commented.

But the Soviets had no choice. There was enormous pressure from the public, and even more so was the fact that the US started working on the Apollo missions. The USSR definitely didn't want to lose their lead.

Despite the ever-growing concerns, Soyuz 1 was successfully launched on the 23rd of April, 1967. Based on telecom messages from the spacecraft, Komarov knew that there were quality control issues. However, once he got into orbit, things were failing. Solar arrays weren't deploying, giving Komarov almost no power for the life support systems on board.

He was ordered immediately to descend back to Earth. Tragically, as he re-entered the atmosphere for the last time, the final hammer shoved the last nail into the coffin. The parachutes had failed.

Komarov crashed into the Earth's surface as fast as the speed of sound, and probably died alone from the incredible amount of g-forces acted upon him. As he slammed into the Earth, another failure with the retro rockets made his capsule burst into flames.

Often, it has been claimed that Komarov was in constant contact with the ground control, relaying highly critical messages. But, that story is highly unlikely, given that the speed he was hurtling into Earth's atmosphere was so fast, meaning that it was so loud, he probably couldn't hear any warning beeps either. By the time he knew that something had gone wrong, he might have already been dead.

There are many versions of what happened to the remains of Vladimir Komarov. Some say that his remains were put on display for everyone to see what was happening.

"To me, 1967 was a really pivotal year in the space race. You had the loss in January of the three crew in the Apollo 1 fire, and then you had the loss of Komarov in Soyuz 1, the first man to lose his life in space. It made both sides stop and think and go back to the drawing board." Hollingham finishes.

Years into the future, Vladimir Komarov's legacy still lives on, and his name is listed on the fallen astronaut memorial placed on the moon by Apollo 15.

"A tribute amongst the stars for the man that fell to the Earth."

Credits:

• BBC Reel

• Wikipedia

• Richard Hollingham, Journalist of the Space Boffins Podcast

• Shottr.cc

• Google Images