Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov (Russian: Владимир Михайлович Комаров, IPA: [vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ kəmɐˈrof]; 16 March 1927 – 24 April 1967) was a Soviet test pilot, aerospace engineer, and cosmonaut. In October 1964, he commanded Voskhod 1, the first spaceflight to carry more than one crew member. He became the first Soviet cosmonaut to fly in space twice when he was selected as the solo pilot of Soyuz 1, its first crewed test flight. A parachute failure caused his Soyuz capsule to crash into the ground after re-entry on 24 April 1967, making him the first human to die in a space flight incident. He was declared medically unfit for training or spaceflight twice while in the program but continued playing an active role. During his time at the cosmonaut training center, he contributed to space vehicle design, cosmonaut training, evaluation and public relations.
Early life Komarov was born on 16 March 1927 in Moscow and grew up with his half-sister Matilda (born in 1915). His father was a labourer who worked at various low-paid jobs to support the family. In 1935, Komarov began his formal education in the local elementary school. Here he showed a natural aptitude for mathematics. In 1941, Komarov left school because of World War II and the German invasion of the Soviet Union, and he became a laborer on a collective farm. He showed an interest in aeronautics from an early age, and he collected magazines and pictures about aviation, in addition to making model aircraft and his own propeller. At the age of fifteen in 1942, Komarov entered the "1st Moscow Special Air Force School" to pursue his dream of becoming an aviator. Shortly thereafter, his family learned that Komarov's father had been killed in an "unknown war action". Of necessity because of the German invasion, the flight school was soon moved to the Tyumen region in Siberia for the duration of the war. Students there learned a wide variety of subjects besides aviation—including zoology and foreign languages. In 1945, Komarov graduated from flight school with honors. World War II hostilities ended before Komarov was called on to enter combat. In 1946, Komarov completed his first year of training at the Chkalov Higher Air Force School in Borisoglebsk in Voronezh Oblast. He then completed his training at the A.K. Serov Military Aviation College in Bataisk. Komarov's mother died in 1948, seven months before his graduation in 1949, at which he received his pilot's wings and commission as a lieutenant in the Soviet Air Force.
Career in the Soviet Air Force
In December 1949, Komarov served as the pilot of a fighter plane with the 383rd Regiment of the 42nd North Caucasian Fighter Air Division that was based in Grozny. Komarov married Valentina Yakovlevna Kiselyova in October 1950. He was promoted to senior lieutenant in 1952, and he was later assigned as the chief pilot of the 486th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 279th Fighter Air Division in the Prikarpate Region. Komarov continued to fly in that position until 1954, and then he enrolled in an engineering course at the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. In 1959, Komarov was promoted to the rank of senior engineer-lieutenant. Later that year he achieved his goal of becoming a test pilot at the Central Scientific Research Institute at Chkalovsky.
Cosmonaut selection
Air Force Group One In September 1959, Komarov was promoted to engineer-captain and invited to participate in the selection process for cosmonaut candidate along with approximately 3,000 other pilots. He was one of twenty candidates selected for "Air Force Group One"; he and the others reported to the newly formed TsPK (Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center) just outside Moscow for assignment on 13 March 1960. Although eminently qualified, Komarov was not chosen in the top six candidates, because he did not meet the age, height, and weight restrictions specified by the Chief Designer of Russia's space program, Sergei Korolev. "If the criteria had been different," the cosmonaut trainer Mark Gallai noted in an interview, "Certainly Komarov, who was very intelligent, would have been in the group. He had Air Force Academy flight experience. He greatly influenced the design of the 'Vostok' and [the] 'Voskhod'." At age 32, Komarov was the second oldest of the pilots chosen; Korolev had specified a maximum age of 27. Only two members of the first group, Pavel Belyayev (Voskhod 2) and Komarov himself, were also graduates of the Soviet Air Force Academy. In addition, only Komarov had experience as a flight test engineer on new aircraft.
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