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.

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.

[2] 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.

[3] At the age of fifteen in 1942, Komarov entered the "1st Moscow Special Air Force School" to pursue his dream of becoming an aviator.

In 1946, Komarov completed his first year of training at the Chkalov Higher Air Force School in Borisoglebsk in Voronezh Oblast.

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.

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.

[4] 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.

At the time, the selection criteria placed a heavy emphasis on the physical condition of cosmonauts and any imperfection led to instant disqualification.

During that time he assisted his younger peers with their academic studies; earning him the casual nickname of "The Professor," which he shared with Belyayev, who was two years his senior.

[8] When Georgi Shonin demonstrated an unacceptable level of g-force susceptibility in the centrifuge, Komarov replaced him in May 1962 for planned dual Vostok missions.

[12] Komarov was later named in a further group for planned missions in 1964 with Belyaev, Shonin, Khrunov, Zaikin, Gorbatko, Volynov, and Leonov.

In April 1964 Komarov was declared space-flight ready with Bykovsky, Popovich, Titov, Volynov, Leonov, Khrunov, Belyayev, and Lev Demin.

There, he enjoyed hunting, cross country skiing, ice hockey, and other social activities with his fellow trainees in their leisure time.

During the mission Komarov performed various tasks with the other crew members, including medical and navigational tests and observing the Aurora Borealis.

After the crew landed safely they were flown back to the launch site at Tyuratam (also known as Baikonur to disguise its true location).

[23] In 1965, Komarov worked with Gagarin in supervising preparations for the flight of Voskhod 2, which carried out the first attempt of an extravehicular activity in outer space.

"[25] The following month Komarov clashed with other engineers over ongoing design problems in which zero-G tests showed that the Soyuz module hatch was too small to allow the safe exit of a fully suited cosmonaut.

[26] Meanwhile, Komarov and his fellow cosmonauts had their groups and assignments constantly revised, and they became increasingly anxious about the lack of response to their concerns about the design and manufacture of the spacecraft, which Gagarin had raised in a letter on their behalf to Leonid Brezhnev.

[28] He successfully re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on his 19th orbit, but the module's drogue and main braking parachute failed to deploy correctly.

Konstantin Vershinin's orders were that Komarov's remains were to be photographed, then immediately cremated so that a state burial in the Kremlin wall could take place.

"[31] When interviewed on 17 May by the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, Gagarin alluded to the failure of the administration to listen to the concerns about the Soyuz module that the cosmonaut corps had identified, and maintained that Komarov's death should teach the establishment to be more rigorous in its testing and evaluation of "all the mechanisms of the spaceship, even more attentive to all stages of checking and testing, even more vigilant in our encounter with the unknown.

"[31] In May 1967, Gagarin and Leonov criticised program head Vasily Mishin's "poor knowledge of the Soyuz spacecraft and the details of its operation, his lack of cooperation in working with the cosmonauts in flight and training activities," and asked Kamanin to cite him in the official crash report.

[32] On 26 April 1967, Komarov was given a state funeral in Moscow, and his ashes were interred in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis at Red Square.

[citation needed] Komarov is commemorated with other prominent figures from the early Russian space program with a bust on Cosmonauts Alley in Moscow, and he is also honored with a monument at the crash site near Orsk.

[36] Before leaving the Moon on Apollo 11's Lunar Module, Neil Armstrong's final task was to place a small package of memorial items to honor Soviet cosmonauts Komarov, Yuri Gagarin, and the Apollo 1 astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee.

[39] This asteroid and the cosmonaut inspired the composer Brett Dean to write a piece of symphonic music commissioned by conductor Simon Rattle in 2006.