Vladimir Komarov the cosmonaut who fell from space in 1967, his spacecraft hit the earth with the force of an asteroid.
SUBSCRIBE HERE ➜ [ Ссылка ]
INSTAGRAM ➜ [ Ссылка ]
FACEBOOK ➜ [ Ссылка ]
TWITTER ➜ [ Ссылка ]
In the 1960s, the Space Race was a dangerous contest of egos, ambitions, and political gains. The USSR had beaten the US several times, starting with 1957’s surprise Sputnik, the first satellite to transcend Earth’s orbit. In 1961, the Soviet Union sent the first human into space, making Yuri Gagarin a national hero and a worldwide celebrity.
Soviet engineers conceived a plan to launch two spaceships, Soyuz 1, with cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov, followed by Soyuz 2, with two cosmonauts. they were meant to meet, dock, and exchange crew members via extra-vehicular activity, and return safely home. The Soyuz mission was meant for eventual use in lunar expeditions.
Problems plagued the Soyuz 1 engineers. For starters, the hatch was much too small to accommodate a fully suited-up cosmonaut in EVA. Teams inspecting the spaceships found 203 problems, which were purportedly detailed in a 10-page memo.
At least 50 engineers supposedly contributed evidence to the document. But no one wanted to alert Brezhnev, as bad news reflected badly on the messenger. Requesting a postponement was as good as saying that the Soviet Union was inadequate to the task.
Regardless, on April 23, 1967, Vladimir Komarov climbed into the transfer van and set out to board Soyuz 1.
Trouble started almost immediately upon liftoff. One of Soyuz 1’s solar panels failed to deploy, robbing the craft of power and obscuring navigation equipment.
The thermal control system degenerated, communication with ground control broke down, and the ship spun out of control. Back on the ground, commanders decided to halt the launch of Soyuz 2 and attempt to bring Komarov back to Earth.
For five hours, Komarov circled Earth, attempting to navigate home with broken equipment and intermittent contact with ground control. The US listening stations in Turkey picked up his distressed calls over the spotty transmissions, in which he reportedly cursed and raged.
On his 19th pass, he managed to fire retrorockets and reenter Earth’s atmosphere, though Soyuz 1’s angle was inopportune. As the craft descended, the hopelessly entangled parachutes failed to deploy.
Soyuz 1 slammed into a steppe near Orenberg on April 24, killing Komarov instantly. Nothing was left of the craft or his body but twisted metal, charred remains, and a chip of his heel.
Gagarin was profoundly marked by his friend’s death, and gave a risky interview to Pravda criticizing the mission.
Composer: Whitesand (Martynas Lau)
Year: 2017
Title: Circle of Life
Credit: NASA/Soviet Space Program
