Cosmonaut Crashed Into Earth 'Crying In Rage'

The last radio transmission Valadimir Komarov piloting Soyuz 1 in April 23, 1967

Convinced he will never make it back to Earth; he's talking to Alexei Kosygin — then a high official of the Soviet Union — he, too, thinks the cosmonaut will die.

The space vehicle is shoddily constructed, running dangerously low on fuel; its parachutes — though no one knows this — won't work and the cosmonaut, Vladimir Komarov, is about to, literally, crash full speed into Earth, his body turning molten on impact. As he heads to his doom, U.S. listening posts in Turkey hear him , "cursing the people who had put him inside a botched spaceship.

Originally posted by homeskillet
i just read the article and if true its really sad. but there seems to be some questions about it. if anyone noticed there is a link there.

link

also, the article mentions Pravda and i was under the impression that it was not a very trustworthy site.

Pravda in the 1960s was still a state run newspaper. Today it is a tabloid, back then it was the voice of the communist regime.

Oh and btw, I don't think it was a coincidence that Gagarin died in a plane crash in 1968... The communists couldn't have a hero talking like that...

S&F for you, very interesting and sad story - just goes to show what countries will do at a push to its citizens, totally disregarding their safety in the face of political pressure

Originally posted by ElectricUniverse

Oh and btw, I don't think it was a coincidence that Gagarin died in a plane crash in 1968... The communists couldn't have a hero talking like that...

Not that this carries any weight however I have had the opportunity over the years to broach the subject of Yuri Gagarins death with a few different people who were involved in Soviet aerospace before the demise of the U.S.S.R., all of whom felt Gagarin's death was not accidental.

I have never heard or seen any proof behind the statement and it should be remembered that Soviet culture was hardwired for paranoia.

Regardless, a lot of folks wonder to this day?

Originally posted by Aresh Troxit
Incredible story! Wow! First, you rarely see this kind of friendship, and second, it is enraging to see how they treated Komarov...

A lot of people hated the Russians back then, but it wasn't the Russians per se, it was their government. The Russian people are some of the proudest hard working people I have ever seen. Even in the worst of times they will have a smile on their face and willing to help you.

I'm not surprised that they had that kind of relationship considering where they lived and what they were going through. What a brave duo, huh? I'm sure there is an American counterpart somewhere.

Could you imagine if the Russians and Americans had collaborated on space exploration to begin with? I wonder where we would be now?

What was that old song from the late 60's about a cosmonaut ? Well, anyway the key in this piece is not so much that the Soviets built crummy space stuff, but that the communist regime was so brutal and dictatorial that everyone was afraid to tell the Soviet Leader. Even the KGB were afraid. That is the equivalent of the CIA being afraid of POTtUS.

reply to post by ThirdEyeofHorus


David Bowie's Space Oddity perhaps?


David Bowie Space Oddity

Originally posted by Drunkenparrot
reply to post by ThirdEyeofHorus

 

David Bowie's Space Oddity perhaps?


David Bowie Space Oddity

Yes, thats it. Thanks. And more like 70's I guess.

Amazing story OP and really sad...

Thanks for posting, as I think this knowledge somehow helps to honour his name somewhat. Without you posting it, we'd have never heard of him.

RIP Vladimir Komarov

reply to post by Sinter Klaas


Very nice thread. This is an example of what people in high commanding positions are willing to do to out-muscle the 'other guys'. It's a disgusting sacrifice of a human life for the exchange of an idea or philosophy. Who are they to sacrifice anyone's life for any reason??? They're just people like you and I. Their titles don't give them the superiority to be able to decide who lives and who dies. Nobody should have to die for such things, because these conflicts between countries (and therefore people) should not have existed in the first place. If people learned to respect each other and stopped trying to take each other's reasonable freedoms away, we wouldn't have to witness the sacrifice of good men and women for stupid reasons. Humanity has got such a loooooong way to go. I know that at this pace I won't live to see it.

reply to post by hp1229


Meteors burn up on impact, a human stands no chance against re-entry... I'm surprised that much remained...

Originally posted by Brainiac
reply to post by hp1229

 

Meteors burn up on impact, a human stands no chance against re-entry... I'm surprised that much remained...

Yes, I was quite surprised by that also! I can't believe there was a body to retrieve. So did he die by fire or the landing? Looks like he was burned as well. What a brave man though... I sure hope they have a statue erected for him.

reply to post by 2manyquestions


This is what communism is about. There are still people dedicated to the ideology of communism. They are running the halls of the WH as we speak. In the 80's we used to talk about the Pravda and how much disinfo they spewed. Communism has just taken a more quietly insidious tone---with concepts like green technology. They are willing to sabotage oil drilling platforms, leaking massive amounts of oil into the ocean for their ideology.

Thanks do much for posting this story S&F Great find I have to admit Bowie was going through my head when I read the article

reply to post by ThirdEyeofHorus


Dude, really??? I understand the sabotaging of oil platforms, but to somehow go from Cold War Communism to "Green Tech" is RRREEEAAAALLLLYYYY seeming to stretch it. MK Ultra, any number of other things, but for real??? Communism became Greenpeace. (Yes, I know you didnt say that EXACTLY) and thats a helluva lotta posts in two months. With that kinda stuff coming out of you, one might think you sitting in a government office somewhere... chain smoking, littered coffee cups, undeniable hatred for freedom oozing out of your fingers, onto the keyboard, into the Internet...aka...you know...Disinfo agent.

reply to post by ThirdEyeofHorus


No this is not what communism is about. This is exactly the same as what is called patriotism in the US.

People losing their lifes for their country.

Who cares about the situation ? A re-entry, Vietnam , Iraq espionage . Good people die for no good reason all the time. Ohh... wait... This guy Komarov is not only a patriot He didn't ask what his country could do for him. H did what he could do for his country, and he's a hero for keeping his friend save.

I agree communism totally sucked but what you do is pointing a finger for something that happened and still happens till this day .

reply to post by Alienmojo


The article specifically states there was a parachute malfunction which implies the heat shield performed correctly and the capsule was intact when it hit the lower atmosphere. The parachutes aren't deployed until there is something to resist and the capsule has slowed to a couple of hundred miles an hour due to atmospheric resistance.

On the other hand the transcript in the article mentions Komarov saying the words "heating up". Does anyone speak reading this speak Russian who can listen to the posted audio and confirm the accuracy?

If the failed parachute was to blame I think it is most likely that Komarov was alive until the Soyuz capsule collided with the ground at somewhere around 200 mph ( 1G terminal velocity in thick atmosphere under give or tack depending on induced drag ) and died on impact. The severe charring of his corpse possibly the result of a post crash fire. There are plenty of combustibles onboard a returning spacecraft and as he landed far off course it was most probably some time until anyone arrived at the scene with proper fire fighting equipment.

This is all admittedly just supposition on my part but I think the above scenario is possibly closer to the truth.

Not that I wish disaster on anyone but I wonder had Aldrin and the other Apollo astronaut not returned if we would have ever given up on going to the moon. I think if they had not made it back that we may have continued moon exploration as if they were martyred.

Sad they rushed so fast and killed people.

reply to post by Xeven


I believe the wheels of the giant machine that was the Apollo program were to far committed to achieving Kennedy's vision of reaching the moon within the decade to have ground to a halt if Apollo 11 had turned into a disaster.

They would have possibly slowed the program down and there may have been recriminations within Nasa over the wisdom of previously accelerating the program but that is a guess.

Somebody like Jim Oberg would be welcome to comment..?

Them pesky Ruskies. They have all these dreams but cannot find the money to build a decent space capsule. So what do they do? They send a good man up knowing full well he will not make it back home. Breshnev should have had his nose broken.