Vladimir Komarov

Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov was a Soviet test pilot and aerospace engineer who entered the cosmonaut program in the early 1960s. In October 1964 he commanded Voskhod 1, the first spaceflight to carry more than one crew member. He was declared medically unfit for training or spaceflight twice but stayed active at the cosmonaut training center, contributing to vehicle design, training protocols, and evaluation. In 1967 he was selected as solo pilot of Soyuz 1, the spacecraft's first crewed test flight, making him the first Soviet cosmonaut to fly twice. On 24 April 1967, a parachute failure caused his capsule to crash into the ground after re-entry. He was forty years old.