Who was Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov?

Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov was a Soviet test pilot, aerospace engineer and cosmonaut in the first group of cosmonauts selected in 1960. He was one of the most highly experienced and well-qualified candidates accepted into the Group Air Force № 1, the equivalent of NASA's Astronaut Program.

Komorav was a genius, who contributed to the design of the Voskhod space capsule, the cosmonaut training program, and Russian space program public relations.

He was eventually selected to command the first Soviet multi-man Voskhod 1 spaceflight that presented a number of technical innovations in the Russian space race with the United States.

He was later chosen to command the Soyuz 1, another first (first human to command two space flights), but also became the first human to die on a space mission when the Soyuz parachute deployed incorrectly on re-entry. Audiotape has it that he cursed the designers of the spacecraft all the way down for cutting corners and costs from the vehicle's design.

Because he perished when this craft slammed into Earth, he is not considered to be the first human fatality in outer space. That distinction belongs to the crew of Soyuz 11 crew members were Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev in 1971 while setting up for re-entry from the Salyut Space Station.

He is one of the astronauts and cosmonauts who had perished in man's attempt to land on the moon and is included on the honor plaque left on the moon left by Apollo 15.