The death of cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. The Soyuz-1 spacecraft

About failures in space flights under the Soviet government was not to speak, many facts even hid. How did Vladimir Komarov die, the real Hero of the Soviet Union, the cosmonaut, the country did not recognize right away. The cosmos at the initial stage of development was almost incomprehensible, and the ships had many shortcomings, omissions from the designers.

Victims for the sake of space exploration in the Soviet era

The names of many heroic cosmonauts are known to everyone, but how many remains to this day unknown to anyone whose profession has become cosmos and whose life was cut in the sky.

The death of cosmonaut Komarov became one of the incommensurable victims for the sake of probing infinite space. He, like many other outstanding masters, given to his outlander, devoted himself to research and the search for answers to questions that humanity has long asked.

The first fatal cases

Like Vladimir Komarov, whose biography deserves special attention, Valentin Bondarenko died under similar circumstances in space flight. His death was the first in the course of developing space expanses: the cosmonaut was burned alive in 1961, being in the sound-chamber at the scientific institute during the training session. The hero was just preparing to become an astronaut, passing the studies. There was a tragedy. When the medical sensors were uncoupled from the body, he wiped his body with alcohol wool soaked in alcohol, which flared up after hitting a nearby heater. The chamber, saturated with oxygen, caught fire, the fire quickly spread in a confined space. The flames spread to the clothes, which immediately flared up. The astronaut, not having opened the door in time, received a shock and burns incompatible with life, died on the spot.

This incident was the first and was not publicly announced by the government of the Soviet Union. But he became a lesson for the authorities and the reason for refusing to design spacecraft in rooms saturated with oxygen.

Later, similarly, under similar circumstances, three more astronauts from America were killed, and, if not for the secrecy of the first tragic event in the history of astronautics, this catastrophe could be avoided.

About the cosmonaut, burnt alive while landing

The Soyuz-1, returning to Earth on April 23, 1967, crashed because of the parachute system's failure. The death of cosmonaut Komarov during the test of this ship was another blow for the entire Soviet country. Of course, the first launches were not fully thought out and studied. The unmanned mode was dangerous, and therefore a failure occurred. A year before this incident, on November 28, 1966, the first automatic Soyuz-1, or Kosmos-133, crashed from its orbit, as reported to TASS. A little later, in December of the same year, crashed because of the destruction of the Soyuz-2 launch pad.

A small prehistory of the tragedy with Komarov

But the Soviet government wanted new achievements in cosmonautics, and in a hurry, it was decided to prepare the missile for launch by May 1, although it had enough malfunctions. Learning about the number of problems, the astronaut, called to fly into space, was unwell, blood pressure increased, and he fell. Another tester was appointed, Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov, a fairly experienced and trained pilot who was already in orbit as an understudy with Yuri Gagarin in April 1966.

How did it really happen?

After the ship went into orbit due to malfunctions Komarov decided to urgently make a landing, but the disaster could not be avoided. This fact was again hidden. The encyclopedia says that the flight was successful and the program was completed. Versions in fact there were several. One of them is the negligence of the installer, who, drilling a hole in the screen, because he could not get to the desired unit, scored it in the end with a steel blank. The dummy melted, falling into a dense atmospheric layer as the ship descended, and air penetrated into the atmospheric compartment. The pressure created led to squeezing the container with a parachute, it was impossible to get out and open it. There was a new tragedy.

The last minutes before the death of the hero-cosmonaut

The death of cosmonaut Komarov was almost inevitable. He managed to release a spare parachute, but he was immediately extinguished first as a result of hitting the lines. There were practically no chances to survive, and all by the negligence of the installer, carelessly reacted to his work.

At descent the device hit the ground, and the pilot Komarov died.

Remember always: who is to blame for what happened?

Responsibility for the parachute system in the Soviet Union lay on Minaviaprom. The version of what happened was completely different: the lid of a glass with parachutes inside shot, hitting when the ship descended into a rarefied atmosphere. Due to the sharp pressure drop, the glass deformed, and since it was mounted in the sphere of the apparatus, it jammed the main parachute. When descending at high speed, the machine began to balance and, in contact with the ground, crashed.

The place where the catastrophe occurred was called the Adamovsky district of the Orenburg region. In the settlement of Karabutak, since then, a memorial complex has been established, which is annually visited on April 23 to honor the memory of the deceased hero. In the steppe near Orsk, the first obelisk first appeared on 11 June 1967. His installation was organized by colleagues of the deceased cosmonaut.

History does not teach anything, or How not to repeat mistakes

A little later, in June 1971, another tragedy occurred in cosmonautics - the death of three heroes: Victor Patsayev, Vladislav Volkov and Georgy Dobrovolsky, when they descended to earth from the Soyuz-1 orbital station. Then the ship Soyuz-1 crashed. Astronauts were doubles, which flew in place of the main crew in the composition with Valery Kubasov, Peter Kolodin and Alexei Leonov. The cause of death is again the ambitions of our Soviet politicians.

Taking an example from the Americans who flew to the moon on a 3-seater ship, the authorities decided that ours should fly exactly three people. If two men flew in the spacesuits, the tragedy would not have happened. 3 suits simply did not combine with all conditions in flight, did not fit the dimensions and dimensions of the cabin. Astronauts flew in sports suits, which was categorically impossible to do.

Following the example of Gagarin, again in a three-man team, in 1964 Boris Yegorov, Konstantin Feoktistov and Vladimir Komarov flew to the "Voskhod". The cab, calculated for one person, was incredibly cramped for three of them, and the cosmonauts preferred to fly not in suits, but in sports suits, and also removed the only seat for bailouts to somehow enlarge the space. Continuous violation of all conditions in flight. They just initially put their lives in danger. By great chance, this flight ended successfully. But because of the violation of the rules and because of this negligent attitude to the conditions before the tragedy was a stone's throw.

Korolyov, feeling in advance his guilt, asked for forgiveness just in case, escorting the astronauts to flight. Of course, the authorities of that time also concealed this incident.

The causes of the death of cosmonaut Komarov

During the descent, Soyuz-1 crashed. Vladimir Komarov could not immediately notice the complications in the work of the apparatus. First up to an altitude of 150 km from the Earth everything was fine, but when entering the atmosphere it was necessary to divide the ship into three parts, that is, to separate the cabin from the household appliance and the compartments. It was at the time of separation that the vent valve worked prematurely, although its opening was to happen later, near the Earth itself.

The reason for this unexpected opening of the valve has not yet been established. Specialists believe that when the ship was divided into compartments, the pyrobolts burst from shock loads, the ventilator could open from the explosion of the ventilating valve and the movement of the locking rod. When descending in the apparatus, the pressure was greatly reduced, and the astronaut simply did not have time to unfasten the straps in order to close the hole that was formed (the vent), and eventually lost consciousness.

When a deceased physician was found, the presence of nitrogen in the blood, cerebral hemorrhage, and blood in the lungs were noted. After this incident, manned flights for 2 years were interrupted. Soviet space technology urgently needed improvements. This incident affected the authorities. Cosmonauts were given special suits, other clothes in flight was unacceptable. Measures for the safety of people were taken urgently.

Brief biography of the great astronaut

The whole of his life was dedicated to the flights of the deceased Vladimir Komarov. The hero's biography confirms this. The cosmonaut was born in 1927. At the age of 16, after finishing the seven-year school program, I entered a specialized school of the Air Force in Moscow with only one purpose: to become one with the legendary Soviet military pilots, but he received the corresponding diploma only at the end of hostilities.

The next year after the release Komarov was transferred to Bataysk. After graduating from the city in the city military aviation school named after Serov in 1949, he joined the service as a military fighter pilot in the North Caucasus region. Soon in Grozny he met Valentina. The schoolteacher married Vladimir Mikhailovich.

From a military fighter to a space probationer

In 1952, Komarov was again transferred to the service. This time, his new residence was in the western Ukrainian town of Mukachevo. Being a senior pilot for about seven years, Komarov continued to develop, learn and grow as a professional. In 1959 the cosmonaut graduated from the Zhukovsky Academy. Further, his career continued at the State Red Banner Research Institute of the Air Force.

The institution differed from previous research institutes with a special focus - testing the latest models of aircraft technology. The transition here became, in a sense, fatal for Komarov - it was here that he was offered a job in testing space vehicles, which was prohibited from being distributed. Since 1961, he began to prepare for flights in the "East" and "Sunrise."

The last moments of Komarov's life

Vladimir Komarov negotiated with Yuri Gagarin, and the original record is still preserved. It was about the fact that Komarov could not open the left battery. Already before landing, Gagarin instructed to prepare for the final operations, carefully and calmly take the automatic descent, focusing on the moon. Komarov said that everything is in order, allegedly he is in the chair and fastened with belts. Gagarin wished to breathe deeper when landing, and after Komarov's reply: "Thank you, tell everyone ..." - the connection with him instantly broke off. This is all that Vladimir Komarov managed to say at that moment. The astronaut, whose last words managed to be heard by dispatchers, remained forever in the memory of people who knew him.

The device began to descend after leaving the atmosphere. He could see the search aircraft, and the pilots saw the launch of an exhaust chute. Then they reported that the ship was actually burning. The last phrases were fatal. The ship caught fire, and at that moment Komarov Vladimir Mikhailovich knew that he would perish. No one knows what he felt at these moments of life. Everything burned down: both the log book and the on-board tape recorder.

According to legend, pilots from search planes allegedly heard the cosmonaut scolding, but this is a myth. To hear the voice it was possible only through the antenna, which was on the lines of the main parachute, but it was not revealed to him.

On the night of April 25, the remains of Vladimir Komarov were taken to the Burdenko hospital. Commander-in-Chief Vershinin, the air marshal, arrived to solemnly bid farewell to the deceased, but when he saw what was left of him, he ordered an urgent cremation.

What did the investigation show?

To investigate the death of Vladimir Komarov and the catastrophe as a whole, which occurred on the "Soyuz", a specially appointed commission began. In those years Ustinov was engaged in space exploration. According to the official version, the tragedy occurred accidentally, referring to a combination of circumstances.

In fact, the reason is technical. In terms of power, the exhaust chute was much weaker than the main one and could not pull it out due to jamming from pressure compression in the container walls, which, in turn, lacked rigidity. The accusation was brought to the designers, participants in the development of this parachute compartment on the ship, as well as the creators of such a parachute system. From the post were removed chief designer Tkachev and his deputy Mishin.

Since 1971 - without accidents

1.5 years after the misfortune happened - the death of cosmonaut Komarov at the Soyuz, the following cosmonaut Georgy Beregovoy flew in the beginning of 1969, and also separately - Khrunov and Eliseev. Two ships in orbit nevertheless docked, already in an open space, astronauts were able to move from one "Union" to another. The second flight was also tragic, but the heroes did almost impossible. "Union" was recognized as the most reliable among all spacecraft of those times, and more since 1971 there were no tragedies.

Courage and courage of the hero did not remain without attention from the state. Komarov was posthumously awarded the second honorary medal "Gold Star". In addition, the Order of the Astronaut under the surprising name "Wind Rose", granted by the International Committee on Aeronautics and Spaceflight, confirms the significance of the deed accomplished by Vladimir Mikhailovich.

Today his ashes rest in the Kremlin wall in the main square of Moscow. The name of the hero repeatedly sounded from the TV screens. On the documentary events the film is based under the symbolic name "Space. First blood". Its creators carried out extensive work to find out the causes of the tragedy and important nuances, which were not mentioned in Soviet times. In Germany, ten years ago, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra performed many works written by outstanding composers from around the world especially for the Ad Astra program. Among them was the creation dedicated to Vladimir Komarov.

If not for the tragedy with Komarov, the Soyuz was supposed to be in flight until 2014. Half a century has passed, and it is unlikely that there will be another ship capable of surviving for so many years. But life to him (in exchange for his own) gave all the same hero - Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov. Is not this heroism? Unfortunately, little is known about him, undeservedly ... But now, knowing the sad and selfless history of Russian cosmonaut Komarov, whose name should stand on par with other great testers, one must honor his memory.