Vladimir Mikhailovich
Komarov
1927-1967
Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov was a USSR cosmonaut pilot, spacecraft test engineer, twice Hero of the Soviet Union (1964), awarded the title posthumously for the second time (1967), engineer colonel of the USSR Air Force. Vladimir Mikhailovich was born on March 16, 1927 in Moscow. In 1935 – 1943 he studied at school №23, (now it is №171 in Moscow), then entered the 1st Moscow Special School of the Air Force, from which he graduated in July 1945. On July 18, 1945, he became a cadet of the Sasovskaya Aviation School of initial training, and in September of the same year – a cadet of the Borisoglebsky Military Aviation School of Pilots. In July 1946, he was transferred to the Batai Military Aviation School named after A. K. Serov, after which he graduated in 1949. He began his service as a fighter pilot in the 382nd Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 42nd Fighter Aviation Division of the Air Force of the North Caucasus Military District, based in Grozny. Until 1954, he served in the aviation units of the North Caucasus District. In 1959 he graduated from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy, worked as a test engineer at the State Research Institute of the Air Force. In 1960, he was enrolled in the first cosmonaut squad. Head of the Department of the Cosmonaut Training Center (1966-1967). He was preparing to fly as a stand-in pilot on the Vostok series CC. He performed two space flights on the Voskhod spacecraft as commander of the first multi–seat crew of three cosmonauts (October 12-13, 1964) and the Soyuz-1 spacecraft as a tester of a new spacecraft (April 23-24, 1967) with a total duration of 2 days 3 hours (26 hours 47 minutes 52 seconds). He tragically died on April 24, 1967, while returning to Earth during the emergency early descent and landing of the Soyuz-1 spacecraft. The first Soviet cosmonaut to have been in space twice. The first cosmonaut who died during the flight. He was awarded the Orders of Lenin and the Red Star, the Medal “For Military Merit”, the Gold Medal “Cosmos” of the International Aviation Federation, the Order “Wind Rose” with diamonds of the International Committee for Aeronautics, the medal “Gold Star” of the Hero of Labor of Vietnam. A crater on the Moon, minor planet No. 1836, the Yeisk Higher Military Aviation Institute and Pilot School, a research vessel, avenues, squares and streets in many cities of the country are named after him.
Address: Moscow, Cosmopark
