Background
Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov was born in Moscow on 16 March 1927, where he grew up with his sister Matilde. His father was a labourer who worked at various low-paid jobs to support the family.
Vladimir Komarov
1964
USSR postage stamp honoring Vladimir Komarov
Vladimir Komarov with his wife Valentina Yakovlevna and daughter Irina
Commemorative plaque and the Fallen Astronaut sculpture left on the Moon
Postal card of Russia depicting Vladimir Komarov
cosmonaut test pilot Aerospace engineer
Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov was born in Moscow on 16 March 1927, where he grew up with his sister Matilde. His father was a labourer who worked at various low-paid jobs to support the family.
In 1935, Vladimir Mikhaylovich began his formal education in the local elementary school. Here he showed a natural aptitude for mathematics. In 1941, he left school because of World War II and the German invasion of the Soviet Union, and he became a laborer on a collective farm. He showed an interest in aeronautics from an early age, and he collected magazines and pictures about aviation, in addition to making model aircraft and his own propeller.
At the age of fifteen in 1942, Vladimir Mikhaylovich entered the "1st Moscow Special Air Force School" to pursue his dream of becoming an aviator. Shortly thereafter, his family learned that Komarov's father had been killed in an "unknown war action". Of necessity because of the German invasion, the flight school was soon moved to the Tyumen region in Siberia for the duration of the war. Students there learned a wide variety of subjects besides aviation - including zoology and foreign languages. In 1945, Vladimir Mikhaylovich graduated from flight school with honors. World War II hostilities ended before he was called on to enter combat.
In 1946, Vladimir Mikhaylovich completed his first year of training at the Chkalov Higher Air Force School in Borisoglebsk in Voronezh Oblast. He then completed his training at the A.K. Serov Military Aviation College in Bataisk. Komarov's mother died in 1948, seven months before his graduation in 1949, at which he received his pilot's wings and commission as a lieutenant in the Soviet Air Force.
In December 1949, Vladimir Mikhaylovich served as the pilot of a fighter plane with the 383rd Regiment of the 42nd North Caucasian Fighter Air Division that was based in Grozny. He was promoted to senior lieutenant in 1952, and he was later assigned as the chief pilot of the 486th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 279th Fighter Air Division in the Prikarpate Region. Komarov continued to fly in that position until 1954, and then he enrolled in an engineering course at the N.E. Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. In 1959, he was promoted to the rank of senior engineer-lieutenant. Later that year he achieved his goal of becoming a test pilot at the Central Scientific Research Institute at Chkalovsky.
In September 1959, Vladimir Mikhaylovich was promoted to engineer-captain and invited to participate in the selection process for cosmonaut candidate along with approximately 3,000 other pilots. He was one of twenty candidates selected for "Air Force Group One". Although eminently qualified, Vladimir Mikhaylovich was not chosen in the top six candidates, because he did not meet the age, height, and weight restrictions specified by the Chief Designer of Russia's space program, Sergei Korolev. At age 32, he was the second oldest of the pilots chosen.
Shortly after beginning his training Vladimir Mikhaylovich was hospitalised for a minor operation in May 1960, which left him medically unfit for physical training for approximately six months. He returned to training in October, because his recovery was more rapid than medical staff had expected.
In 1961 the first space flights began. When Georgi Shonin demonstrated an unacceptable level of g-force susceptibility in the centrifuge he was replaced by Vladimir Mikhaylovich in May 1962 for planned dual Vostok missions. He was selected as back up for Pavel Popovich (Vostok 4), but subsequent routine ECG testing of Komarov revealed a heart irregularity and he was pulled from the program and replaced by Boris Volynov. After Vladimir Mikhaylovich persistently lobbied medical and military personnel for re-admittance to the program, they allowed him to return to training.
In 1963, cosmonaut training was conducted in six Groups, with Vladimir Mikhaylovich being selected in Group 2 with Valery Bykovsky and Volynov. This group was to train for missions of up to five days in duration scheduled for the latter part of 1963. In May 1963 Alekseyev proposed to General Kamanin that Vladimir Mikhaylovich be named backup for Vostok 5 rather than Khrunov because his suit was ready. Vladimir Mikhaylovich was later named in a further group for planned missions in 1964 with Belyaev, Shonin, Khrunov, Zaikin, Gorbatko, Volynov, and Leonov. The training groups were formed for later Vostok missions (Vostok 7-13), but no actual crews were assigned and the missions did not occur under the auspices of the original Vostok program. In December 1963, Vladimir Mikhaylovich was shortlisted for flight by Kamanin with Volynov and Leonov, having completed two years of training.
In April 1964 Vladimir Mikhaylovich was declared space-flight ready with Bykovsky, Popovich, Titov, Volynov, Leonov, Khrunov, Belyayev, and Lev Demin. From this group the commander of the planned Voskhod mission scheduled for late 1964 would be chosen. In May the group was reduced to Volynov, Komarov, Leonov and Khrunov.
By July 1964, only seven cosmonauts remained eligible for the Voskhod crew after some were disqualified on medical grounds. On 6 July, Vladimir Mikhaylovich was named as the commander of the back-up crew for Voskhod 1. He was named as prime crew commander on 4 October 1964, by the State Commission. He was the only member of the crew to have undertaken extensive training and was the only member with any flight experience; the two other crewmen being civilians. His call sign was "Ruby" (Russian: Рубин). During the mission he performed various tasks with the other crew members, including medical and navigational tests and observing the Aurora Borealis. He also made a number of radio transmissions, including a greeting to the Tokyo Olympics, which had opened on 10 October. The mission lasted just over twenty-four hours. After the crew landed safely they were flown back to the launch site at Tyuratam (also known as Baikonur to disguise its true location).
After the success of this short but scientifically important mission he was promoted to colonel. The success of the mission earned Vladimir Mikhaylovich the awards of the Order of Lenin and Hero of the Soviet Union.
In 1965, Vladimir Mikhaylovich worked with Yuri Gagarin in supervising preparations for the flight of Voskhod 2, which carried out the first attempt of an extravehicular activity in outer space. In April of that year, Vladimir Mikhaylovich toured Leningrad with Kamanin, Gagarin, Gherman Titov, Belyayev, and Leonov. Komarov also visited Petropavlovsk Fortress with Valentin Glushko where Glushko had conducted early rocket experiments in the early 1930s.In September that year, he toured West Germany.
Vladimir Mikhaylovich was assigned to the Soviet Soyuz program along with Yuri Gagarin and Alexei Leonov. He was selected to command the Soyuz 1, in 1967, with Yuri Gagarin as his backup cosmonaut. The cosmonauts knew that the spacecraft had major safety problems, but Vladimir Mikhaylovich stated that if he were to refuse to fly, Gagarin would be forced to go instead. Vladimir Mikhaylovich chose to fly to protect Gagarin. During the preparations for the spaceflight, both cosmonauts were working twelve- to fourteen-hour days.
On orbital insertion, the solar panels of the Soyuz module failed to fully deploy thereby preventing the craft from being fully powered and obscuring some of the navigation equipment. Vladimir Mikhaylovich was ordered to re-orient the craft using the ion flow sensors on orbits 15 to 17. The ion sensors failed. He did not have enough time to attempt a manual re-entry until orbit 19. Vladimir Mikhaylovich oriented the spacecraft manually on the dayside then used the gyro-platform as a reference so that he could orient the craft for a night side retro-fire. He successfully re-entered the Earth's atmosphere on his 19th orbit, but the module's drogue and main braking parachute failed to deploy correctly. The module crashed into the ground, killing Komarov. On 26 April 1967, Vladimir Mikhaylovich was given a state funeral in Moscow, and his ashes were interred in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis at Red Square.
Vladimir Mikhaylovich was posthumously awarded his second Order of Lenin and also Hero of the Soviet Union. He has been featured on commemorative First Day Covers and stamps for his contribution to the space program - from several different countries.
Vladimir Mikhaylovich is commemorated with other prominent figures from the early Russian space program with a bust on Cosmonauts Alley in Moscow, and he is also honored with a monument at the crash site near Orsk.
During training, Vladimir Mikhaylovich lived at the TsPK (which the Soviet press later nicknamed Star City) with his wife Valentina and their two children Yevgeny and Irina. There, he enjoyed hunting, cross country skiing, ice hockey, and other social activities with his fellow trainees in their leisure time.
Vladimir Mikhaylovich was well liked by his peers, who referred to him as Volodya.
Quotes from others about the person
Pavel Popovich noted that Komarov was respected for his humility and experience: "…he was already an engineer when he joined us, but he never looked down on the others. He was warm-hearted, purposeful and industrious. Volodya's prestige was so high that people came to him to discuss all questions: personal as well as questions of our work."
Fellow cosmonaut Alexei Leonov described him as: "…very serious. He was a first-class test pilot."
Vladimir Mikhaylovich married Valentina Yakovlevna Kiselyova in October 1950.
