Komarov, Vladimir (Mikhaylovich)

(born March 16, 1927, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.—died April 24, 1967, Kazakhstan) Soviet cosmonaut. He joined the Soviet air force at age 15, became a pilot in 1949, and piloted Voskhod 1, the first craft to carry more than one human into space, in 1964. On his 1967 flight in Soyuz 1 he became the first Russian to have made two spaceflights. During the 18th orbit he attempted a landing; he died when the spacecraft reportedly became entangled in its main parachute at an altitude of several miles and fell back to Earth.

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