The harrowing final moments of an astronaut falling to his death can be heard in a new recording.
‘The man who fell from space’, died in April 1967 when Soyuz 1, a crewed spaceflight of the Soviet space program, crashed unexpectedly.
Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov made his final venture into space on April 23 1967. It was reported that Komarov orbited the Earth multiple times but struggled to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere that day.
A faulty solar panel did not deploy; as a result, the mission failed, and the astronaut was stranded in space. He was told to come back to Earth, however, this cost him his life. He tried to re-enter the atmosphere two more times and failed.
Once he reached 23,000 feet his safety parachute was supposed to take action but that also failed to do so.
The Russian fell to the ground and was killed in an explosion on 24 April 1967. According to reports little remains were found which could only be described as a ‘lump’ with most body parts unidentifiable.
Komarov was conscious in the moments before his death and could be heard raging at Alexei Kosygin, then a high-ranking official of the Soviet Union.
His death has been surrounded by some controversy due to the secrecy of the Soviet Union. However, Starman, a book released in 2011, went in depth about the event.
It is claimed, he said: “This devil ship! Nothing I lay my hands on works properly.” Although many experts still debate this. The official transcripts said: “I feel excellent, everything’s in order.”
The book claimed the spacecraft used had ‘203 structural problems.’
In the days after his death, a colleague paid tribute to Komarov: “He 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 (what his peers referred to him as) prestige was so high that people came to him to discuss all questions: personal as well as questions of our work.”
Komarov is known as the first human to die in space.
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