Editing Vladimir Komarov (section)

==Spaceflights==
{{more citations needed|section|date=April 2017}}

===Voskhod 1===
{{main article|Voskhod 1}}
By July 1964, only seven cosmonauts remained eligible for the Voskhod crew after some were disqualified on medical grounds. On 6 July, Komarov was named as the commander of the back-up crew for Voskhod 1. After several months of much heated debate  between Kamanin and Korolev over the selection of the crew, Komarov was named as prime crew commander by the State Commission on 4 October 1964, just eight days before its scheduled launch.<ref>Kamanin Diary, 4 October 1964</ref> Kamanin played tennis with the Voskhod crew that evening and noted that Komarov played poorly in comparison to his crew: [[Boris Yegorov]] and [[Konstantin Feoktistov]].

On 9 October, Komarov and the crew inspected the Voskhod with Korolev and other members of the administration. Later that day they were interviewed by the state press and played tennis for the benefit of photographers.

On the morning of 11 October, Komarov was given various communist relics to take with him into space the following day. In the afternoon the crew again inspected the capsule and were given their final instructions by Korolev. Komarov 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 Komarov performed various tasks with the other crew members, including medical and navigational tests and observing the [[Aurora (astronomy)|Aurora Borealis]]. Komarov alone carried out tests with [[ion thrusters]] that had been attached to the Voskhod.<ref name=SiddiqiCTA423>{{cite book |last=Siddiqi |first=Asif A |date=2000|title=Challenge To Apollo: The Soviet Union and The Space Race, 1945–1974 |url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4408pt1.pdf |publisher=NASA |page=423 }}</ref>   He also made a number of radio transmissions, including a greeting to the [[1964 Summer Olympics|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). Kamanin noted in his diary that while his crew were in good spirits, Komarov was fatigued.<ref>Kamanin Diary, 13 October 1964</ref> On 19 October, Komarov and his crew made reports in Red Square and attended an audience at the Kremlin.<ref>Kamanin Diary, 19 October 1964</ref> After the success of this short but scientifically important mission he was promoted to colonel.<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Hall | first1 = Rex | last2 = Shayler | first2 = David | title = The Rocket Men: Vostok & Voskhod, The first Soviet Manned Spaceflights | year= 2001 | page = 355 | publisher = Springer | isbn = 1-85233-391-X}}</ref> The success of the mission earned Komarov the awards of the ''[[Order of Lenin]]'' and ''[[Hero of the Soviet Union]]''.

In December 1964, the RVSN ([[Strategic Rocket Forces]]) requested that Komarov be transferred from the VVS ([[Soviet Air Force]]) to the RVSN, in a move possibly motivated by the poor record of the RVSN in producing successful rockets compared to the VVS. The request was opposed by Kamanin.<ref>Kamanin Diary, 30 December 1964</ref>

In 1965, Komarov worked with Gagarin in supervising preparations for the flight of [[Voskhod 2]], which carried out the first attempt of an [[extravehicular activity]] in outer space. These preparations included fitting of [[space suit]]s on the cosmonauts and briefings for the spaceflight. In April of that year, Komarov toured [[Leningrad]] with Kamanin, Gagarin, Titov, Belyayev, and Leonov. Komarov also visited Petropavlovsk Fortress with [[Valentin Glushko]] where Glushko had conducted early rocket experiments in the early 1930s.<ref>Kamanin Diary, 28 April 1965</ref> In September that year, Komarov toured West Germany.

===Soyuz 1===
{{main article|Soyuz 1}}

Komarov was assigned to the Soviet [[Soyuz program]] along with Gagarin and Leonov. In July 1966, Komarov was reprimanded by Kamanin for his unauthorised disclosure, while in Japan, that "the Soviet Union will, at the scheduled time, fly an automated spacecraft around the Moon and return it to (the) Earth, to be followed by a dog flight, then a manned circumlunar flight."<ref>Kamanin Diary, 20 July 1966</ref> The following month Komarov clashed with other engineers over ongoing design problems in which zero-G tests showed that the Soyuz module hatch was too small to allow the safe exit of a fully suited cosmonaut.<ref>Kamanin Diary, 5 August 1966</ref> Meanwhile, Komarov and his fellow cosmonauts had their groups and assignments constantly revised, and they became increasingly anxious about the lack of response to their concerns about the design and manufacture of the spacecraft, which Gagarin had raised in a letter on their behalf to [[Leonid Brezhnev]].

Komarov was selected to command the [[Soyuz 1]], in 1967, with Gagarin as his backup cosmonaut. 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. Komarov reported: "Conditions are poor. The cabin parameters are normal, but the left solar panel didn't deploy. The electrical bus is at only 13 to 14 [[ampere]]s. The HF (high frequency) communications are not working. I cannot orient the spacecraft to the sun. I tried orienting the spacecraft manually using the DO-1 orientation engines, but the pressure remaining on the DO-1 has gone down to 180."<ref name="Kamanin Diary, April 23, 1967">Kamanin Diary, 23 April 1967</ref> Komarov tried unsuccessfully to orient the Soyuz module for five hours. The craft was transmitting unreliable status information, and lost communications on orbits 13 through 15 due to the failure of the high frequency transmitter that should have maintained radio contact while the craft was out of range of the [[ultra high frequency]] (UHF) ground receivers.<ref name="Kamanin Diary, April 23, 1967"/>

As a result of the problems with the craft, the Soviets did not launch the second Soyuz module, from which cosmonauts were to perform an [[extra-vehicular activity]] (EVA) to the Soyuz 1, and cut the mission short.

Komarov was ordered to re-orient the craft using the ion flow sensors on orbits 15 to 17. The ion sensors failed. Komarov did not have enough time to attempt a manual re-entry until orbit 19. Manual orientation relied on using the equipped Vzor periscope device, but to do this, Komarov had to be able to see the Sun. To reach the designated landing site at Orsk, the retro-fire had to take place on the night side of the Earth. Komarov 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.<ref>Kamanin Diary, 24 April 1967</ref> 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, at 6.24 a.m.

During interviews, former [[KGB]] agent Venyamin Russayev made claims seen as implausible and exaggerated by most historians of the Soviet space programme.<ref name="Krulwich2">{{cite web |date=2011-05-11 |title=A Cosmonaut's Fiery Death Retold |url=https://text.npr.org/135919389 |access-date=2012-05-11 |publisher=NPR.org}}</ref> Russayev claimed that prior to the launch, Soyuz 1 engineers reported 203 design faults to party leaders, but their concerns "were overruled by political pressures for a series of space feats to mark the anniversary of [[Lenin]]'s birthday".<ref name="BBC">{{cite news |date=24 April 1967 |title=24 April 1967: Russian cosmonaut dies in space crash |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/24/newsid_2523000/2523019.stm |access-date=15 April 2009 |work=On This Day |publisher=BBC}}</ref> He also claimed that [[Yuri Gagarin]] was the backup pilot for Soyuz 1, and was aware of the design problems and the pressures from the [[Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Politburo]] to proceed with the flight, and that Gagarin attempted to "bump" Komarov from the mission, knowing that the Soviet leadership would not risk a national hero on the flight.<ref name="Krulwich">{{cite web |date=2011-03-18 |title=Cosmonaut Crashed Into Earth "Crying In Rage": Krulwich Wonders... |url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/05/02/134597833/cosmonaut-crashed-into-earth-crying-in-rage |access-date=2012-04-09 |publisher=NPR.org}}</ref> At the same time, he claimed that Komarov refused to pass on the mission, even though he believed it to be doomed, explained that he could not risk Gagarin's life.<ref name="Krulwich" />