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On
this day in 1967, Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir
Komarov is killed when his parachute fails to
deploy during his spacecraft s landing.
 Komarov
was testing the spacecraft Soyuz I in the midst
of the "space race" between the United
States and the Soviet Union. Earlier in 1967,
the U.S. space program had experienced its own
tragedy. Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger
Chafee, NASA astronauts in the Apollo program,
were killed in a fire during tests on the ground
There
was vast public mourning of Komarov in Moscow
and his ashes were buried in the wall of the
Kremlin. Sadly, Komarov s wife had not been told
of the Soyuz I launch until after Komarov was
already in orbit and did not get to say goodbye
to her husband.
Despite
the dangers, both the Soviet Union and the U.S.
continued their space exploration programs. The
U.S. landed men on the moon just two years
later.
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