
Cosmonaut Crashed Into Earth 'Crying In Rage' [in 1967] - J3L2404
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/03/18/134597833/cosmonaut-crashed-into-earth-crying-in-rage?ft=1&f=1026
======
adriand
This reminds me of an interview with former NASA astronaut (and current
director of the Veteran Administration's National Center for Patient Safety)
who related that most people don't realize that the astronauts who died in the
Challenger accident didn't die in the explosion:

> There are still many people that don't understand that the crew of the
> Challenger didn't die until they hit the water. They were all strapped into
> their seats in a basically intact crew module; their hearts were still
> beating when they hit the water. People think they were blown to
> smithereens, but that's not what happened.

[http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/thewrongstuff/archive/2010/...](http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/thewrongstuff/archive/2010/06/28/risky-
business-james-bagian-nasa-astronaut-turned-patient-safety-expert-on-being-
wrong.aspx)

~~~
yogipatel
I forget where I learned this from, but the astronauts were also very likely
to be unconscious very soon after the break up of the shuttle. They died when
they hit the water, but they probably weren't conscious. Not that that makes
it any better.

~~~
noarchy
Some of them may have been conscious: "At least some of the astronauts were
likely alive and briefly conscious after the breakup, as three of the four
Personal Egress Air Packs (PEAPs) on the flight deck were found to have been
activated. Investigators found their remaining unused air supply roughly
consistent with the expected consumption during the 2 minute 45 second post-
breakup trajectory."

Source:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disast...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster#Cause_and_time_of_death)

~~~
nickff
It was mentioned in the MIT OCW 16.885/ESD35J lecture series that they were
likely conscious briefly while still ascending, when they turned on those
PEAPs, (after the shuttle had disintegrated); but they were later unconscious,
because of the high altitude and low pressures the non-airtight cockpit was
subjected to.

Source: [http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/aeronautics-and-
astronautics/16-8...](http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/aeronautics-and-
astronautics/16-885j-aircraft-systems-engineering-fall-2005/)

------
saturnine
This incident sounded familiar so I pulled my copy of James Bamford's _Puzzle
Palace_ [1] (1982) and managed to find it on page 215:

"Another high-priority target for the signal chasers at Karamursel [Turkey] is
the Soviet space program. On April 23, 1967, a number of analysts were
routinely copying the return of Soyuz I, bringing Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir
Komarov back from twenty-six hours in space, when problems suddenly developed
on re-entry. Recalled one of the intercept operators:

'They couldn't get the chute that slowed his craft down in re-entry to work.
They knew what the problem was for about two hours...and were fighting to
correct it. It was all in Russian, of course, but we taped it and listened to
it a couple of times afterward. Kosygin called him personally. They had a
video-phone conversation. Kosygin was crying. He told him he was a hero and
that he had made the greatest achievement in Russian history, that they were
proud, and that he'd be remembered. The guy's wife got on too. They talked for
a while. He told her how to handle their affairs and what to do with the kids.
It was pretty awful. Toward the last few minutes he began falling apart,
saying, "I don't want to die, you've got to do something." Then there was just
a scream as he died. I guess he was incinerated.'"

[1] [http://www.amazon.com/Puzzle-Palace-National-Intelligence-
Or...](http://www.amazon.com/Puzzle-Palace-National-Intelligence-
Organization/dp/0140067485/)

------
thefool
The bit about the translation is misleading. I speak russian.

The audio is very fuzzy, but I think at the end he says something that roughly
translates to "the former cosmonaut is dead"

Before that he says something about the people, I can't make out anything
about heat or temperature. Apparently the people on the ground couldn't
either, which is why you hear "mission control" asking him to repeat himself.
I couldn't make out the word they asked him to repeat either.

~~~
fedd
i am russian and i bothered to press the play button. what i heard was an
obvious, poorly composed fake.

the calm and proud voice repeats about Komarov making the way to Comminism for
the whole mankind [edit: apparently Komarov himself in official radio appeal].
this is intersected with some voices that could not be understood.

the way to communism mantra is obviously copy-pasted several times, some times
partially, just to make some russian soudns, like this: "Komarov prokladyvaet
put k Kommunizmu!" - "phshphs-bla!-bla!" - "-mmunizmu!" - pshshsh!blabla! -
"prokladyvaet put k Kommunizmu!"

imagine how Russians watch movies where Hollywood tries to show something
Russian, labels or written names. mostly it is just a meaningless set of
letters. this is also looks like a bullshit that some CIA guys presented to
their local Brezhnevs to justify their work

~~~
thefool
So you heard the part I couldn't make out.

I think I made out the entire thing, but I was fuzzy on the last word.

I hear: "K narodom nashe rodie, prakldavuyu chilvetchistvu put k Kommunizmu,
bifshi cosmonaft umru?"

The first part translates roughly to: to the people of our homeland, I am
laying the way for civilization to communism.

The last part to, this former cosmonaut is dead. But I could totally be
mishearing that last bit (as the grammar doesn't really work if that is what
he's saying).

~~~
fedd
well, i listened to it for the fourth time and hear the voice said:

'привет народам нашей родины, прокладывающей человечеству путь к коммунизму.
летчик-космонавт Комаров'

'privet narodam nashey rodiny, prakladyvayushey chelavechestvu put k
kamunizmu. lyotchik-kasmonavt Komarov'

which means 'greetings to the peoples of our motherland that makes the way to
communism for the mankind. pilot-cosmonaut Komarov'

lyotchik-kosmonaut is russian cosmonauts' title.

well, first i thought it's some official radio speaker, now i admit that it's
Komarov himself before or during the flight. nothing like crying.

and, this appeal is copy-pasted two times and one time pasted partially,
'-munizmu', which indicates the fake.

the radio talk in between is illegible for me

~~~
thefool
Never mind you are totally right. Definitely nothing about crying or killed.
He says his name very quickly which was throwing me off.

I don't know if its fake, to me it almost sounds like the the people on the
radio are repeating what he is saying or asking him to repeat something, but
one can be fairly confident that the people writing the article misunderstood
what was being said.

~~~
fedd
> He says his name very quickly which was throwing me off.

surely i know that it's impossible to 'parse' words out of the speech without
talking to language speakers all the time. when English speak i understand a
half! actually I (as many Russians) appreciate that you know Russian and tried
to understand what he was saying. i guess it's seldom for a native English-
speaker to learn a language out of the list of Spanish and French :) Russian
is the hardest of the wide spread Indo-European languages, i think, due to all
it's flexes and stems, which you know ('umru'='i will die', etc), so you're
cool :)

> the people writing the article misunderstood what was being said.

AND there _might_ be something in that illegible part of the compilation,
deciphered with the special techniques. for the show it was complied with the
clear part.

actually i dont know what would i cry in this situation, definitely wouldnt
greet the nation etc :)

------
rriepe
This reminds me of my favorite conspiracy theory, The Lost Cosmonauts, which
proposes that Yuri Gagarin was the first man to _survive_ space travel.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Cosmonauts>

~~~
presidentender
There was a post somewhere - I can't find it now - which stated that the
Soviets were to send a cosmonaut to Mars, knowing full well he'd just wander
around and die with no way to come back. They had volunteers.

Then the Berlin wall fell and it ceased to be an important pursuit to conquer
the stars.

~~~
nikster
Doubtful. Wouldn't be much of an achievement to be able to say: "Look, we put
a man on the Mars and left him to die there", now would it?

~~~
Dylan16807
I think it would be quite an accomplishment.

~~~
fedd
thank god our (Russian) leaders of that times didnt think the same :)

------
hoag
This is a chilling story. But such is the plight of man setting out on new
frontiers of exploration: from Francisco and Columbus setting out across the
seas, to Earhart's one way flight, so too will man flounder in his trek
through the stars.

Look: explorers of all elements -- land, air, sea -- undertake their endeavors
to accomplish a singular goal: the discovery of the unknown. An uncertainty of
one's destination brings with it, therefore, an uncertainty of one's success
and therefore of one's survival. And this is a risk that all explorers
knowingly and willingly undertake -- it is a condition precedent to being such
a brave traveller.

Accordingly, I think to shed so dark and negative a light on the several
tragedies during mankind's nascent years of exploration is to miss the point
and indeed forsake the very thing for which those pioneers lived: the
furthering of our race, the advancement of our species.

Rather than mourn the loss of our fellow adventurers in their quest into the
unknown, we should instead celebrate them, not only for their accomplishments
in life, but additionally and especially in death.

After all, but for their risks, but for their selfless ability to consciously
put their lives on the line both for their countries -- and indeed for our
species as a whole -- and, certainly, to satisfy their thirst for knowledge
and discovery, we would still be travelling the European continent on
horseback.

As indecent as it may sound, I am certain our great explorers would be
disappointed to see us saddened by their loss, and that they would far rather
their memories be praised with all the pomp and circumstance worthy of their
triumphant accomplishments, failures and successes alike.

~~~
JoachimSchipper
Nice rhetoric, but exploration looks like setting out westward with three
fairly decent ships to see if you can find something - it doesn't look like
giving a man a canoe and telling him to paddle that way, or else.

~~~
hoag
First, I am in no way justifying the inexcusable actions and decisions that
lead to this tragic conclusion.*

But is it really that different to the early years of sea exploration? I mean
let's face it: certain -- most? -- of the ships were known to be marginally
seaworthy at best, and if it wasn't the ship that cost seamen their lives, it
was surely the inadequate food, water, and supplies that precluded many from a
safe return.

My point is that either way, many, many adventurers knowingly and willingly
embarked on their journeys to an all but certain doom. That this particular
and more recent seemingly forced excursion happend as recently as the 20th
century and under the circumstances described of course renders it more
palpably disturbing, I agree, but I would suggest it is different only in
degree, not in kind.

Again- I'm in no way intending to minimize this tragedy or others like it.*
I'm just suggesting that for the sake of these great explorers' memories, it
is better to remember them fondly rather than wallow in melancholic nostalgia
of their (indisputably) unjust loss.

* I understand this particular tragedy is unique in that the cosmonaut knew with virtual certainty that he was being sent to his death. My focus here is not whether he knew death was certain, but the greater context in which this certainty existed, i.e., the inherently dangerous activity of (space) exploration which is "inherently dangerous" precisely because such deaths are foreseeable and indeed statistically likely to occur, just or unjust alike.

------
corin_
As posted at <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2342058> four hours ago.

------
koski
There is something touching in these stories. Not sure if it's something that
these guys "did that no one knew about" or the "brotherhood" or ... but ..
Something I think was brave.

I'm sure some people disagree, but I would have left a vodka glass on this
guy's grave. For sure! Spasibo!

~~~
rdtsc
For me it is because he did it for his friend. If he didn't go, Gagarin would
have been sent.

------
myth_drannon
Just one comment , the book is not new but from 1998 . This is just softcover
release.

------
thought_alarm
This analysis [1] pours cold water on the CIA's interpretation of Komarov's
transmissions. It's an interesting read, regardless.

[1] <http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/histind/Soyuz1Land/Soyanaly.htm>

------
spacemanaki
Be sure to click through to the Amazon page for this recording... for the
cover art and "album title".

[http://www.amazon.com/Sojuz-Death-Komarov-During-Re-
Entry/dp...](http://www.amazon.com/Sojuz-Death-Komarov-During-Re-
Entry/dp/B002SHRCYU)

------
vl
It's the most link-batish title I've seen in weeks. Adding date would be
appropriate.

~~~
eoghan
I doubt many people are reading that title as breaking news!

~~~
vl
Well, when I saw that title linked to npr.org my first though was that ISS
return mission failed.

------
jonah
Reminds me of the article I read about a couple Italian kids listening in on
the Soviet's [lost] space missions:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2342986>

Not sure how much they sensationalized their efforts but quite interesting
look into the history nonetheless.

~~~
edge17
this is a great story. whether it's fact or fiction, it's riveting

------
karolist
I know this is probably inappropriate, but I've googled his wife out of
interest, to see if USSR took good care of her, this is what I've found
[http://en-gb.facebook.com/people/valentina-Komarov/131556909...](http://en-
gb.facebook.com/people/valentina-Komarov/1315569098)

~~~
gobongo
In Soviet Russia, duckface does you!

------
vamsee
Fascinating. Thanks for sharing.

------
J3L2404
and here's Ivanovich(middle name), in his rocketship, spinning helplessly up
above the earth, and though his heart is splintered, all the girls of winter,
are buried in their coats anonymous....

------
varjag
This is on par with "Alien Autopsy" and 9/11 conspiracies. That said, it
invokes the "crazy Russikies" stereotype, so it must be true.

~~~
pyre

      > This is on par with "Alien Autopsy" and 9/11 conspiracies.
    

What is it about this that is so unbelievable? That there was political
pressure from the top that this flight 'had to happen no matter what?'

    
    
      > That said, it invokes the "crazy Russikies" stereotype,
      > so it must be true.
    

What is the 'crazy Russikies [sic]' stereotype, and how does this invoke it?

