“It's #
YurisNight so here's a story about Vladimir Komarov, who went on a suicide mission to save his best friend, Yuri Gagarin.”
Article word count: 993
HN Discussion:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19654596Posted by
n0pe_p0pe (karma: 326)
Post stats: Points: 141 - Comments: 29 - 2019-04-13T17:57:18Z\#HackerNews #
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vladimir #
went #
yuri
Article content:
[1] [IMG][2]danielVerified account @DMOberhaus [3]22h22 hours ago
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Itʼs [4]#
YurisNight so hereʼs a story about Vladimir Komarov, who went on a suicide mission to save his best friend, Yuri Gagarin.[5]pic.twitter.com/yxmrhk9fl8
[6] [IMG][7]danielVerified account @DMOberhaus [8]22h22 hours ago
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The year was 1967 and the Cold War was at its height. Leninʼs birthday was coming up on April 22, and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev wanted to do something flashy to commemorate the occasion.[9]pic.twitter.com/k8F9eOGqaN
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[10] [IMG][11]danielVerified account @DMOberhaus [12]22h22 hours ago
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He decided to take the Soviet victory lap to space, staging a rendezvous between two spacecraft during which the cosmonauts from each craft would switch from one capsule to the other before returning to Earth. An unprecedented feat.[13]pic.twitter.com/xo8v2BW7q5
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[14] [IMG][15]danielVerified account @DMOberhaus [16]22h22 hours ago
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For such an important flight, the Soviet space agency needed the right pilot for the job. At that point, both Komarov and Gagarin were national celebrities in their own right as part of the first group of cosmonauts to go to space. Gagarin in 1961 and Komarov in 1964.[17]pic.twitter.com/YApj7co9ku
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[18] [IMG][19]danielVerified account @DMOberhaus [20]22h22 hours ago
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Komarov and Gagarin had come up together through the Air Force ranks and were close friends. They would drink together, hunt together, and trained to go to space together.[21]pic.twitter.com/tHzOuJSrSG
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[22] [IMG][23]danielVerified account @DMOberhaus [24]22h22 hours ago
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The only problem was that technicians working on the project all agreed that the spacecraft, the Soyuz 1, would not be ready in time for the anniversary and everyone involved in the project knew it.[25]pic.twitter.com/TPiwjgI1qU
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[26] [IMG][27]danielVerified account @DMOberhaus [28]22h22 hours ago
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Gagarin was especially vocal about the issues with the spacecraft. As the mission was being planned, he inspected the craft and found 203 structural problems that made it unfit for flight.[29]pic.twitter.com/mvjwUM6c2n
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[30] [IMG][31]danielVerified account @DMOberhaus [32]22h22 hours ago
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The problem was Brezhnev
really wanted to make it happen and when Brezhnev wanted something, you didnʼt say no. Gagarin did anyway.[33]pic.twitter.com/R8CmLmLV82
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[34] [IMG][35]danielVerified account @DMOberhaus [36]22h22 hours ago
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Shortly before the mission was scheduled to happen, Gagarin drafted a note urging Brezhnev to postpone the flight. He gave it to Venyamin Russayev, his friend in the KGB, to pass on. The plea came to naught, and anyone who saw his note ended up demoted or sent to Siberia.[37]pic.twitter.com/nW2dDNrIpT
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[38] [IMG][39]danielVerified account @DMOberhaus [40]22h22 hours ago
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As the date for the historic rendezvous approached, Komarov began to say his goodbyes. He, along with most of his colleagues, knew the mission was a death sentence.[41]pic.twitter.com/mSnzIiFZgx
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[42] [IMG][43]danielVerified account @DMOberhaus [44]22h22 hours ago
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So why didnʼt he back out of the mission? Russayev asked Komarov the same question. He told Russayev that he couldnʼt do that to his friend. If Komarov backed out, Yuri was the backup pilot for the mission and would be sent to his almost certain death in his stead.[45]pic.twitter.com/idHL1xkYZ0
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[46] [IMG][47]danielVerified account @DMOberhaus [48]22h22 hours ago
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Yuri apparently showed up the day of the launch and demanded to be put in a suit in Komarovʼs place. Komarov didnʼt yield. Hereʼs a picture of Yuri accompanying Komarov to the pad the morning of the launch.[49]pic.twitter.com/xSSMHUTNfn
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[50] [IMG][51]danielVerified account @DMOberhaus [52]22h22 hours ago
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Soon April 23, 1967, Komarov climbed into the Soyuz 1, at Baikonur Cosmodrome, on a mission to rendezvous with the Soyuz 2, to be launched a few hours later.[53]pic.twitter.com/93EoDl8E5H
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[54] [IMG][55]danielVerified account @DMOberhaus [56]22h22 hours ago
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The Soyuz 2 never left the launch pad. Komarov did 18 laps around the Earth and then was commanded to return. Several technical problems on the craft meant that Komarov had to manually guide the craft back to terra firma. Not good news.[57]pic.twitter.com/BS9uzk8O4B
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[58] [IMG][59]danielVerified account @DMOberhaus [60]22h22 hours ago
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Knowing he would likely die, the Soviet premier Alexei Kosygin spoke to Komarov over a video call. Komarovʼs wife was also on the call. US military analysts listened in on the call from a base in Turkey. You can hear the end of the recording here: [61]https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2011/05/02/134597833/cosmonaut-crashed-into-earth-crying-in-rage …[62]pic.twitter.com/Oof2FB84Lm
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[63] [IMG][64]danielVerified account @DMOberhaus [65]22h22 hours ago
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Despite the odds, Komarov retained control of the craft. It seemed he might make it after all. Yet when it came time to deploy the craftʼs parachutes, the chute never unfolded.[66]pic.twitter.com/MaIfgaAP2n
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[67] [IMG][68]danielVerified account @DMOberhaus [69]22h22 hours ago
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Komarov is the first person to have died during spaceflight. The official Soviet account says he died upon impact. What is known for sure is when Air Force officials visited the crash site, all they found was Komarovʼs charred remains.[70]pic.twitter.com/7AGZyYqXjt
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[71] [IMG][72]danielVerified account @DMOberhaus [73]22h22 hours ago
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Komarov died to save his friend Yuri, who died in a plane crash the following year. It was an impossible choice that no one should be forced to make. He was 40 years old and left behind a wife and children.[74]pic.twitter.com/Wywkjkg7XQ
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[75] [IMG][76]danielVerified account @DMOberhaus [77]22h22 hours ago
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At the most recent National Space Council meeting, Pence made it clear that a major motivation for pushing to send astronauts to the moon in 2024 was to prevent US "adversaries," namely China, from gaining "strategic high ground" over America.[78]pic.twitter.com/jWnkAabrVH
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[79] [IMG][80]danielVerified account @DMOberhaus [81]22h22 hours ago
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Komarovʼs name is printed on a plaque on the moon dedicated to fallen astronauts left by Apollo 11. As the US prepares to return to the moon in 2024, his death is a sobering reminder of the consequences of letting blind nationalism determine the course of our future in space.[82]pic.twitter.com/bYiURFp5ZS
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[83] [IMG][84]Itay Adler @itayad [85]8h8 hours ago
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Replying to [86]@DMOberhaus
Video call? What tech they used for that back then?
[87] [IMG][88]danielVerified account @DMOberhaus [89]8h8 hours ago
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Replying to [90]@itayad
Presumably thatʼs Komarov calling mission control via video and the audio being relayed to orbit. Afaik Soyuz 1 wasnt able to do live video transmissions. Whether this call even occurred is one the contested points in its source material[91]https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2011/05/03/135919389/a-cosmonauts-fiery-death-retold …
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