Comments on: Death of a Russian Cosmonaut

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 03:09:40 +0000

David, have you read the book?

By: David Anderman

David Anderman — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 02:59:48 +0000

This story is mostly bogus, although Komarov did die at the end of the flight. Short summary: although there were problems during the flight, none of them were considered fatal at the time. The actual event that caused the crash was a big surprise to everyone.

At most, Komarov may have complained about the poor design of the spacecraft, but to allege that there was crying and such is like claiming that the crew of Apollo 1 were killed by an assassin.

By: gwen

gwen — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 00:17:28 +0000

That was such a sad and poignant story of a friendship, and ultimately a death which should never have happened. Thank you for putting it up, I remembered his death (and watched the deaths of the astronauts on tv), but did not know the circumstances.

By: Orjin krem

Orjin krem — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 22:51:13 +0000

I had a little tree frog named Yuri once. I named him Yuri because he rode in my rocket. Twice, with no ill effects. (Multiple redundant safety features helped.)

By: dean

dean — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 22:15:16 +0000

I read the NPR article yesterday – the description of events is haunting. The inclusion of the picture of Komarov’s remains seemed (to me) to be a gratuitous addition to the summary.

By: feralboy12

feralboy12 — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 22:13:55 +0000

I had a little tree frog named Yuri once. I named him Yuri because he rode in my rocket. Twice, with no ill effects. (Multiple redundant safety features helped.)
I kept him under observation for a couple of weeks, then released him.
It sounds like I treated my frog better than the Soviets treated their national hero.
The more transparant space program in the U.S. caused some embarrassment in the early years when our rockets were blowing up, but its always harder to cut corners when the whole world’s watching.