Komarov joined the Soviet air force at the age of 15 and was educated in air force schools, becoming a pilot in 1949. He graduated from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy, Moscow, in 1959 and was the pilot (October 12–13, 1964) of Voskhod 1, the first craft to carry more than one human being into space.
Komarov became the first Russian to make two spaceflights when he blasted off alone on April 23, 1967, in Soyuz 1. During the 18th orbit he attempted a landing. Reportedly, the spacecraft became entangled in its main parachute at an altitude of several miles and fell back to Earth. Komarov’s body was cremated, and his ashes were entombed in the wall of the Kremlin.