MOSCOW: Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov was killed today [April 24] in Russia’s first announced space catastrophe.

The veteran flyer died as the strings of his spaceship’s parachute became entangled when the giant capsule glided down to earth after a one-day flight, Russia’s first for two years.

The 40-year-old cosmonaut’s death was announced 12-1/2 hours after his last reported radio link with the Soviet space centre at Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

It said the strings of the parachute slowing the spacecraft’s fall down to earth became entangled only seven kilometres (4.3 miles) over the earth’s surface.

Soviet cosmonauts have been making landings on the ground for years. So far as is known, they have never landed in the sea, like the Americans.

The tragedy, first death of a spaceman in actual flight, is a major setback to the Soviet space programme.

Komarov was the first Russian to venture into outer space since March 1965, ending an unexplained period of manned flight inactivity during which the United States captured all the records and forged far ahead of Russia in cosmic exploration.

Komarov, father of two children, will be given full state honours at a funeral in Red Square. His ashes will be interned to the Kremlin wall, alongside the burial places of Soviet statesmen.

Komarov, the only Russian to make a second space flight, was a trained parachutist with 100 drops to his credit.

He was the pilot of a three-man flight in October 1964, but this was his first lone venture into space.

Komarov’s death explained Moscow’s long silence on what had been expected to be one of Russia’s most spectacular space feats. But it did not explain why the astronaut was being brought back to earth after only one day of flight.

Earlier speculation had been that his capsule — believed to be Russia’s biggest — would rendezvous with at least one other spaceship, to be launched later.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2017