Vladimir Komarov (1927-1967) was a Soviet Air Force colonel-pilot and cosmonaut. Born in Moscow, he trained as a military pilot before joining the Soviet cosmonaut corps in 1960. In October 1964, he commanded Voskhod 1, the world's first three-person spacecraft, flying without a spacesuit. He died on 24 April 1967 during the catastrophic atmospheric re-entry of Soyuz 1, becoming the first fatality in human spaceflight.