The space vehicle is shoddily constructed, running dangerously low on fuel; its parachutes — though no one knows this — won't work and the cosmonaut, Vladimir Komarov, is about to, literally, crash full speed into Earth, his body turning molten on impact. As he heads to his doom, U.S. listening posts in Turkey hear him crying in rage, "cursing the people who had put him inside a botched spaceship."
This extraordinarily intimate account of the 1967 death of a Russian cosmonaut appears in a new book, Starman, by Jamie Doran and Piers Bizony, to be published next month. The authors base their narrative principally on revelations from a KGB officer, Venymin Ivanovich Russayev, and previous reporting by Yaroslav Golovanov in Pravda. This version — if it's true — is beyond shocking.
Starman tells the story of a friendship between two cosmonauts, Vladimir Kamarov and Soviet hero Yuri Gagarin, the first human to reach outer space. The two men were close; they socialized, hunted and drank together.
In 1967, both men were assigned to the same Earth-orbiting mission, and both knew the space capsule was not safe to fly. Komarov told friends he knew he would probably die. But he wouldn't back out because he didn't want Gagarin to die. Gagarin would have been his replacement.
The story begins around 1967, when Leonid Brezhnev, leader of the Soviet Union, decided to stage a spectacular midspace rendezvous between two Soviet spaceships.
The plan was to launch a capsule, the Soyuz 1, with Komarov inside. The next day, a second vehicle would take off, with two additional cosmonauts; the two vehicles would meet, dock, Komarov would crawl from one vehicle to the other, exchanging places with a colleague, and come home in the second ship. It would be, Brezhnev hoped, a Soviet triumph on the 50th anniversary of the Communist revolution. Brezhnev made it very clear he wanted this to happen.
The problem was Gagarin. Already a Soviet hero, the first man ever in space, he and some senior technicians had inspected the Soyuz 1 and had found 203 structural problems — serious problems that would make this machine dangerous to navigate in space. The mission, Gagarin suggested, should be postponed.
The question was: Who would tell Brezhnev? Gagarin wrote a 10-page memo and gave it to his best friend in the KGB, Venyamin Russayev, but nobody dared send it up the chain of command. Everyone who saw that memo, including Russayev, was demoted, fired or sent to diplomatic Siberia. With less than a month to go before the launch, Komarov realized postponement was not an option. He met with Russayev, the now-demoted KGB agent, and said, "I'm not going to make it back from this flight."
He'll die instead of me. We've got to take care of him.
- Komarov talking about Gagarin
Russayev asked, Why not refuse? According to the authors, Komarov answered: "If I don't make this flight, they'll send the backup pilot instead." That was Yuri Gagarin. Vladimir Komarov couldn't do that to his friend. "That's Yura," the book quotes him saying, "and he'll die instead of me. We've got to take care of him." Komarov then burst into tears.
On launch day, April 23, 1967, a Russian journalist, Yaroslav Golovanov, reported that Gagarin showed up at the launch site and demanded to be put into a spacesuit, though no one was expecting him to fly. Golovanov called this behavior "a sudden caprice," though afterward some observers thought Gagarin was trying to muscle onto the flight to save his friend. The Soyuz left Earth with Komarov on board.
Once the Soyuz began to orbit the Earth, the failures began. Antennas didn't open properly. Power was compromised. Navigation proved difficult. The next day's launch had to be canceled. And worse, Komarov's chances for a safe return to Earth were dwindling fast.
All the while, U.S. intelligence was listening in. The National Security Agency had a facility at an Air Force base near Istanbul. Previous reports said that U.S. listeners knew something was wrong but couldn't make out the words. In this account, an NSA analyst, identified in the book as Perry Fellwock, described overhearing Komarov tell ground control officials he knew he was about to die. Fellwock described how Soviet premier Alexei Kosygin called on a video phone to tell him he was a hero. Komarov's wife was also on the call to talk about what to say to their children. Kosygin was crying.
When the capsule began its descent and the parachutes failed to open, the book describes how American intelligence "picked up [Komarov's] cries of rage as he plunged to his death."
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space vehicle is shoddily constructed, running dangerously low on fuel; its parachutes — though no one knows this — won't work and the cosmonaut, Vladimir Komarov, is about to, literally, crash full speed into Earth
The super moon was today blamed for causing five ships to run aground within hours in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
The super moon was today blamed for causing five ships to run aground within hours in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
Vessels hit sandbanks that are not normally exposed in the Solent, between the Isle of Wight and Hampshire coast, as the phenomenon led to lower tides.
The moon was at its closest to the earth for 19 years and some believe it may also have triggered Japan’s tsunami, although astronomers have dismissed the claims as pure nonsense.
Worryingly, almost a quarter of people polled thought you could buy a chicken chop or a lamb drumstick, while two in ten would ask a butcher for a leg of liver.
Worryingly, almost a quarter of people polled thought you could buy a chicken chop or a lamb drumstick, while two in ten would ask a butcher for a leg of liver.
17 per cent of Brits think you can buy pig wings
Around 20 per cent thought tofu was a cut of meat, rather than a veggie alternative.
And vegetarians may wish to be cautious when dining at friends' houses, as one in 20 respondents did not think that haggis, faggots, game pie and oxtail contain any meat at all.
Ed Beddington, the editor of Meat Trades Journal, which organises the annual event, said: 'The idea of flying bacon might seem appealing to some, but it's quite frightening how limited consumer knowledge on meat is.
You'd never know it but Vanessa Hudgens was an addict – a junk food addict.
You'd never know it but Vanessa Hudgens was an addict – a junk food addict.
While millions of Americans struggle with sweet cravings and fatty indulgences every day, the actress managed to kick hers.
Hudgens, who's on the cover of Shape this month, revealed that her addition got so bad that her "fingers were permanently stained orange from Cheetos." She told the magazine that her addiction was at it's worst in 2007, during the filming of High School Musical.
"I used to go to Cold Stone Creamery, get a tub of Butterfinger ice cream and eat it all before bedtime," Hudgens said.
It wasn't until one day while in wardrobe when she couldn't fit into her costume that she realized she had a problem.
"When I finally got it zipped up, my boobs were up to my chin! The director, Kenny Ortega, saw me and said: 'Whoa, mamacita, look at you!' And I was like: 'I don't know where this came from!' But I knew. I lived on Hot Pockets and never touched vegetables; I needed to do something about my diet."
So Hudgens did what anyone struggling with such an addiction does, she kicked the habit, but not without a little physical fitness routine.
"Having someone to go to classes with makes you want to do your best, not just for yourself but for the other person too," she said of her routine, that she shares with her mother and sister. "My mom and I do cardio kickboxing classes together." Along with Pilates, yoga and Spinning.
"Exercise is amazing," Hudgens said, "from the inside out. I feel so alive and have more energy."
Man in custody for airport bomb hoax - News
The person was taken into custody yesterday afternoon and will be interviewed today by detectives.
The hoax led to the United States temporarily suspending cargo flights from Jamaica to the US, Bahamas and Canada."
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Thousands of home computers infiltrated after hackers infect high-profile websites with booby-trapped ads | Mail Online
The scam, which also involved ads on Autotrader, Vue and six other websites, took place on Sunday after cyber criminals hacked into an advertising firm's computer system.
The malicious advertisements then caused fake virus warnings to pop-up on computers belonging to those surfing the affected sites."
Knighted headteacher arrested Sir Alan Davies in alleged '£1.6m bonus fraud' | Mail Online
Sir Alan Davies, 64, resigned after he and senior colleagues were accused of mismanaging some £1.6million of funds at Copland Community School.
The 64-year-old, who was knighted in 2000, was arrested along with Dr Richard Evans, 53, the former deputy head, on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud.
Mr Evans’s wife Lesley, 50, is also being held on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and theft. All three are being interviewed at police stations in north-west London.
Police swooped on their homes following a fraud squad investigation into alleged 'serious financial irregularities' at the leading state school in Wembley, north-west London, where one pupil said: 'We are all ecstatic and joyful."
