Soyuz One: A Soviet Space Tragedy

In April of 1967, the Soviet Union embarked on a voyage that would result in one of the most devastating cosmonautic failures of the century. Vladimir Komarov, one of the USSR's most prolific pilots took to the helm of 'Soyuz One' and would struggle against the ineptitude of Soviet leadership valiantly alongside his comrade Yuri Gagarin. His efforts, dashed by misfortune and Soviet obstinance would result in his untimely demise, with his capsule crashing down in Orenburg on the 24th of April 1967.
Audio Voiceover Credit: NickZhAudio
Corrections:
The information surrounding Komarov's interactions with Venyamin Russayev are not currently a reliable source, as no one has been able to verify whether his statements are true or false.
Revised Version Note: This is just a variation of the first video, with some sound balancing and one or two spelling fixes.
The visuals or audio herein may not be utilised to train a machine learning algorithm of any kind without express permission of the Copyright holder (IMPERIAL)

[@singularityraptor4022]

This relationship is quite poetic and sad....this is something worthy of a movie or a mini docu series like Chernobyl. Thank you for this excellent video.

[@uglybetty8747]

Would luv if HBO adapts dis into a Chernobyl like mini series

[@SupBro-ww9go]

I aree

[@sharingiscaring1952]

Becaraful what you wish for. The woke brigade will turn it into a love affair

[@peppertrout]

A political commissar like Brezhnev would have only shed a tear if Komarov’s death made him look bad.

[@Blazeit-rj3eb]

yeah, other than being a good kisser, Brezhnev ruined and doomed the USSR to destruction.

[@peppertrout]

@@Blazeit-rj3eb The dooming and ruining of a communist state part, I don't so much mind.

[@Blazeit-rj3eb]

@@peppertrout I would have rather seen it reformed slowly but surely a process that had started with Khrushchev(unless the reforms started after Stalin were completed, the USSR would collapse, unlike China, which did complete its reforms), instead of allowing it to collapse, leading to the horrible times the post-soviet people experienced in the 90s and after, and then the fascist dictatorship in Russia right now. My mother got into the best theatre/acting school in the USSR in 1990/1991. After its collapse, she lost all that instantly, all the money her grandmother saved up her whole life(most likely thousands of rubles, and that was a lot considering monthly salary was 100), was gone in an instant. All the post-soviet leaders either became dictators or sold off all the soviet union to their friends(creating oligarchs), like Yeltsin did. And now the countries of eastern Europe and central Asia are either run by dictators like Putin, or in extremely horrible conditions, like Bulgaria or the Baltics(Poland is an exception). And now, Putin is invading Ukraine, stealing hundreds of thousands of children, and millions are suffering because of something that was thought to be unthinkable when the USSR still existed(Russia and Ukraine fighting). And I feel this even greater, as I myself am a Ukrainian, and so is all of my family.(from Odessa and Kiev mostly). I will say that although I am not a usual socialist, I am a revisionist socialist(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revisionism_(Marxism)), so I may be slightly biased, but the government of the Soviet Union did follow a different ideology which I do not agree with, and was authoritarian, which I do not agree with as well, so do not think me to be something like a tankie or whatever they call them.

[@kurosu-samaklipleri7090]

Communism is fundamentally authoritarian. Government holding too much power is never a good thing. They should only hold power of vital sectors like health industry.

[@Icspiders247]

​@@Blazeit-rj3eb All socialists are revisionists in the end.

[@budrocket1]

Thank you for debunking the "screaming cosmonaut" hoax. There are NO "secret recordings" of Komarov yelling, cursing, crying or anything of that nature. He was professional until the very end. His reputation does not deserve sullying.

[@lsudx479]

Are you saying he got the men's butts discount?

[@mondodimotori]

In my opinion this supposed "fact" didn't diminish the person. It was actually fitting on the whole mission up to that point, a professional that was just fed up with everything and spoke the truth.

[@RuminatingWizard]

Commie

[@Heyu7her3]

Idk how being human would "diminish" him tho

[@GM-xk1nw]

​@@RuminatingWizard wow, I'm sure you are smart and not a 13 year old troll

[@concept5631]

We should all strive to be friends like Komarov. Holy hell, that dude was loyal.

[@bgb6260]

A simple upvote doesn't even begin to do this video justice. Extremely detailed research, perfectly told story. Thank you!

[@willwillbill6353]

redditor moment

[@dolphin8397]

@@willwillbill6353 updoot🤓😭

[@Vernoypottery]

@@willwillbill6353thanks kind stranger

[@J8DENTHECANADIAN]

@@willwillbill6353 beat me to it

[@KANSASCLITY]

This isn't reddit loser

[@matgeezer2094]

Komarov comes across as a highly decent person - very professional and understanding the screwed up system he lived under.

[@MrChoklad]

Soviet union was full of incredible people with incredible minds, their engineering breakthroughs, especially considering their limitations, were absolutely amazing, but the system was terrible, and genius never got recognised or awarded. Truly a tragic story

[@concept5631]

​@@MrChoklad And that's why they fell.

[@ripwednesdayadams]

Every achievement of the Soviet Union was made possible with the blood of Soviet citizens. Komarov and Gagarin’s friendship was both touching and heartbreaking.

[@zh3294]

Like every achievement,for example,this basic fact about,human body contain 80% water..Japan 731 made horroble tests for this

[@lsudx479]

Do y'all think Komarov and Gagarin ever 69ed? There's film of them kissing on the lips. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@Georges_IV]

@@lsudx479💀💀

[@lsudx479]

@@Georges_IV Is that them after they finished? 🤣

[@Alex-wm8hx]

This got me emotional for a person that rarely sheds a tear. Thank you for sharing this story in such a beautiful way.

[@TeknoKseno]

As an engineer on the Soyuz program, I must say this is one of best and most well researched videos on the topic.

[@concept5631]

Are you still a Soyuz engineer?

[@concept5631]

Guess not.

[@ElectronFieldPulse]

He probably isn’t actually an engineer, and if so, he should be ashamed

[@nipcoyote1140]

​@@ElectronFieldPulse Soyuz still flies today.

[@ElectronFieldPulse]

@@nipcoyote1140 - What is your point? How could you ethically be involved in a project where human life was an afterthought? Why would you work with a company voluntarily sending people to their death for the glory of the USSR?

[@user-te7rf8ik7z]

The story of Gagarin's death is still classified. The version you told is believed by Leonov (the plane was Su-15, not MiG-21 btw), but not the only one.

[@amogus-dn8qn]

komarov died on soyuz 1, not gargarin.

[@NerdName1]

@@amogus-dn8qn found someone who didn't watch the video to the end...

[@amogus-dn8qn]

i watched it in it's fullest, and still don't get it

[@MotorcycleWrites]

@@amogus-dn8qnagarin died later, allegedly in an aircraft accident. The video talks about it at around 16:45

[@user-qw6zj5ix9k]

Gagarin died in an accident in a MiG-15

[@zaltanking9915]

This has to be the most underrated channel. The story telling and imagery 💯

[@m.streicher8286]

@@SnoopyDoofie this is so pedantic no one cares

[@robban7521]

@@SnoopyDoofie he literally said and showed pictures of the state funeral? and he said was that won't bring him back to his family which was his point if you'd actually listen to what he's saying.

[@ethantaylor9613]

Russian history be like *produces the most insanely capable human being I’ve ever heard of… Kills them for no reason*

[@WaiGee_]

russian present as well

[@kukuc96]

For real. Gagarin and Komarov are probably among the best test pilots the world has ever seen, and they killed one just so they could hit a launch date based on a history book, and silenced the other about it.

[@adamfrazer5150]

Your ability to paint the reality of the situation, the stakes at-risk but also the talents you display for injecting personal nuance and the chemistry between those that did whatever they could to succeed, or to hold back the tide of ill-advised choices made on their behalf.... It saddens me that you don't have the exposure/recognition/compensation that such efforts would warrant. In a perfect world. Many thanks for all the work you've poured into this, greatly looking forward to devouring your content 👍🍻

[@lowwastehighmelanin]

As someone who can read Cyrillic characters: the misuse of them is so confounding and really messes my brain up. I wish the English speaking internet would knock it off. 😂

[@CharlesFreck]

Mhmmm magic runes *throws random letters are the screen*

[@ronaldgarrison8478]

This video is like the vast majority I see on any subject: Very informative, but with incredibly inept presentation. The narrator seems to have a very shaky grasp of the language, although he seems to have a native accent.

[@CharlesFreck]

@@ronaldgarrison8478 if it's so easy you become a successful content creator then

[@SurnaturalM]

I just wrote almost the same thing.

[@ronaldgarrison8478]

@@CharlesFreck Talk some sense. You can be a success and still be inept in one or more areas. And I insist on the right to say so.

[@somewhat._.damaged]

I honestly would have never know about this if it wasn't for this channel, thanks IMPERIAL, for the wonderful video.

[@concept5631]

This video is criminally underrated.

[@MushroomMan]

Pls keep these videos up I promise you will get somewhere with this quality I’m so happy I found this underrated channel

[@astrolonim2032]

Brilliantly told, and wonderful research. An amazing channel. Kudos

[@mariajursi1685]

This is really good

[@michael_epp]

i just found this channel & i’ve been binge watching every single video. keep up the amazing work!

[@tylercohle2780]

I love coming finding new channels w/ unbelievable good creators & content!! Cheers my friend 👏 👏

[@mml7623]

Absolutely stunning, brilliant research

[@samuelkorger3567]

Underrated channel. Comment for algorithm.

[@AdamBorseti]

This channel deserves orders of magnitude more views than it has. I subbed, you've got a great sense for interesting topics that I don't often see covered elsewhere if ever. Keep up the good work!

[@cw4861]

What a masterpiece. Thank you

[@WalterWhiteFootballSharing]

This is amazing work. The chilling background music and visuals just at the 8:00 mark. Thank goodness for KZbin to give guys like this a platform... but these damn algorithms...How am I only finding this THREE years later when Ive been watching a hour of history for 900 nights without seeing this suggested?!

[@More_Row]

Pronunciations on point! Well done on the video and great research.

[@robynsnest8668]

Aside from calling it an aircraft couple times, this an awesome video. Well researched and unbiased telling of history. Thank you for that and the ending of Gagarin.

[@horrorspirit]

Your writing is beautiful and you tell this story really well

[@CS2SkinInspect]

its mindblowing how little subs this channel have. the best content i've ever found in more than +10 years using the site.

[@achyuthvinu]

This is just…

[@aaronblank2318]

'a murder of bureaucrats...' Well said.

[@Kokozaftran]

Great content! Learned a lot

[@sharrpshooter1]

This needs so many more views honestly

[@rinagi9163]

Thanks for the Video!

[@sc1338]

What an honorable man.

[@JACarter]

Thank you for this excellent account. We do not always get clear mindedII info on Soviet space accomplishments but this one is different, giving the hero Komarov -- and Gagarin -- his due.

[@pandahugs2271]

very good video. leaving a comment so that youtube can recommend this to other ppl.

[@JeffreyRachau]

As an American,i have no problem giving respect to both men. Brave and loyal to the end. Great story.

[@SonicBoone56]

Komarov, what an absolute gigachad of a person. Absolutely selfless. Rest in peace.

[@rdallas81]

Gigachad is the g- a-y e,st thing ever

[@BradH2024]

09:54 - “…and became the first man to venture into the unknown on two occasions.” Actually, Gus Grissom was the first to go into space twice: Mercury-Redstone 4 (1961) and Gemini III (1965). Apollo 1 was to have made him the first to go three times. Komarov was the first to go into orbit twice.

[@Masterhitman935]

14:33 thank you for not censoring that image.

[@DS-bz4mz]

A very interesting video. Comment for algorithm, here we go

[@pavelvasilevich2785]

SФЧUZ 0:02 doesn't mean anything it's gibberish....In Russian it's : СОЮЗ correct spelling.

[@pavelvasilevich2785]

Souz is translated as united or union...as Sovetskiy Souz/ Soviet Union

[@gordonjustin4787]

There is an old saying " Hast makes waste . " Technical problems that had to be corrected were not corrected . Decisions in higher positions of powet had no Technical Knowledge. Had they corrected these problems this would not have happened. There was not even one unmanned flight to test this new spacecraft. Komarov was very Brave to do what he did. Thank You for this Excellent Video !

[@jelkrette1955]

Amazing

[@O530CarrisPT_C2]

Vladimir Komarov on the Soyuz 1, and Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Schafee on the Apollo 1. 1967 was a terrible year for spaceflight. Komarov crashed in the Soviet Union at the speed of 320 km/h (200 mph).

[@lowkoalatee4033]

Wow this channel is rare

[@i_like_lemons]

May the algorithm find your channel.

[@bencebanati]

Your pronunciation of russian names was great! It really shows the attention to detail, when it comes to research.

[@frankmccann29]

I remember this. I felt real sorry for Kamarov. He was a nice guy. We saw him on TV. You know clips. Really sad. RIP Kamarov.

[@change_your_oil_regularly4287]

Commenting as this channel should be pushed by the algorithm

[@tonypeters2010]

You deserve way more subs

[@geodog6854]

Very well done. My only quibble, Soyuz was a spacecraft, not an aircraft.

[@pizzafox_]

Very nice

[@timestampterrysassistant7638]

underrated channel

[@mississippichris]

Fascinating

[@SnakeBush]

Keep up the good work 🤠

[@theleesidesnowman1127]

The Council for the Problems of Mastering the Moon would be a sick band name

[@mininoble2253]

Faux Cyrillic can be weird, I'm a native English speaker who took 4 years of Russian in high school a couple years back, and it took me 20 seconds and a lot more thinking about it than it should have to realize that said Soyuz and Sfchuz, my brain was able to immediately recognize that the second to last letter was meant to be read as U and not a ts.

[@totallyahuman.2955]

I'm not crying, you are. 😭

[@markusjuenemann]

Besides the much too fancy effects this would be a very good video

[@z_polarcat]

You're a good writer.

[@ardeladimwit]

two great heroes and two terrible deaths. Such a terrible loss.

[@auhbean6572]

what an amazing video

[@johnmooney9444]

The world lost a tallented engineer, pilot, and person.

[@AimedGalaxy]

9:56 Komorav was NOT the first man to fly into space twice, that honor goes to Gus Grissom who flew in both 61 and 65 on Mercury 7 and Gemini III

[@AimedGalaxy]

Wow I didn't check the date, I really look like I have a stick up my ***

[@Gyrocage]

The BBC did an excellent short radio play about this on the 50th anniversary of the tragedy.

[@igostupidfast3]

My brain had a mini stroke trying to read the Cyrillic in the beginning of the video

[@terrynewsome6698]

I knew no greater friendship then that if a man willing to lay down his life to save a man he calls brother.

[@user-oe1yy9cv4i]

everything about soviet space program stuff is fascinating

[@ralphghost820]

"there are only good people and good people on both sides, but there are also good leader and bad leader on both sides.All the difference between good and bad can only be seen i hindsight, not in foresight. i just wish that one day those good people come forward in peace when those bad leader come to face war." emperor Tsiya Milvarta Shianvle

[@Lepo69]

Glory

[@thenorthernphilosopher]

Idk why but I just love this SФЧYZ opener :)

[@dunbar9finger]

The famous Sfchuz rocket.

[@pauljones6723]

Who did the art for the thumbnail? It looks great!

[@colleenross8752]

The same year as Apollo 1, RIP to those we lost in both tragedies

[@beth-bi9yv]

How tragic. The lives of brave men and women are sacrificed again and again by those who wouldn't have the courage to take their places.

[@Awesomes007]

It’s impressive that the Soviets accomplished so much in the midst of such a difficult system.

[@theflimsboy7730]

So underrated!

[@MrAwawe]

What does "SFCHTSZ" mean?

[@cmillerg6306]

Will KZbin producers PLEASE attenuate distracting background sound in their videos?? PLEASE!

[@ZawcheeOnYoutubeDotCoom]

Pretty out of topic here, but can i know the name of the soundtrack featured throughout the intro?

[@silentechoes314]

Did you ever discover this?

[@ZawcheeOnYoutubeDotCoom]

@@silentechoes314 Nope lol, i've tried multiple methods but yet to find the correct song i also tried the song linked in the desc but it seems to be a different song

[@silentechoes314]

​@@ZawcheeOnKZbinDotCoom same here... Bummer. It has such a great feel to it

[@hellomoto2084]

A bed for a sobering monologue is the name of the song american comrade.

[@stroa533]

@@hellomoto2084 do you know the soundtrack that was used from about 14:30 to 16:20? The one before the outro of the video

[@JoeOvercoat]

2:21 History repeats itself, where this time it’s all us.

[@nicolas-he2oe]

Underated

[@goldean5974]

I have nothing but the utmost respect for the cosmonauts of the old Soviet Union. These were all very brave human beings who lifted off from our world to explore the void of space, and Komarov was one of the bravest.

[@novavon88]

Kinda weird that at 15:00, the music turns to two Christmas carols - at 15:00 it's Carol of the Bells, and at 15:50 it's Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel... Odd, that.

[@SurnaturalM]

Being able to read Cyrillic when someone use "fake" Russian do something weird in my head.

[@Isaax]

Immaculate pronunciations

[@jamesburke6078]

What it takes to be a great man!

[@johndyson4109]

Soyuz was a GREAT SUCCESS! Apollo 1 was a failure but the Apollo program was a SUCCESS!!

[@valacarno]

Does anyone know what letters "Z-F-CH-TS-2" mean at the start of the video? Is it some kind of a code, or something?

[@stephenmeier4658]

Why are Komarov's decorations blurred out

[@RapideWombaticus]

May they both RIP

[@redsword98]

Commented liked subscribed

[@zh3294]

Like russian native speaker,I ve noticed correct spelling full names people and places)

[@rdbjrseattle]

Medallions with the likenesses of Gagarin and Komarov were left on the surface of the Moon by the Apollo 11 Astronauts - they made it in Spirit.

[@jcdisci]

I hope this isn't a precursor to the crewed mission of the Starliner capsule.

[@babscabs1987]

I’m surprised Michael Bay hasn’t jumped on this story. Throw in a love interest and you’ve got Soviet Pearl Harbor in Space.

[@kdlofty]

A murdered hero.

[@karlmahlmann]

Rockets are dangerous. We lost two shuttles. Success is the exception, not the rule.