Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov may have become the first man on the moon if the Soviet space program had managed to keep up with its head start on its American counterpart. It was the death of Komarov, the first human being to die in a space flight, that was a watershed event in the ultimate failure of the USSR to get to the moon. Komarov died on April 24, 1967 when the capsule of his reentry vehicle crashed to earth when its parachute failed. 'Yuri Gagarin' made it to the moon two years later, they left a bag containing medals honoring Komarov and Gagarin behind on the moon surface to pay their respects to two pioneers of space flight.
Komarov became the first person to die on a space mission when parachutes on his Soyuz 1 capsule failed to open during descent.
