Soyuz 1 carried cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov, the first human to die during a space mission.
Launched on 23 April 1967, Soyuz 1 suffered serious problems almost immediately, including a solar panel that failed to deploy and control difficulties. A planned rendezvous with Soyuz 2 was canceled, and Komarov was ordered to return to Earth.
During reentry, the spacecraft’s parachute system malfunctioned. The descent module crashed in the Soviet Union on 24 April 1967, killing Komarov. He became the first person to die during a spaceflight, although other astronauts and cosmonauts later died in spacecraft accidents and training incidents.
The Soyuz program was subsequently redesigned and improved. Soyuz spacecraft eventually became one of the world’s longest-running crewed spacecraft families, but Soyuz 1 remains associated with the dangers and intense schedule pressures of the early Space Race.