Simulation shows terrifying way cosmonaut died after falling from space

Vladimir Komarov is the man who fell to Earth after he completed an orbit of the planet and died when his spacecraft slammed into solid ground.

The 60s was a decade of dramatic advances in space exploration, with cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becoming the first man in space in 1961 and NASA astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin setting foot on the moon in 1969.

However, in 1967 a rather darker milestone in space was reached as Komarov became the first person to die on a spaceflight.

He was the first cosmonaut to fly into space twice, having gone into space in 1964 on the Voskhod 1 mission before being chosen as the pilot for Soyuz 1.

The spacecraft was launched on 23 April 1967 despite concerns from engineers over possible design faults and shortly after launch some of Soyuz 1's equipment failed as a solar panel did not properly unfold.

Vladimir Komarov died due to a technical failure (Bettmann / Contributor via Getty)

In the spacecraft the cosmonaut completed 16 orbits of the planet before Komarov was told to come back down.

Further malfunctioning equipment made it more difficult for the cosmonaut to properly guide Soyuz 1 back down to the ground, with him completing another couple of orbits before he was able to attempt it, and it was one particular fault which spelled doom for the man.

Komarov deployed the drogue (or braking) parachute to slow his descent, then attempted to deploy the main parachute which failed, and when he pulled the reserve chute it became tangled in the drogue parachute which had not released properly, with a simulation showing just how much trouble he was in.

Unable to slow his descent, the cosmonaut's fate had been sealed by faulty equipment and Soyuz 1 slammed into the ground at a speed of around 89mph, an impact he had no chance of surviving.

There are claims that his final words from inside the plummeting spacecraft were picked up and recorded by US listening posts stationed in Turkey.

The cosmonaut is claimed to have shouted: "This devil ship! Nothing I lay my hands on works properly!"

However, official Russian accounts of his final words claimed he said: "I feel excellent, everything’s in order. Thank you for transmitting all of that. [Separation] occurred."

Komarov's final words are disputed (Sovfoto/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

What is quite certain is that Komarov slammed into the ground along with his spaceship and his remains were barely recognisable after falling from space.

With just a 'lump' remaining, his body was quickly gathered and cremated as he was given a state funeral just two days after his death.

Following his death fellow Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, was banned by the USSR from taking part in any future spaceflights to avoid another high-profile casualty.

It didn't save his life as Gagarin died the following year when a training flight in a MiG-15 jet fighter went wrong and crashed.