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Vladimir Komarov’s Fall to Earth
Soyuz 1, pressure gone,
ion thrusters at half-power,
his heart-beat thumping
through the empty silence.
Did he think of his training at Star City,
his wife Valentina and the children
or that he would be first?
The horizon was robin-egg blue.
It was important at that time to be first,
before the Americans astronauts.
The first person to die in space flight,
a cosmonaut falling to earth on
Lenin’s birthday.
© Jackie Gorman
Picture 12272223, Vintage Soviet space poster, 1961, image copyright Mary Evans / Stocktrek