Selected in 1959 as one of the first cosmonauts, he flew as commander of the three-person Voskhod 1 (see voskhod) mission in October 1964, conducting scientific and medical research. He piloted the trouble-plagued Soyuz 1 (see soyuz) orbital flight that ended in his death in April 1967 when a parachute failed to open and it plummeted to the ground with Komarov inside.