First of all, it is not completely clear whether this actually happened on the 23rd or the 24th, but the majority of the websites say the 23rd, so that is what I am choosing. It was on this date in 1967 that Russian cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov tragically died. This was during the space race between the Soviet Union and the U.S. He was selected as a cosmonaut in 1960--he had been a colonel in the Soviet Air Force. The space ship in which he was placed was not constructed well, and it was running low on fuel as he orbited the earth on that date. Some of his last words were curses against those who allowed him to fly such a dangerous mission.
What ultimately killed him was that his parachute did not deploy. Quite seriously, all that was left of him was a molten lump of what should have been his body. The Soviet Union actually had an open casket for the funeral (I am not posting the picture, but you can see it on the various sites I will post at the end). There was a general outcry against the Soviet Union, but as you know, the space race did not stop.
For much more information, please check out:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/soviet-cosmonaut-is-killed
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/05/02/134597833/cosmonaut-crashed-into-earth-crying-in-rage
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8713804
http://news.discovery.com/space/vladimir-komarov-unsung-space-hero-110321.html
