Boris Volnyov was one of the elite 1960's Russian cosmonauts racing the Americans for superiority in space when it was "discovered" that his mother was of Jewish decent. He was removed from a crew 3 days before their mission, and had to work his way back up in seniority.
In January of 1969 during re-entry, his spaceship was at the wrong angle and the unprotected part of his ship, (not the heat sheild) faced the 5000 degree temperatures. The Russian Flight control began passing the hat to collect money for his soon-to-be widow, but he survived. His parachutesand retro rockets didn't work properly and he slammed so hard into the ground that he lost several teeth.
More than 200 miles away from his designated landing place he opened his hatch and found himself alone and in a -40 degree Russian winter. He saw smoke in the distance and followed it through the snow. When his rescuerers found the spacecraft empty they followed his footprints and drops of blood in the snow and found him being cared for in a small cabin by a peasant.
The Russian Government kept the "failure" a secret for many years.
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