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Vostok 1 Training
Valentin Bondarenko was just 24 years old when he died a tragic death. Different from NASA, which preferred to select mature candidates for the space program, the Soviets chose young soldiers for the training. Bondarenko was in a training field phase that involved a 15-day endurance test in a pressure chamber. He died when a fire broke out in the pure oxygen atmosphere. -
Voskhod 2
On March 19, 1965, the Voskhod 2 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying Pavel Belyayev and Alexey Leonov. During their journey home, after completing a 12-minute spacewalk, the spacecraft began facing problems. The spacecraft landed in the North Ural forest, where the cosmonauts waited for help. A few hours later, a helicopter found them and reported back to the command center. After a night in freezing temperatures, the cosmonauts were relieved to finally see a rescue team arrive. -
Apollo 1
Apollo 1 happened on January 27, 1967, during a test launch at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The crew, of Virgil Grissom, Edward H. White II, and Roger B. Chaffee, were all training for a future launch. At 1:00 PM, the astronauts entered the module and started experiencing many problems, which delayed the launch. At 6:30 PM the simulated countdown was finally at T minus 10 seconds. One minute later, they found a fire in the cockpit. Within 17 seconds of the first report, all 3 astronauts were dead. -
Soyuz 1
On April 23, 1967, 3 months after Apollo 1, Vladimir Komarov became the first person to board the new Soyuz spacecraft. Nine minutes after takeoff, the Soyuz faced serious problems like how a solar panel, that powered half the spacecraft, failed to open. When Komarov steered the craft back on course, he tried to open the main parachute but it opened incorrectly, same with the backup chute. Somewhere in the South Ural Mountains, Komarov was hurtling to the ground. He was alive until it crashed. -
Soyuz 11
On June 30th, 1971, the crew of Georgi Dobrovolski, Viktor Patsayev, Vladislav Volkov all docked with the Salyut 1 space station. They performed multiple scientific experiments. When their mission was done they headed back to Earth. An estimated thirty minutes before landing, the Soyuz 11 left orbit. Suddenly, a critical valve blew, and pressure in the capsule dove. As their oxygen flooded out into space, the cosmonauts died in less than a minute. They would have survived if they had space gear. -
Soyuz 23
Soyuz 23 happened on October 16, 1976, and took them to space station Salyut 5. The launch had several problems but kept going. Once they got in orbit, they tried to dock onto Salyut 5 but the docking system didn't work, so they headed back. The Soyuz was supposed to land in Kazakhstan, but winds pushed it into an icy lake. The capsule started to freeze and there wasn't much warm clothing. Finally, a rescue party dragged the capsule to safety. Surprisingly both cosmonauts were unharmed and well. -
Soyuz T-10-1
The Soyuz T-10-1 was 90 seconds till liftoff on September 26, 1983, when suddenly a fuel tank refused to close. Due to that, fuel sprayed onto the launch pad which in a minute, had caught fire. Even worse, the fire had destroyed the electronic systems which would have ejected the cosmonauts to safety. But then, 5 seconds later, a miracle was performed by two tech officers. They were able to eject the module out of the rocket (remotely), just in time, before it exploded. -
Space Shuttle Challeger
On January 28th, 1986, NASA suffered their most devastating disaster. The Space Shuttle Challenger lifted off from Kennedy Space Center, with the crew of Greg Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Michael Smith, and Dick Scobee. Only 72 seconds into the launch, mission control received a message from Pilot Micheal Smith saying 2 words. Then, suddenly, the shuttle exploded. The crew members didn’t die from the explosion but death came when they hit the ocean. -
Space Shuttle Columbia
January 16, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off from Kennedy Space Center carrying Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark, and Ilan Ramon. They settled down after reaching orbit. The crew conducted 80 separate scientific experiments. After two weeks orbiting Earth, Columbia began its entry to Earth. Only 16 minutes from touchdown, the shuttle disintegrated. All 7 astronauts died and more than 85 000 pieces of debris blew over eastern Texas. -
Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo
In California on October 31st, 2014, the SS2’s engine would be performing its first flight with new fuel in a new motor that would let it reach heights it has never reached before. The new motor was found perfectly intact. 13 seconds after takeoff, the craft broke apart like an explosion. Co-pilot, Michael Alsbury didn’t survive and was killed and Pilot Peter Siebold was injured but survived by unbuckling himself and then deploying his parachute. -
Bibliography
http://wikimapia.org/22183975/Memorial-to-cosmonauts-who-died-in-Soyuz-11
http://www.armaghplanet.com/blog/soyuz-11-the-truth-about-the-salyut-1-space-disaster.html
http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/histind/Soyuz1Land/Soyanaly.htm
http://www.spacesafetymagazine.com/space-disasters/soyuz-1/
http://www.popsci.com/why-did-nasa-still-use-pure-oxygen-after-apollo-1-fire
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo1info.html
http://archive.boston.com/news/packages/shuttle/astronauts/first.htm -
Bibliography
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Soyuz-T-10-5.JPG
http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/whats-next-virgin-galactic
https://www.ovguide.com/valentin-bondarenko-9202a8c04000641f80000000004e04fd
http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Space_Shuttle_Columbia
http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/space-shuttle-columbia-disaster/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster
http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/challenger-shuttle-disaster/
