Atmospheric Entry - Notable Atmospheric Entry Accidents

Notable Atmospheric Entry Accidents

Not all atmospheric re-entries have been successful and some have resulted in significant disasters.

• Friendship 7 — Instrument readings showed that the heat shield and landing bag were not locked. The decision was made to leave the retrorocket pack in position during reentry. Lone astronaut John Glenn survived. The instrument readings were later found to have been erroneous.
• Voskhod 2 — The service module failed to detach for some time, but the crew survived.
• Soyuz 1 — The attitude control system failed while still in orbit and later parachutes got entangled during the emergency landing sequence (entry, descent and landing (EDL) failure). Lone cosmonaut Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov died.
• Soyuz 5 — The service module failed to detach, but the crew survived.
• Soyuz 11 — Early depressurization led to the death of all three crew.
• Mars Polar Lander — Failed during EDL. The failure was believed to be the consequence of a software error. The precise cause is unknown for lack of real-time telemetry.
• Space Shuttle Columbia — The failure of an RCC panel on a wing leading edge led to breakup of the orbiter at hypersonic speed resulting in the death of all seven crew members.

• Genesis — The parachute failed to deploy due to a G-switch having been installed backwards (a similar error delayed parachute deployment for the Galileo Probe). Consequently, the Genesis entry vehicle crashed into the desert floor. The payload was damaged, but most scientific data was recoverable.
• Soyuz TMA-11 (April 19, 2008) — The Soyuz propulsion module failed to separate properly, and the reentry subjected the crew to forces about eight times that of gravity. The crew survived.