Astronaut Fatalities During Spaceflight
The history of space exploration has had a number of incidents that resulted in the deaths of the astronauts during a space mission. As of 2013, in-flight accidents have killed 18 astronauts, in four separate incidents.
NASA astronauts who have lost their lives in the line of duty are memorialized at the Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Merritt Island, Florida. Cosmonauts who have died in the line of duty under the auspices of the Soviet Union were generally honored by burial at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis in Moscow. It is unknown whether this remains tradition for Russia, since the Kremlin Wall Necropolis was largely a Communist honor and no cosmonauts have died in action since the Soviet Union broke up.
There have been four fatal in-flight accidents on missions which were considered spaceflights under the internationally accepted definition of the term, plus one on the ground during rehearsal of a planned flight. In each case all crew were killed. To date, no individual member of a multi-member crew has died during a mission or rehearsal.
| Incident | Date | Mission | Fatalities | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parachute failure | 1967 April 24 | Soyuz 1 | Vladimir Komarov | The one-day mission had been plagued by a series of mishaps with the new spacecraft type, culminating with its parachute not opening properly after atmospheric reentry. Komarov was killed when the capsule hit the ground at high speed.
The Soyuz 1 crash site coordinates are 51°21′41″N 59°33′44″E / 51.3615°N 59.5622°E / 51.3615; 59.5622, 3 km west of Karabutak, Province of Orenburg in the Russian Federation, about 275 km east-southeast of Orenburg. In a small park on the roadside is a memorial monument: a black column with a bust of Komarov at the top. |
| Decompression | 1971 June 30 | Soyuz 11 | Georgi Dobrovolski Viktor Patsayev Vladislav Volkov |
The crew of Soyuz 11 were killed after undocking from space station Salyut 1 after a three-week stay. A cabin vent valve accidentally opened at service module separation. The recovery team found the crew dead. Technically these are the only fatalities in space (above 100 km) so far.
The Soyuz 11 landing coordinates are 47°21′24″N 70°07′17″E / 47.35663°N 70.12142°E / 47.35663; 70.12142, 90 km southwest of Karazhal, Karagandy, Kazakhstan, and about 550 km northeast of Baikonur, in open flat country far from any populated area. In a small circular fenced area at the site is a memorial monument in the form of a three-sided metallic column. Near the top of the column on each side is the engraved image of the face of a crew member set into a stylized triangle. |
| Vehicle disintegration during launch – Space Shuttle Challenger disaster | 1986 January 28 | STS-51-L | Greg Jarvis Christa McAuliffe Ronald McNair Ellison Onizuka Judith Resnik Michael J. Smith Dick Scobee |
First U.S. in-flight fatalities. The Space Shuttle Challenger was destroyed 73 seconds after lift-off on STS-51-L. The investigation found that a faulty O-ring seal allowed hot gases from the shuttle solid rocket booster (SRB) to impinge on the external propellant tank and booster strut. The strut and aft end of the tank failed, allowing the top of the SRB to rotate into the top of the tank. Challenger was thrown sideways into the Mach 1.8 windstream and broke up with the loss of all seven crew members. NASA investigators determined they may have survived the spacecraft disintegration, possibly unconscious from hypoxia; some tried to activate their emergency oxygen. Any survivors of the breakup were killed, however, when the largely intact cockpit hit the water at 200 mph (320 km/h).
The vehicle impacted the water about 20 miles (32 km) east of Cape Canaveral. "Tracking reported that the vehicle had exploded and impacted the water in an area approximately located at 28.64 degrees north, 80.28 degrees west", Mission Control, Houston. About half of the vehicle's remains were never recovered, and fragments still wash ashore occasionally on the coast of Brevard County, Florida. |
| Vehicle disintegration on re-entry – Space Shuttle Columbia disaster | 2003 February 1 | STS-107 | Rick D. Husband William McCool Michael P. Anderson David M. Brown Kalpana Chawla Laurel B. Clark Ilan Ramon |
The Space Shuttle Columbia was lost as it returned from a two-week mission, STS-107. Damage to the shuttle's thermal protection system (TPS) led to structural failure of the shuttle's left wing and the spacecraft ultimately broke apart. Investigation revealed damage to the reinforced carbon-carbon leading edge wing panel resulted from the impact of a piece of foam insulation that broke away from the external tank during the launch.
The vehicle broke up over the southwestern United States and fell in fragments over eastern Texas and central Louisiana. |
There has also been an accident on a flight that was considered a spaceflight by those involved but not under the internationally accepted definition:
| Incident | Date | Mission | Fatalities | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control failure | 1967 November 15 | X-15 Flight 3-65-97 | Michael J. Adams | During X-15 Flight 191, Adams' seventh flight, the plane had an electrical problem followed by control problems at the apogee of its flight. The pilot may also have become disoriented. During reentry from a 266,000 ft (50.4 mile, 81.1 km) apogee, the X-15 yawed and went into a spin at Mach 5. The pilot recovered, but went into a Mach 4.7 inverted dive. Excessive loading led to structural breakup at about 65,000 feet (19.8 km). Adams was posthumously awarded astronaut wings as his flight had passed an altitude of 50 miles (80.5 km), the U.S. definition of space. |
Read more about this topic: Space Accidents And Incidents, Astronaut Fatalities
Famous quotes containing the word astronaut:
“The report reflects incredibly terrible judgments, shockingly sparse concern for human life, instances of officials lacking the courage to exercise the responsibilities of their high office and some very bewildering thought processes.”
—Jane Jarrell Smith, U.S. widow of American astronaut Michael J. Smith. As quoted in Newsweek magazine, p. 13 (June 30, 1986)