The Soviet manned space program, which began with triumphs, began to falter in the second half of the 1960s. Stung by failure, the Americans threw enormous resources into rivalry with the Russians and began to outstrip the Soviet Union.
In January 1966 was gone Sergei Korolev, the man who was the main engine of the Soviet space program. In April 1967, an astronaut died during a test flight of the new Soyuz spacecraft. Vladimir Komarov... March 27, 1968 while performing a training flight on an airplane, the first cosmonaut of the Earth died Yuri Gagarin... Sergey Korolev's latest project, the N-1 lunar rocket, has failed one after another during testing.
The cosmonauts involved in the manned "lunar program" wrote letters to the Central Committee of the CPSU with a request to allow them to fly under their own responsibility, despite the high probability of a catastrophe. However, the country's political leadership did not want to risk that. The Americans were the first to land on the moon, and the Soviet "lunar program" was curtailed.
The participants in the failed conquest of the moon were transferred to another project - a flight to the world's first manned orbital station. A manned laboratory in orbit was supposed to allow the Soviet Union to at least partially compensate for the defeat on the moon.
Crews for "Salut"
In about four months that the first station could operate in orbit, it was planned to send three expeditions to it. Crew number one included Georgy Shonin, Alexey Eliseev and Nikolay Rukavishnikov, the second crew was Alexey Leonov, Valery Kubasov, Pyotr Kolodin, crew number three - Vladimir Shatalov, Vladislav Volkov, Victor Patsaev... There was also a fourth, reserve crew, consisting of Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vitaly Sevastyanov and Anatoly Voronov.
The commander of crew number four, Georgy Dobrovolsky, seemed to have no chance of getting to the first station, called Salyut. But fate had a different opinion on this matter.
Georgy Shonin grossly violated the regime, and the chief curator of the Soviet cosmonaut detachment, General Nikolay Kamanin removed him from further training. Vladimir Shatalov was transferred to Shonin's place, he was replaced by Georgy Dobrovolsky, and the fourth crew was brought in Alexey Gubarev.
On April 19, the Salyut orbital station was launched into low-earth orbit. Five days later, Soyuz-10 recovered to the station with a crew of Shatalov, Eliseeev and Rukavishnikov. Docking with the station, however, took place in an abnormal mode. The crew could not go to "Salyut", undock too. In an extreme case, it was possible to undock, blowing up the squibs, but then not a single crew could get to the station. With great difficulty, it was possible to find a way to get the ship away from the station, while keeping the docking port intact.Soyuz-10 returned safely to Earth, after which the engineers began to hastily modify the Soyuz-11 docking assemblies.
Forced replacement
A new attempt to conquer the "Salute" was to be made by the crew consisting of Alexei Leonov, Valery Kubasov and Pyotr Kolodin. The start of their expedition was scheduled for June 6, 1971.
On the wires to Baikonur, the plate, which Leonov threw on the ground for luck, did not break. The awkwardness was hushed up, but the bad feelings remained.
By tradition, two crews flew to the cosmodrome - the main and the backup. Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsaev were the stand-ins.
SOYUZ-11 "Soyuz-11" at the launch pad. Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexander Mokletsov
It was a formality, since until that moment no one had carried out replacements at the last moment.
But three days before the start, Valery Kubasov's doctors found a darkening in the lungs, which they considered the initial stage of tuberculosis. The verdict was categorical - he could not go on a flight.
The state commission decided: what to do? The commander of the main crew, Alexei Leonov, insisted that if Kubasov could not fly, then he should be replaced with the backup flight engineer Vladislav Volkov.
Most experts, however, believed that in such conditions it was necessary to replace the entire crew. The backup crew also spoke out against the partial replacement. General Kamanin wrote in his diaries that the situation had escalated in earnest. Two crews were usually sent to the traditional pre-flight meeting. After the commission approved the replacement, and Dobrovolsky's crew became the main one, Valery Kubasov said that he would not go to the rally: “I’m not flying, what should I do there?” At the rally, Kubasov nevertheless appeared, but the tension was in the air.
Soviet cosmonauts (from left to right) Vladislav Volkov, Georgy Dobrovolsky and Viktor Patsaev at the Baikonur cosmodrome. Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexander Mokletsov
"If this is compatibility, then what is incompatibility too?"
Journalist Yaroslav Golovanov, who wrote a lot on the space theme, recalled what was happening these days at Baikonur: “Leonov tore and threw ... poor Valery (Kubasov) did not understand anything at all: he felt absolutely healthy ... At night he came to the hotel Petya Kolodin, intoxicated and completely wilted. He told me: "Slava, understand, I will never fly into space ...". Kolodin, by the way, was not mistaken - he never went into space.
On June 6, 1971, Soyuz-11 with a crew of Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsaev successfully launched from Baikonur. The spacecraft docked with the Salyut, the cosmonauts boarded the station, and the expedition began.
The reports in the Soviet press were bravura - everything is going according to the program, the crew is doing well. In reality, everything was not so smooth. After landing, while studying the crew's work diaries, they found Dobrovolsky's entry: "If this is compatibility, then what is incompatibility too?"Flight engineer Vladislav Volkov, who had space flight experience behind him, often tried to take the initiative, which was not very pleasant to the specialists on Earth, and even his crew colleagues.
On the 11th day of the expedition's work, a fire broke out on board, and there was a question of an emergency leaving the station, but the crew still managed to cope with the situation.
General Kamanin wrote in his diary: “At eight in the morning, Dobrovolsky and Patsaev were still asleep, Volkov got in touch. Yesterday, according to Bykovsky’s report, he was nervous the most and“ yaked ”too much (“ I decided ... ”,“ I did ..." etc). On behalf of Mishin, he was instructed: “Everything is decided by the crew commander, follow his orders,” to which Volkov replied: “We decide everything by the crew. We ourselves will figure out how we should be. "
“The connection ends. Happily!"
Despite all the difficulties, the difficult situation, the Soyuz-11 crew fully complied with the flight program. On June 29, the cosmonauts were to undock from the Salyut and return to Earth.
After the return of Soyuz-11 to the station, the next expedition was to go to consolidate the achieved successes and continue the experiments.
But before undocking from Salyut, a new problem arose. The crew had to close the transfer hatch in the descent vehicle. But the sunroof open banner on the control panel continued to glow. Several attempts to open and close the hatch yielded nothing. The astronauts were in great stress. The Earth advised to put a piece of insulation under the limit switch of the sensor. This was done repeatedly during the tests. The hatch was closed again. To the joy of the crew, the banner went out. The pressure in the household compartment was released. According to the readings of the instruments, we made sure that the air does not come out of the descent vehicle and that its tightness is normal. After that, Soyuz-11 successfully undocked from the station.
At 0:16 on June 30, General Kamanin contacted the crew, informing the landing conditions, and ending with the phrase: "See you soon on Earth!"
“Understood, the landing conditions are excellent. Everything is in order on board, the well-being of the crew is excellent. Thank you for your concern and good wishes, ”replied Georgy Dobrovolsky from orbit.
Here is a transcript of Earth's last talks with the Soyuz 11 crew:
Zarya (Mission Control Center): How is the orientation going?
Yantar-2 (Vladislav Volkov): We saw the Earth, we saw!
Zarya: Okay, take your time.
"Yantar-2": "Zarya", I am "Yantar-2". We started orientation. Rain is hanging on the right.
"Yantar-2": Flies great, beautiful!
"Yantar-3" (Victor Patsaev): "Zarya", I am the third. I can see the horizon at the bottom of the window.
"Zarya": "Amber", once again I remind the orientation - zero - one hundred and eighty degrees.
"Yantar-2": Zero - one hundred and eighty degrees.
Zarya: Understood correctly.
"Yantar-2": The "Descent" banner is on.
Zarya: Let it burn. Everything is fine. Burns correctly. The connection ends. Happily!"
"The outcome of the flight is the most difficult"
At 1:35 Moscow time, after the orientation of the Soyuz, the braking propulsion system was switched on. After completing the estimated time and losing speed, the ship began to de-orbit.
During the passage of dense layers of the atmosphere, there is no communication with the crew; it should reappear after the parachute of the descent vehicle is deployed, due to the antenna on the parachute line.
At 2:05 am, a report was received from the Air Force command post: "The crews of the Il-14 aircraft and the Mi-8 helicopter see the Soyuz-11 spacecraft descending by parachute." At 2:17 am the descent vehicle landed. Almost simultaneously with it, four helicopters of the search group landed.
Doctor Anatoly Lebedev, who was part of the search group, recalled that he was embarrassed by the silence of the crew on the air. The helicopter pilots carried on active radio communications at the moment while the descent vehicle landed, and the cosmonauts did not go on the air. But this was attributed to antenna failure.
“We sat down after the ship, about fifty or a hundred meters away. How does it happen in such cases? You open the hatch of the descent vehicle, from there - the voices of the crew. And then - the crunch of scale, the clatter of metal, the chirping of helicopters and ... silence from the ship, "the doctor recalled.When the crew was taken out of the descent vehicle, the doctors could not understand what had happened. It seemed that the astronauts had simply passed out. But upon a cursory examination, it became clear that everything is much more serious. Six doctors started artificial respiration and chest compressions.
Minutes passed, the commander of the search group, General Sorrowful demanded an answer from the doctors, but they continued to try to bring the crew back to life. Finally, Lebedev replied: "Tell me that the crew has landed without signs of life." This formulation was included in all official documents.
Doctors continued resuscitation until the appearance of absolute signs of death. But their desperate efforts could not change anything.
The Mission Control Center was first reported that "the outcome of the space flight is the most difficult." And then, having already abandoned some kind of conspiracy, they reported: "The entire crew was killed."
Depressurization
It was a terrible shock for the whole country. At parting in Moscow, the comrades of the perished cosmonauts cried and said: "Now we are burying whole crews!" It seemed that the Soviet space program had finally failed.
The specialists, however, had to work even at such a moment. What happened in those minutes when there was no communication with the astronauts? What killed the Soyuz 11 crew?
The word "depressurization" sounded almost immediately. We remembered the emergency situation with the hatch and carried out a leak test. But its results showed that the hatch is reliable, it has nothing to do with it.
But it really was about depressurization. Analysis of the records of the Mir autonomous onboard measurement recorder, a kind of "black box" of the spacecraft, showed that from the moment the compartments were separated at an altitude of more than 150 km, the pressure in the descent vehicle began to drop sharply, and within 115 seconds it dropped to 50 millimeters of mercury.
These indicators indicated the destruction of one of the ventilation valves, which is provided in case the ship lands on the water or lands with the hatch down. The reserve of life support system resources is limited, and so that the astronauts do not experience a lack of oxygen, the valve "connected" the spacecraft to the atmosphere. It should have been triggered during normal landing only at an altitude of 4 km, but it happened at an altitude of 150 km, in a vacuum.
The forensic examination showed that the crew members showed signs of cerebral hemorrhage, blood in the lungs, damage to the eardrum and the release of nitrogen from the blood.
From the report of the medical service: “50 seconds after separation, Patsaev has a respiratory rate of 42 per minute, which is characteristic of acute oxygen starvation. Dobrovolsky's pulse drops rapidly, breathing stops by this time. This is the initial period of death. At the 110th second after separation, neither pulse nor respiration is recorded in all three. We believe that death occurred 120 seconds after the separation. "
The crew fought to the end, but had no chance of salvation
The hole in the valve, through which the air escaped, was no more than 20 mm, and, as some engineers stated, it could "just be plugged with a finger." However, in practice, this advice was impracticable. Immediately after the depressurization, a fog formed in the cockpit, and a terrible whistle of outgoing air sounded. Just a few seconds later, due to acute decompression sickness, the astronauts began to experience terrible pains all over their bodies, and then they found themselves in complete silence due to bursting eardrums.
But Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsaev fought to the end. All transmitters and receivers in the Soyuz-11 cockpit were turned off. The shoulder straps of all three crew members were unfastened, and Dobrovolsky's belts were mixed up and only the upper belt buckle was fastened. On these grounds, an approximate picture of the last seconds of the life of the astronauts was restored. To determine the place where the depressurization occurred, Patsaev and Volkov unfastened their belts and turned off the radio. Dobrovolsky may have managed to check the hatch with which there were problems during undocking. Apparently, the crew realized that the problem was in the vent valve. It was not possible to plug the hole with a finger, but it was possible to close the emergency valve with a manual drive, using a valve. This system was made in case of landing on water, to prevent flooding of the descent vehicle.On Earth, Alexei Leonov and Nikolai Rukavishnikov participated in an experiment trying to establish how long it takes to close the valve. The cosmonauts, who knew where the trouble would come from, who were ready for this and who were not in real danger, needed much more time than the Soyuz-11 crew had. Doctors believe that consciousness in such conditions began to extinguish after about 20 seconds. However, the escape valve was partially closed. Someone from the crew began to rotate it, but lost consciousness.
After "Soyuz-11", the cosmonauts were again dressed in spacesuits
The reason for the abnormal opening of the valve was considered a defect in the manufacture of this system. Even the KGB got involved in the case, seeing a possible sabotage. But they did not find any saboteurs, and besides, on Earth, it was not possible to experimentally repeat the situation of an abnormal opening of the valve. As a result, this version was left final in the absence of a more reliable one.
Spacesuits could have saved the cosmonauts, but on the personal instructions of Sergei Korolyov, their use was discontinued, starting with Voskhod-1, when this was done to save space in the cockpit. After the Soyuz-11 disaster, controversy broke out between the military and engineers - the former insisted on the return of the spacesuits, and the latter argued that this emergency was an exceptional case, while the introduction of spacesuits would dramatically reduce the ability to deliver payload and increase the number of crew members.
The victory in the discussion remained with the military, and since the Soyuz-12 flight, Russian cosmonauts have been flying only in spacesuits.
The ashes of Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsaev were buried in the Kremlin wall. The program of manned flights to the Salyut-1 station was curtailed.
The next manned flight in the USSR took place more than two years later. Vasily Lazarev and Oleg Makarov new spacesuits were tested at Soyuz-12.
The failures of the late 1960s and early 1970s did not become fatal for the Soviet space program. By the 1980s, the space exploration program using orbital stations had once again propelled the Soviet Union into the world leader. During the flights, emergency situations and serious accidents happened, but people and equipment were at their best. Since June 30, 1971, there have been no disasters with fatalities in the national cosmonautics.
P.S. The diagnosis "tuberculosis" given to cosmonaut Valery Kubasov turned out to be erroneous. The darkening in the lungs was a reaction to the flowering plants, and soon disappeared. Kubasov, together with Alexei Leonov, participated in a joint flight with American astronauts under the Soyuz-Apollo program, as well as in a flight with the first Hungarian cosmonaut Bertalan Farkas.
Incredible facts
In the recently released space thriller "Gravity", viewers have the opportunity to watch the terrifying situation when the astronauts played Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, blows away into space.
A catastrophe occurs due to the fact that space debris incapacitates the space shuttle.
Although this situation is fictitious, the likelihood of death and destruction is very real. Here are the biggest disasters in the history of space flight.
1. Soyuz-1 and the death of cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov in 1967
First fatal disaster in the history of space flight occurred in 1967 with a Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov on board Soyuz-1, which died on landing when the spacecraft's descent vehicle crashed into the ground.
According to various sources, the cause of the tragedy was parachute system failure... We can only guess what happened during the last minutes.
On impact on the ground, the onboard tape recorder melted, and the astronaut, most likely, died instantly from incredible overloads. Only a few charred remains of the body remained.
2. Soyuz-11: death in space
Another tragic ending in the Soviet space program occurred on June 30, 1971, when the cosmonauts Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Victor Patsaev died returning to Earth from the Salyut-1 space station.
Investigation showed that during the descent of Soyuz 11, the breathing valve, which normally opens before landing, worked earlier, causing the astronauts to asphyxia.
The pressure drop in the descent vehicle exposed the crew the impact of outer space... The cosmonauts were without spacesuits, since the descent vehicle was not designed for three people.
Already 22 seconds after depressurization at an altitude of about 150 km, they began to lose consciousness, and after 42 seconds, their heart stopped. They were found sitting in a chair, they had a hemorrhage, their eardrums were damaged, and the nitrogen in the blood blocked the vessels.
3. Disaster of the shuttle Challenger
January 28, 1986 NASA Space Shuttle Challenger exploded live shortly after the start.
The launch caught everyone's attention as a teacher went into orbit for the first time. Christa McAuliffe, which hoped to give lessons from space, attracting an audience of millions of schoolchildren.
The disaster dealt a serious blow to the reputation of the United States, and everyone could see it.
The investigation revealed that due to the cold temperature on the day of launch, there was a problem with the O-ring, which destroyed the mount.
As a result of the disaster, all seven crew members died, and the shuttle program was closed until 1988.
4. Disaster of the shuttle "Columbia"
17 years after the Challenger tragedy, the shuttle program suffered another loss when the Columbia spacecraft collapsed upon entering the dense layers of the atmosphere February 1, 2003 by the end of the STS-107 mission.
The investigation showed that the cause of death was foam fragments, which damaged the shuttle's thermal insulation coating, creating a hole with a diameter of about 20 cm.
Found ship wreck
All seven crew members could have escaped, but quickly passed out and died while the shuttle continued to fall to pieces.
5. Mission Apollo: fire on Apollo 1
Although not a single astronaut died during the Apollo missions, two fatal accidents occurred in the course of related activities. Three astronauts: Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee died during the ground test of the command module, which occurred on January 27, 1967. During training, a fire broke out in the cockpit, which caused the astronauts to suffocate, and their bodies were burned.
The investigation revealed a few mistakes including the use of pure oxygen in the cockpit, flammable Velcro fasteners and an inward-opening hatch that prevented the crew from getting out quickly.
Prior to the test, the three astronauts were worried about the upcoming training and were photographed in front of the model ship.
The accident led to many changes and improvements to future missions, thanks to which the first landing on the moon was later carried out.
6. Apollo 13: "Houston, we have a problem"
The Apollo 13 mission has clearly demonstrated the dangers that lie in wait for humans in space.
The launch of the spacecraft took place on April 11, 1970 at 13 hours 13 minutes. During the flight, there was oxygen tank explosion that damaged the service module, disrupting the plans to land on the moon.
Damaged Apollo 13 Service Module
To return to Earth, astronauts had to fly around the moon using its gravity. During the explosion, the astronaut Jack Swygert over the radio he said, "Houston, we had a problem." Subsequently, in the famous Hollywood movie "Apollo 13" it was changed to the now famous quote: " Houston we have a problem".
7. Lightning strikes and taiga: Apollo 12 and Voskhod-2
Both the Soviet space program and NASA had some pretty interesting, though not catastrophic, incidents. In 1969, during the launch of Apollo 12, lightning struck the spaceship twice at the 36th and 52nd seconds after the start. Despite this, the mission was successful.
"Voskhod-2" became famous due to the fact that in 1965, during the flight, the world's first spacewalk was performed.
But there was a small incident during landing due to the delay caused by the additional orbit around the Earth. In this case, the place of return to the atmosphere was shifted.
Alexey Leonov and Pavel Belyaev on board the ship landed in the deep taiga about 30 km from the town of Bereznyaki, Perm region. The cosmonauts spent two days in the taiga, after which they were found by rescuers.
Half a century ago, something happened that was hard to believe - a man flew into space. Astronauts are heroes of a bygone generation, but their names are still remembered today. Few people know, but space for man was far from peaceful, it was given by blood. The deceased cosmonauts, hundreds of test officers and soldiers who died in explosions and fires in the process of testing rocket technology. Needless to say, the thousands of unnamed servicemen who died while doing routine work - crashed, burned alive, poisoned with heptyl. And, despite this, unfortunately, not everyone was satisfied. Flying into space is an unusually dangerous and difficult job: about the people who perform it, and will be discussed in this article ...
Komarov Vladimir Mikhailovich
Pilot-cosmonaut, engineer-colonel, twice Hero of the Soviet Union. More than once he flew on the Voskhod-1 and Soyuz-1 spacecraft. He was the commander of the first-ever crew of three. Komarov died on April 24, 1967, when, at the end of the flight program, during descent to Earth, the parachute of the descent vehicle did not open, as a result of which the structure, on board which the officer was on, crashed into the ground at full speed.
Dobrovolsky Georgy Timofeevich
Soviet cosmonaut, Air Force lieutenant colonel, Hero of the Soviet Union. Died June 30, 1971 in the stratosphere over Kazakhstan. The cause of death is believed to be the depressurization of the Soyuz-11 descent vehicle, probably due to valve failure. He had a huge number of prestigious awards, including the Order of Lenin.
Patsaev Victor Ivanovich
Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR, Hero of the Soviet Union, the first astronomer in the world who was lucky enough to work outside the earth's atmosphere. Patsaev was in the same crew as Dobrovolsky, he died with him on June 30, 1971 due to a leak in the Soyuz-11 SA oxygen valve.
Scobie Francis Richard
Astronaut NASA, twice made space flights on the Challenger shuttle. It is listed among those killed in space as a result of the accident of the STS-51L spacecraft, along with its crew. The launch vehicle with the shuttle exploded 73 seconds after the launch, there were 7 people on board. The cause of the catastrophe is considered to be burnout of the walls of the solid-fuel accelerator. Francis Scobie's name is posthumously inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame.
Reznik Judith Arlen
An American woman astronaut, spent about 150 hours in space, was part of the crew of the same ill-fated space shuttle Challenger and died at its launch on January 28, 1986 in Florida. At one time, she was the second woman who flew into space.
Anderson Michael Phillip
American aerospace computer engineer, US astronaut pilot, Air Force lieutenant colonel. During his life, he has flown more than 3000 hours on various jet planes. Killed while returning from space aboard the Columbia STS-107 spacecraft on February 1, 2003. The crash occurred at an altitude of 63 kilometers above Texas. Anderson and six of his colleagues, after a 15-day stay in orbit, burned to death just 16 minutes before landing.
Ramon Ilan
Israeli Air Force pilot, Israel's first astronaut. Tragically died on February 1, 2003 in the destruction of the same shuttle "Columbia STS-107", which crashed in the dense layers of the earth's atmosphere.
Grissom Virgil Ivan
The world's first commander of a two-seater spacecraft. Unlike the previous participants in the rating, this astronaut died on Earth, even during the preparatory phase of the flight, a month before the scheduled launch of Apollo 1. On January 27, 1967, during training at Kennedy Space Center, a fire broke out in an atmosphere of pure oxygen, where Virgil Griss and two of his colleagues died.
Bondarenko Valentin Vasilievich
He died under very similar circumstances on March 23, 1961. He was on the list of the first 20 cosmonauts selected for the first ever space flight. When tested by the cold and loneliness in the pressure chamber, his training woolen suit caught fire as a result of an accident, and the man died from the burns he received eight hours later.
Adams Michael James
American test pilot, US Air Force astronaut. He was among the dead in space during his seventh suborbital flight on the X-15 in 1967. For unknown reasons, the aircraft on board which Adams was on board was completely destroyed at an altitude of more than 50 miles above the earth's surface. The causes of the accident still remain unknown, all telemetric information was lost along with the remnants of the rocket plane.
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classmates
Space does not forgive mistakes. Yet humanity is tirelessly trying. It has been sending its best representatives to storm the skies for over 50 years. And during this time, many tragedies related to space flights have happened.
Over the past half century, about 30 cosmonauts and astronauts have died while preparing or performing dangerous space missions. But the vast majority of these deaths occurred either on the ground or in the Earth's atmosphere. That is, below the generally accepted boundary of outer space, called. This imaginary border runs at an altitude of about 100 kilometers.
In total, about 550 people have visited space during the space age. And speaking in legal terms, three of them died directly in outer space.
Fatal border
In the early days of the space race, both the United States and the Soviet Union experienced several deadly plane crashes that killed several pilots while testing advanced jet aircraft. Then the tragic incident with Apollo 1 happened. The January 1967 fire killed astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee. How did it come about? During the launch simulation, an accidental spark occurred in the cockpit of the spacecraft. Which was filled with pure oxygen. This led to an uncontrolled fire that quickly engulfed the doomed team. And led to the tragic death of people. Despite the fact that they struggled to open the hatch door, which was under pressure. Subsequent trainings were carried out without an atmosphere of pure oxygen.
Over the next three years, the Apollo astronauts made seven missions to the moon. "" Brought people to its surface for the first time. And the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission ended in failure. Due to malfunctions on board, the spacecraft had to return to Earth. The moon landing was canceled. But there were no casualties.
But on June 30, 1971, humanity witnessed the first (and currently the only) deaths in space.
Accident of "Soyuz-11"
The first space orbital station was the Soviet Salyut-1. She was launched into space without a crew on April 19, 1971. Just a few days later, the Soyuz-10 spacecraft set off for the station. Its crew included three Soviet cosmonauts. The purpose of their expedition was to dock with the station, the astronauts' transfer to it and work there for a month.
The Soyuz-10 spacecraft docked safely with the Salyut-1. But problems with the entrance hatch prevented the astronauts from going to the space station. Therefore, it was decided to early return of the expedition to Earth. However, during the descent, toxic chemicals leaked into the air supply system of the Soyuz-10 spacecraft. And one of the astronauts fainted. Nevertheless, all three crew members returned home safely.
Just a few months later, on June 6, the Soyuz-11 expedition went into orbit. Her goal was to try to get access to the space station after all. Unlike the previous crew, three Soyuz-11 cosmonauts - Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsaev - successfully switched to Salyut-1. They spent three weeks on board. At the same time, a new record was set for the time spent. And also a lot of experiments were carried out aimed at studying the consequences of a long stay of a person in zero gravity.
On June 29, the cosmonauts went back to the Soyuz-11 spacecraft. And they began their descent to Earth. And then a tragedy happened….
Faulty valve
It seemed to those on the ground that the return of the Soyuz-11 had gone without any problems. The spacecraft appeared to have passed through the atmosphere normally. And eventually he landed in Kazakhstan. As planned. It wasn't until the rescue team opened the hatch that they discovered that all three crew members were dead.
“There was no external damage to the descent vehicle,” recalls Kerim Kerimov, chairman of the State Commission on Manned Flights. “The rescue team knocked on the side of the rescue vehicle, but there was no answer. Opening the hatch, rescuers found that all three astronauts were lying on couches. They were motionless, with dark blue spots on their faces and traces of blood near their nose and ears. We pulled the bodies out. Dobrovolsky was still warm. Doctors gave artificial respiration to the astronauts. Apparently, suffocation became the cause of death of people. "
Investigation determined that the fatal accident resulted from a faulty valve seal on the descent vehicle. It burst during separation from the service module. At an altitude of 168 km, a lethal combination of a leaking valve and a space vacuum quickly removed all air from the cockpit. This valve was located in a hard-to-reach place under the astronauts' seats. And they had almost no chance of solving the problem that had arisen.
Three Soviet heroes today (and this path will always be so) are the only people who ended their journey directly in outer space ...
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On April 12, the planet celebrates Cosmonautics Day - a holiday timed to coincide with the date of the first space flight of Yuri Gagarin on the Vostok-1 spacecraft. But what is “celebrating” this wonderful holiday?
First of all, we pay tribute to the feat that opened a new era for human civilization. Indeed, on this day, humanity, hitherto chained to the earth by gravity and biology, has done something special and amazing, contrary to all the limitations of nature.
Last but not least, April 12 is also a holiday of national pride. After all, the person who achieved this achievement was a citizen of the Union, a simple guy from the Smolensk hinterland - Yuri Gagarin. But also Cosmonautics Day is a monument to humanity and its heroes, living and dead.
The dangers of space
“Space is the last frontier,” as the famous character of the cult science fiction television series said. The endless expanses of space is the limit of human thinking and ambition, which only those in whom curiosity, courage, perseverance and ambition speak most strongly.
The realities of space are cruel: due to the astronomical complexity of the delivery and life support systems used in astronautics, any flight involves a risk that can never be completely avoided. The human mind is able to calculate a lot, but it is not able to grasp everything, and in space an apparent trifle or trifle can lead to death. Today, on the day of cosmonautics, we will remember the heroes of mankind who brought their lives to the altar of space exploration.
The deceased cosmonauts of the USSR
Komarov, Vladimir Mikhailovich, died on April 24, 1967. Engineer-Colonel Vladimir Komarov is a test cosmonaut who piloted the new Soviet spacecraft - "Voskhod-1" and "Soyuz-1", which became the first multi-seat spacecraft in the history of astronautics. Komarov's first flight on Voskhod-1 (October 12-13, 1964) in itself characterized both the commander and the crew as heroes - after all, the cosmonauts flew without spacesuits and ejection systems, which were not installed on the ship due to an acute lack of space ...
The second flight, which was the last for Komarov, was unsuccessful. Due to malfunctions in the solar panels, Soyuz-1 was ordered to land, which became fatal for its crew. At the final stages of descent, an accident occurred: first the main parachute did not work, and then the reserve one, the lines of which got tangled due to the strong rotation of the descent vehicle. At tremendous speed, the ship crashed into the ground - the ship's crew died instantly. The heroism of Komarov, like that of other deceased cosmonauts, is dedicated to the memorial plaque and the "Fallen Astronaut" statuette, left in the Hadley furrow of the Apennine Mountains on the Moon by the crew of the Apollo 15 spacecraft.
The death of Soyuz-11 on June 30, 1971. Georgy Dobrovolsky and his crew (V. Patsaev and V. Volkov) were trained as backup teams for Alexei Leonov, the first person to carry out a spacewalk. However, a few days before the launch of Soyuz-11, the medical board rejected Leonov's flight engineer, Valery Kubasov. Fate decreed that the crew of Dobrovolsky flew. On June 7, 1971, Soyuz-11 docked with the Salyut-11 orbital station and began to deactivate it.
Not everything went smoothly: the air was heavily smoggy, and on the 11th day there was a fire altogether, a thing in space is truly terrible. However, in general, the flight task was completed, and the crew was able to carry out a whole range of scientific observations and research even in such difficult conditions. Two days before the tragedy, during undocking, the indicator did not go out in any way, signaling that the hatch cover was not closed tightly. Visual inspection did not reveal any problems, and the Flight Control Center admitted a sensor malfunction. During landing on June 30, 1971, at an altitude of 150 km, the ship was depressurized. Despite the fact that the automatic landing was performed in the normal mode, the entire crew died from decompression sickness.
The Challenger crash on January 28, 1986
The Challenger is a reusable American shuttle ship, the second in a series of five built vehicles. At the time of the disaster, he had nine successful flights. The disaster became a real national tragedy for the United States: the start from Cape Canaveral was shown live on television. He was accompanied by remarks from the presenters that the Space Shuttle program is the future of astronautics.
Fifty seconds after the launch, one of the Challenger's boosters began to show signs of a side jet: due to malfunctions, the fuel burned through a hole in the base of the structure). Then, to the horror of millions of spectators in America and around the world, in the 73rd second of flight, the Challenger turned into a flaming cloud of debris - the violation of aerodynamic symmetry literally shattered the shuttle glider, torn to pieces by air resistance, in a matter of moments.
The tragedy was also added by the study, which proved that at least several crew members survived the destruction of the glider, because were in the most durable part of the shuttle - in the cockpit. However, the survivors of the crash had no chances to escape: the debris of the shuttle, including the cabin, hit the water surface at a speed of ~ 350 km / h, and the acceleration in the peaks was 200g (that is, the Earth's gravity multiplied by 200 times) ... The entire shuttle crew was killed. A public opinion poll conducted some time after the disaster showed that the Challenger disaster was the third largest national upheaval for America in the 20th century, along with the death of F. Roosevelt and the assassination of J. Kennedy.
Disaster of the shuttle "Columbia" on February 1, 2003
At the time of its tragic death during its 28th flight, Columbia was a real "old man" - a pioneer: it was the very first space shuttle in the series, laid down in the spring of 1975. During its last launch, the ship suffered damage to the thermal protection of the lower left wing. Due to operational errors and technological miscalculations, a piece of insulation was torn from the oxygen tank during the starting overloads. The debris hit the bottom of the glider, which ultimately signed Columbia's death warrant. When, after a successful sixteen-day flight, the Columbia entered the dense atmosphere, this damage led to overheating of the pneumatic assemblies of the landing gear and its explosion, which destroyed the shuttle wing. All seven crew members died almost instantly. The tragedy of Columbia played not the least role in NASA's rejection of the Space Shuttle reusable spacecraft project.
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