As of 2022, 18 astronauts have died in the line of duty, a total of 4 accidents, all of which have caused the death of all crew members.
1. Fatal accidents during flight
1. Mission Soyuz 1 accident
On April 23, 1967, Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov flew the Soyuz 1 mission. But Soyuz-1 had a series of breakdowns from the moment it entered orbit. The ground tracking station analyzed the data sent back by the spacecraft and found that one of the spacecraft's solar panels was not deployed, and the 45K solar sensor did not work. This caused the battery to drain quickly, and the failure of the solar sensor allowed the spacecraft to rely on manual control of reentry. The Soviet government was forced to cancel the original docking plan. On April 24, 1967, during the return process, due to a malfunction, the parachute could not be opened, and the spacecraft hit the ground at high speed, resulting in the death of the astronaut.
The picture shows Colonel Komarov
2. Mission Alliance 11
On June 6, 1971, three Soviet cosmonauts: Commander Georgy Dobrovolsky, experimental engineer Viktor Pachaev, and flight engineer Vladislav Volkov were ignited at the Baikonur cosmodrome aboard the Soyuz-11 manned spacecraft. The spacecraft's mission is important: it is planned that Soyuz 11 should dock with Salyut 1, the world's first long-term orbital space station launched by the Soviet Union, and allow three astronauts to enter the station. The Soyuz 11 spacecraft successfully docked with Salyut 1 on June 7, 1971. At 10:45 on June 7, three astronauts successfully entered the space station.
On June 30, 1971, the return module of the former Soviet Union's Soyuz 11 spacecraft re-entered the atmosphere, because the pressure valve of the return module was shaken open during separation, resulting in the destruction of the sealing performance, the air in the return module leaked from there, and the cabin was rapidly depressurized, resulting in the death of three astronauts due to acute lack of oxygen and boiling body fluids.
After the accident, all space vehicles added one set of life support equipment, and stipulated that space suits must be worn during the ascent and return sections.
A commemorative stamp issued by the Soviet Union for Soyuz 11 in 1971
3. STS-51-L Space Shuttle Mission (Space Shuttle Challenger)
On January 28, 1986, seven astronauts: Commander Dick Scobie, pilot Michael John Smith, payload specialists Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe, and three mission specialists Joji Onizuka, Ronald McNair and Judith Restnick were launched aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, and the original plan was to deploy the tracking and data relay satellite TDRS-B in an inertial upper stage to cooperate with similar satellites to communicate with the orbiter. The crew also plans to study Halley's Comet that passed near the Sun, deploying and recovering the SPARTAN satellite.
(front row, from left) Smith, Scobie, McNair; (Back row, from left) Joji Onizuka, McAuliffe, Jarvis, Lesnick
The Space Shuttle Challenger, which had just taken off 73 seconds over Florida, USA, disintegrated, killing seven crew members on board. The disintegrated wreckage fell off the Atlantic coast in central Florida, United States. The cause of the accident was the failure of the O-ring seal of the right solid rocket booster, which caused the leakage of high-pressure and high-heat gas in the solid rocket booster that should have been sealed. This gas affected the adjacent outer storage tank, failing under high temperature cauterization, while also causing the tail of the right solid rocket booster to detach and separate. Finally, the high-speed shuttle disintegrated 73 seconds after launch under the influence of air resistance, and none of the seven crew members on board survived.
The solid booster on the right emits gray smoke
The space shuttle Challenger that just exploded
The accident halted the Space Shuttle program for 32 months, and President Ronald Reagan established the Rogers Commission to investigate. The U.S. government approved the construction of the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1986, which was completed in 1990 and first flew two years later. Space shuttle missions have since used redesigned solid boosters, and crews require pressure suits during ascent and reentry.
President Reagan and First Lady Nancy (left) attend a memorial service for the crew on January 31, 1986
4. STS-107 Space Shuttle Mission (Space Shuttle Columbia)
On January 16, 2003, seven astronauts: Commander Rick Hesbend, pilot William McCool, Mission Specialist David Brown, Mission Specialist Karpana Cholla, Payload Commander Michael Anderson, Mission Specialist Laurel Clark and Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon, were ignited aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia.
From left: Brown, Hesbend, Clark, Jorah, Anderson, McCool, Ramon
On 1 February 2003, Columbia crashed when it re-entered the atmosphere over Texas and Louisiana, and fragments of insulation material on the outer tank of the Space Shuttle were aerodynamically detached during launch and hit the leading edge of the Columbia's left wing, damaging the shuttle thermal protection system that provided protection during reentry.
Falls off and damages the left-foot foam ramp detail of the space shuttle wing
At about 08:57 , the Columbia was seen with an anomaly of wake from the left and rear. Image taken by a telescope in the U.S. Air Force
The Accident Investigation Board's recommendations identified a number of technical and managerial issues. Like the Challenger accident, the shuttle was grounded for two years. Construction of the ISS was suspended and it was completely dependent on Roscosmos for supplies during the first 29 months of STS-114, and for replacement personnel during the first 41 months of STS-121. After the shuttle's resumption, major operational changes included a thorough orbit inspection, confirmation of the ability of the shuttle's insulation system to withstand the rise, and readiness for assigned rescue missions in case irreparable damage was discovered. Since then, with the exception of NASA's 2009 mission through the STS-125 mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope in a high-altitude, low-inclination orbit, the shuttle has only traveled to the International Space Station to serve as a nearby refuge for astronauts if necessary.
5. X-15 demonstrator accident
On November 15, 1967, American astronaut Michael Adams flew on the X-15 test aircraft on a mission, began a tailspin during descent, the gravitational acceleration reached 15G (147m/s²), the aircraft disintegrated in the air, the wreckage was scattered over 50 square miles, and pilot Michael Adams was unfortunately killed in this accident. On June 8, 2004, a monument was erected to him near Landsburgh, California, where the X-15 cockpit was found. In addition, Adams was posthumously awarded the Wings of the Astronaut Medal. In 1991, his name was placed in the Astronaut Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
X-15 demonstrator
2. Fatal accidents during training or testing
1. On March 23, 1961, the first group of Soviet cosmonauts Valentin Bondarenko died during training due to a fire in an isolated baric chamber. He was conducting a 15-day isolated baric chamber experiment in which the cabin maintained low air pressure but contained more than 50 percent oxygen. He inadvertently discarded a used alcohol cotton ball on an induction cooker, but the high oxygen content allowed the fire to expand rapidly in a confined space, and Bondarenko burned his body and face three times before dying 16 hours later.
2. On October 31, 1964, Theodore Freeman, the third group of American astronauts, died during a training crash on a trainer plane. Freeman flew a T-38 trainer from St. Louis to Houston. He was returning to base from a training mission in St. Louis when he crashed while entering the field at Allington United Base. The investigation reported that the plane hit a wild goose and the engine turned off and stopped. Freeman tried to land the plane but was unsuccessful, and at the last moment he decided to parachute to escape, but at that time the flight position was nose down, Freeman ejected from the cockpit almost horizontally, causing the parachute to fail to open in time, Freeman fell to his death.
3. On February 28, 1966, two American astronauts, Elliott Shee and Charles Bassett, died in a trainer crash. Elliott Shee and Charles Bassett were flying a T-38 trainer plane while trying to land at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport in bad weather when they crashed into the MacDonald factory adjacent to the airport. The two had planned to train for the Gemini 9A launch mission at the plant.
4. On January 27, 1967, three astronauts Virgil Gleason, Edward White and Roger Chafee died during training due to a fire in the command module. While the three astronauts were on a training mission in a closed command module, the Teflon insulation protection of a section of silver-plated copper wire in the cabin was stripped of it, and an exothermic chemical reaction was created with ethylene glycol leaking from the pipeline, igniting the ethylene glycol mixture. The pure oxygen environment in the cabin made the fire expand instantly, and the three astronauts died before they had time to contact the complex deadbolt to escape.
From left: Gleason, White, Chafee
Burned remains of the Apollo 1 command module
5. On October 5, 1967, American astronaut Clifton Williams died as a result of a plane crash. A T-38 trainer flying Williams took off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, bound for Houston when it crashed about 24 kilometers north of Tallahassee, Florida's state capital, after a malfunction in the plane's aileron mechanical control system. Due to the low ejection altitude, the parachute failed to fully open and fell to the ground. Williams was selected as the pilot for the Apollo lunar module, partnering Commander Pete Conrad and another pilot, Richard Golden.
6. On December 8, 1967, American astronaut Robert Henry Lawrence died as a result of an airplane crash. Robert Henry Lawrence, the first black astronaut, was selected for the Air Force Manned Orbital Laboratory R&D program. On December 8, 1967, he and another pilot, Harvey Royer, flew an F-104 Star fighter jet and crashed at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Both pilots ejected from the cockpit, and Harvey Royer was injured, but Robert Lawrence's parachute did not fully open and unfortunately died.
7. On July 11, 1993, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Vozovikov drowned during underwater search and rescue training. Sergey, a training cosmonaut of the 11th Group of the Soviet Air Force, drowned on July 11, 1993, during underwater search and rescue training in the Black Sea near Anapa.
8. On October 31, 2014, American astronaut Michael Aylesbury crashed and died during a spacecraft test flight. At about 10 a.m. on October 31, 2014, Spaceship 2 was detached from the mother ship and was about to continue to take off, and not long after the explosion occurred, and then the entire spacecraft broke in half and fell rapidly, crashing in the Mojave Desert in California. Michael Aylesbury was killed, another pilot survived.
spacecraft