SPACE TRAGEDIES
Added on: 26th Jul 2015
BONDARENKO'S TRAINING
Valentin Bondarenko, Soviet cosmonaut, died on March 23, 1961, as the
first space-related fatality. Bondarenko accidentally dropped an
alcohol-soaked cotton ball onto an electric hotplate he was using
to brew tea while training in a high-oxygen, low-pressure chamber.
The cotton ball quickly ignited along with the oxygen in the
surrounding atmosphere. Though a monitoring doctor pulled him out
(after nearly a thirty minute delay to pressurize), Bondarenko later
died in hospital from severe third-degree burns. His death was
covered up by the Soviet government to those in the West until
nearly twenty years later. Lessons learned from his death may have
prevented Apollo 1’s fire.
T-38 CRASH
During a training jet run, American pilots Elliot See and Charles Bassett
died on February 28, 1966, when their Northrop T-38 Talon crashed in
St. Louis, Missouri. Poor visibility led to an initial overshooting of the
runway. Pilot See changed to a visual circling approach, using instruments
to bring the craft down. After dropping too quickly and too far from the
runway, See activated the afterburner to boost power. He pulled the
plane right where it struck the room of McDonnell Building 101 before
cartwheeling and crashing into a nearby parking lot. Ironically,
See and Bassett died 500 feet (150 meters) from the Gemini 9 craft
which would transport them into space.
APOLLO 1
NASA’s first space disaster came on January 27, 1967, while testing its
would-be first manned mission. While participating in a training experience,
three crewmembers – Edward H. White II, Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, &
Roger B. Chaffee – died when a fire erupted inside the command module.
The use of pure oxygen in the cabin and an inward-opening hatch were
two primary reasons for the disaster. This incident, the first fatal
accident for NASA, led the agency to shut down the Apollo moon
program for 18 months and make serious changes to increase safety.
VIRGIN GALACTIC'S SPACESHIP TWO
On SpaceShipTwo’s 55th test flight, the craft separated as planned
from its carrier, White Knight Two. The craft was taking off from the
Mojave Air and Spaceport the morning of October 31, 2014. Nine
Seconds into a textbook perfect flight, the craft’s twin tail booms
(which act as a brakes on descent) unexpectedly deployed. The
rocket continued to accelerate as planned and the combination of
acceleration & drag from the booms led to the craft breaking up over
the Mojave Desert. One of two pilots, Peter Siebold, survived the
crash while the other, Michael Alsbury, did not. The National
Transportation & Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the incident.
SOYUZ 1
Vladimir Komarov (a close friend of Yuri Gagarin) commanded April 2,
1967’s Soyuz 1 mission. After a successful stay in space, Soyuz 1
re-entered the atmosphere. When its parachutes failed to deploy, the
impact led to his death, the first human space fatality. (Some reports
say Gagarin tried to take Komarov’s place in a last minute attempt for
what some purport was a mission doomed to fail. However, much
scepticism surrounds this theory.)
SOYUZ 11
Three Soviet cosmonauts, Viktor Patsayev, Georgi Dobrovolsky, and
Vladislav Volkov, perished upon their capsule’s return to Earth on June
30, 1971. After successfully docking with Soviet space station Salyut 1 in
the three weeks prior, the team’s re-entry and descent appeared normal.
However, when rescue teams reached the capsule, they shockingly
found the cosmonauts dead. A valve had opened in space, leading
to rapid depressurization and asphyxiation. The craft’s autopilot
re-entry system allowed the craft to return normally. These deaths are
considered the first and only human space deaths as all other
fatalities occurred within Earth’s atmosphere.
SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA
Space Shuttle Columbia’s seven-person crew, composed of Rick
Husband, William McCool, David Brown, Laurel Clark, Kalpana Chawla,
Michael Anderson, and Ilan Ramon (the one non-American on the crew;
he was Israeli), died during re-entry on February 1, 2003. Returning
from a 16-day research mission in Earth’s orbit, the craft disintegrated
over northern Texas. The fault was linked to a piece of foam from the
fuel tank’s insulation which fell off during take-off, hitting the shuttle’s
left wing and damaging its thermal protection system (the system to
protect from burning temperatures caused by friction from re-entry).
The resulting hole led to internal damage from hot gas penetrating the
craft. The explosion led U.S. President George W. Bush to retire the space
shuttle program the following year.
SPACE SHUTTLE CHALLENGER
The first of two NASA shuttle disasters and the first U.S. space flight
with in-flight fatalities, the Challenger’s seven-astronaut crew died on
January 28, 1986. The seven – Sharon “Christa” McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis,
Judy Resnik, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair, Michael Smith, and Ellison Onizuka,
died when the shuttle exploded 1 minute 13 seconds into launch.
Challenger’s 10th launch, the explosion was caused by failing o-ring seals
in the right solid-rocket booster, releasing hot gases and causing it to rupture.
The astronauts may have survived the explosion but would not have
survived when the mostly intact cockpit slammed into the ocean at 200 mph
(320 kph). Half of the craft’s remains have yet to be recovered and
occasionally wash ashore.
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