Space Flight Related Fatal Events

The following events are those involving at least one death to an occupant of a spacecraft during a mission. Deaths involving cosmonauts or astronauts during testing, training, or other activities are excluded.

  1. 23 April 1967; Soyuz 1; : The first flight of the Soyuz series was successfully launched, and successfully reentered the atmosphere. However, both the main and reserve parachute system malfunctioned, causing the capsule to crash near Orenburg in the Soviet Union. Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov was killed on impact with the ground.

  2. 6-29 June 1971; Soyuz 11/Salyut 1: This Soyuz flight carried cosmonauts Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev to the first space station, Salyut 1. The 22-day visit to the station was largely successful. However, during reentry, the crew died after a valve malfunction caused a loss of cabin pressure. The three cosmonauts, who all died from a lack of oxygen, were not wearing space suits.

  3. 28 January 1986; Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-51L), near Cape Canaveral, Florida: Cold launch temperatures contributed to a failure of O-rings on one of the solid rocket motors. As a result of this failure, hot exhaust gases escaped out of the side of the solid rocket motor that in turn led to a major structural failure of the launch vehicle about 73 seconds after liftoff. All seven astronauts were killed.

    Audio from launch and from President Reagan's address

    NASA Information on the Challenger Accident
    Report on cause of death of crew

  4. 1 February 2003; Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-107), over northeast Texas: Space shuttle Columbia (Mission STS-107) disintegrated during re-entry. While most of the debris landed in northeast Texas and western Louisiana, especially the area around the town of Nacagdoches (Knack-a-doe-chess), the breakup very likely began further west, possibly before the spacecraft passed over California. Columbia was in the re-entry phase of flight after a 16-day mission and its intended destination was the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Communications with the shuttle were lost at about 9 a.m. local time. At the time of the most catastrophic phase of the breakup, the spacecraft was at an altitude of about 203,000 feet (approx. 39 mi. or 63 km) and was traveling at about mach 18 (roughly 12,500 mph or 20,000 kph). All seven astronauts on board the spacecraft were killed.

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    Audio from President George W. Bush's address

    Accident Report
    Columbia Accident Investigation Board
    Fatal events involving NASA astronauts
    STS-107 Information from NASA
    Timeline and Maps
    GlobalSecurity.org Shuttle Information
    Risk of a Future Space Shuttle Fatal Event

Space Flight Related Fatal Events
http://airsafe.com/events/space.htm -- Revised: 5 January 2008