Buzz
As Neil Armstrong once famously stated, 'Mystery creates wonder, and wonder is the foundation of man's desire to understand.' This profound curiosity about space and the unknown has driven astronauts like Armstrong to take great risks in their pursuit of knowledge for humanity. Yet, despite numerous accomplishments, both the American and Russian space programs have encountered many setbacks—some tragic and even fatal.
10. X-15 Flight 3-65-97
On November 15, 1967, Michael J. Adams detached his X-15 from the wing of its NB-52B mothership at an altitude of 13,700 meters (45,000 feet) over Delamar Dry Lake, Nevada. This was Adams’s seventh mission aboard the high-altitude experimental aircraft, designed for research at the edge of space, but tragically, it would be his final flight.
As Adams applied full thrust, the aircraft surged upwards, reaching speeds exceeding 5,000 kilometers (3,000 miles) per hour. After experiencing minor issues due to an electrical anomaly, the X-15 achieved a maximum altitude of 81,000 meters (266,000 feet). Upon nearing this peak, mission control directed Adams to execute a planned wing-rocking maneuver, allowing a fixed camera on the aircraft to scan the horizon.
Soon after, the rocking motion became more intense, prompting Adams to abort the maneuver. As the plane continued to climb, it veered off course by as much as 15 degrees. Adams began a descent at a right angle to his flight path. Despite this, mission control reassured him, noting that he was slightly high but otherwise in good condition.
Moments later, while descending through 70,000 meters (230,000 feet), the X-15 entered a Mach 5 spin, triggered by rapidly increasing dynamic pressures. By 36,000 meters (118,000 feet), Adams managed to recover from the spin, only to find himself in an inverted, angled Mach 4.7 dive, plummeting at a rate of 50,000 meters (160,000 feet) per minute. As the aircraft plunged, it experienced immense dynamic pressure and extreme forces. At 20,000 meters (65,000 feet), the aircraft disintegrated midair. Adams did not survive.
In recognition of his bravery, Adams was posthumously awarded astronaut wings, as his X-15 flight had reached an altitude exceeding 80.5 kilometers (50 miles), the US threshold for defining space.
9. Soyuz 23
The Soyuz spacecraft, initially conceived in the 1960s as part of the Soviet Manned Lunar Program, ultimately became integral to transporting cosmonauts to and from the Salyut and Mir space stations. Soyuz 23, carrying cosmonauts Vyacheslav Zudov and Valery Rozhdestvensky, launched on October 16, 1976, en route to the Salyut 5 space station.
From the outset, the mission faced numerous setbacks. The vehicle transporting the cosmonauts to the launch pad broke down, and shortly after liftoff, strong winds caused the spacecraft to veer off course. Upon reaching orbit, Soyuz attempted to dock with Salyut 5, but a malfunction in the docking system forced them to move away from the station. After several failed attempts to resolve the issue and with fuel dwindling, the Soyuz began its return journey.
Though Soyuz was intended to land in Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, fierce winds blew the spacecraft off course, causing it to crash into a frozen lake more than 120 kilometers (75 miles) from its target. After landing, the parachute designed to slow the descent became waterlogged, pulling the craft deeper into the lake. As temperatures plummeted to -17°C (1.4°F), the cosmonauts put on all available survival gear as the capsule began to freeze.
By morning, Zudov had lost consciousness. The interior of the capsule was coated with frost. A rescue team arrived and attempted to lift the module from the water, but their helicopter lacked the necessary power. Instead, they dragged the capsule to shore. Eleven hours after Soyuz 23 had touched down, it finally reached safety. To the astonishment of the rescuers, both cosmonauts emerged safe and well.
8. Gemini 8
In 1962, the United States launched the Gemini program, designed to lay the groundwork for the Apollo lunar missions. On March 16, 1966, Gemini 8 successfully lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with Command Pilot Neil Armstrong and Pilot David Scott aboard. The mission's primary goal was to conduct docking tests with an unmanned target vehicle, the 'Gemini Agena Target Vehicle,' or 'GATV.'
The mission was a success—it marked the first successful space docking. However, about thirty minutes into the docking phase, both the Gemini spacecraft and the Agena target began to rotate uncontrollably, prompting Armstrong to use manual controls to regain control. The tumbling continued, and the astronauts were forced to separate from the GATV.
Once Gemini was released, it began to rotate with greater intensity, experiencing rapid rolls and pitches. It spun about once per second, disorienting the astronauts and putting them at a significant risk of blacking out.
The cause of the increased rotation was traced to a thruster's circuit malfunction, which kept it firing continuously. Upon realizing the issue, the astronauts were ordered to return to Earth. Gemini made a successful landing 800 kilometers (500 miles) west of Okinawa, less than 11 hours after launch.
7. Apollo 1
The Apollo 1 tragedy occurred on January 27, 1967, during a simulated launch at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The crew—Virgil 'Gus' Grissom, Edward H. White II, and Roger B. Chaffee—were preparing for a future mission by running through a countdown procedure aboard a command module placed on an unpowered Saturn rocket.
At 1:00 PM, the three astronauts boarded the module and encountered issues immediately. Grissom noticed a strange sour odor in his suit, which led to a delay as an oxygen sample was taken. Technical difficulties persisted for the next several hours, including a microphone that refused to turn off. By 6:30 PM, the countdown was at T minus 10 minutes.
One minute later, one of the astronauts cried out, “Fire, I smell fire.” Soon after, another added, “Fire in the cockpit.” In less than 17 seconds from the first fire report, all three astronauts had lost their lives.
The cause of death was carbon monoxide asphyxiation. Third-degree burns covered their bodies, but asphyxiation took them first. The exact cause of the fire remains officially unexplained. What is known is that the oxygen-rich atmosphere, vulnerable wiring and plumbing, and the abundance of flammable materials inside the cabin created a fatal mix.
6. Voskhod 2
Voskhod 2 is most remembered for being the first mission to successfully perform an EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity), also known as a spacewalk. Like Soyuz 23, it is also remembered for its disastrous reentry and retrieval.
On March 19, 1965, Voskhod 2 was successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, with Pavel Belyayev and Alexey Leonov aboard. It orbited 200 kilometers (125 miles) above Earth. After Leonov completed the 12-minute spacewalk, the cosmonauts readied the craft for reentry. However, the automatic orientation system failed, forcing them to manually land the spacecraft in a forest far from their intended destination.
For four long hours, the command post had no idea of Voskhod 2’s status, until a helicopter spotted a red parachute and two cosmonauts deep within the North Ural forest. The dense woods and thick snow made landing impossible for the helicopter. With no nearby settlements, the crew could only hover overhead and report: “One is chopping wood, and the other is making a campfire.”
After enduring a night in freezing cold, with the threat of wolves or bears nearby, the cosmonauts were relieved to see a rescue team arriving on cross-country skis. They spent one more night in the forest (now equipped with warm clothes and a tent) before heading to a clearing to board a helicopter. They were then flown back and reported to the General Secretary that their mission had been successfully completed.
5. Soyuz 1
Three months following the Apollo 1 disaster, Colonel Vladimir Komarov became the first cosmonaut to board the new Soyuz spacecraft. Unfortunately, his fate would mirror that of the Apollo 1 crew. Nine minutes after launching on April 23, 1967, Soyuz 1 entered orbit and almost immediately began facing serious issues.
During the second orbit, a solar panel that powered half of the spacecraft failed to deploy. By the fifth orbit, Komarov was forced to bang and kick the side of the craft in an attempt to free the panel. By the 13th orbit, power was critically low, prompting the command station to plan a rescue with Soyuz 2, a crewed mission. However, an electrical storm struck the launch pad, forcing them to cancel the rescue, leaving Soyuz 1 to face its fate alone.
With the situation becoming increasingly dire, Komarov made the risky decision to attempt a manual reentry on his 19th orbit. Although he had no training in this procedure, he successfully managed to align the spacecraft’s course. However, when he deployed the main parachute, it malfunctioned. In a panic, Komarov deployed the backup chute, but the faulty main chute snagged it, preventing the craft from slowing down as needed.
On the morning of April 24, a group of villagers in the southern Ural Mountains saw a large object plummeting from the sky. They had no way of knowing that it was Komarov, descending in Soyuz at a speed of over 140 kilometers (90 miles) per hour. Remarkably, he remained alive and conscious until the very moment of impact.
4. Soyuz 18a
On April 5, 1975, Soyuz 18a was launched, carrying cosmonauts Vasili Lazarev and Oleg Makarov, but the mission quickly spiraled into disaster. Less than five minutes after liftoff, the cosmonauts were shocked to find the Soyuz unexpectedly plummeting toward the ground at an alarming rate.
Lazarev later recalled: “We began to feel a creeping, unpleasant pull of gravity… it intensified rapidly, much faster than I had anticipated… Some invincible force seemed to push me deeper into my seat, weighing my eyelids with lead… Breathing became harder and harder.”
The spacecraft endured a staggering 21.3 G of force as the cosmonauts plunged toward Earth. To give perspective, a Boeing 747 experiences only 0.35 G during takeoff. With Makarov suffering from black-and-white vision and tunnel vision, the crew was dangerously close to losing consciousness.
Fortunately, the main parachutes deployed correctly. But the relief was short-lived as the spacecraft crashed into an icy Siberian mountain. The capsule tipped onto its side and began sliding toward a 150-meter (500 ft) cliff. Like something out of an action movie, the parachute caught on some vegetation, halting the descent just before the edge of the drop.
As Lazarev described, “The porthole, once blackened with soot, suddenly cleared, and I saw the trunk of a tree. Yes, this is Earth.”
3. Space Shuttle Challenger
On January 28, 1986, NASA experienced its most devastating disaster. As the Space Shuttle Challenger—carrying Greg Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Michael J. Smith, and Dick Scobee—lifted off from Kennedy Space Center, excitement filled the air. However, just 72 seconds into the flight, mission control heard its final transmission from Challenger. Pilot Michael J. Smith's brief words, “Uh oh,” were followed by an explosion that engulfed the shuttle in flames.
As the shuttle disintegrated, the crew compartment continued to ascend. It reached a height of 20,000 meters (65,000 ft) in just 25 seconds before plummeting back down. The cause of the explosion was traced to an O-ring, a vital mechanical gasket that weakened the external fuel tank, ultimately leading to the shuttle’s destruction.
While it would be a comfort to believe the astronauts were instantly lost in the explosion, this was unlikely. A report from Joseph P. Kerwin, a biomedical expert at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, suggested that the forces during the shuttle's breakup were likely not lethal. In the most plausible and terrifying scenario, the crew remained conscious and alive until the shuttle hit the ocean at 333 kilometers (207 miles) per hour, nearly three minutes after the explosion.
At a memorial service for the fallen crew, President Reagan summed up the tragedy with poignant words: “Sometimes, when we reach for the stars, we fall short. But we must pick ourselves up again and press on despite the pain.”
2. Space Shuttle Columbia
On January 16, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia launched from Kennedy Space Center, carrying astronauts Rick D. Husband, William McCool, Michael P. Anderson, David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel B. Clark, and Ilan Ramon. After reaching orbit, the crew embarked on their 16-day mission, working virtually 24 hours a day. They conducted 80 separate scientific experiments, many of which took place in 'SPACEHAB,' a dedicated research module housed in the shuttle’s cargo bay.
On February 1, after two weeks in orbit, Columbia began its descent back to Earth. Just 16 minutes from landing at Kennedy Space Center, the shuttle suddenly disintegrated, killing all seven astronauts. More than 85,000 pieces of debris rained down over eastern Texas. Investigations revealed that debris from the launch had struck Columbia’s left wing, allowing hot gases during reentry to penetrate and destroy the shuttle.
1. Soyuz 11
The Russian Soyuz 11 is most famously remembered as the first mission to dock with a space station, Salyut 1. Sadly, it is also known for being the first—and only—mission in which human lives were lost in outer space.
Following a successful launch on June 30, 1971, cosmonauts Georgi Dobrovolski, Viktor Patsayev, and Vladislav Volkov docked with the Salyut 1 space station for a 22-day mission. During their time aboard, they conducted various scientific experiments, including studies on how the human body reacts to prolonged weightlessness.
Having completed their mission, the crew prepared to return to Earth. Thirty minutes before landing, the Soyuz 11 left orbit, initiating its descent trajectory. Suddenly, a vital valve malfunctioned, causing a loss of cabin pressure. With oxygen rapidly escaping into space, the cosmonauts were struck by high-altitude decompression.
The cosmonauts perished within 60 seconds, but their deaths were not peaceful. Autopsies conducted by the Burdenko Military Hospital revealed that, during that brief period, they suffered brain hemorrhages, subcutaneous bleeding, ruptured eardrums, and bleeding in the middle ear. All three men would have survived—had they been wearing space suits.
