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 humans was far from peaceful, it was given by blood. Dead astronauts, hundreds of test officers and soldiers who died in explosions and fires while testing missile 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 crew of three in history. 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. Had great amount 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 in 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 spaceship Columbia STS-107 February 1, 2003. The crash occurred at an altitude of 63 kilometers above Texas. Anderson and six of his colleagues burned to death after a 15-day stay in orbit 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 on preparatory stage flight, a month before the scheduled start 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 astronauts who were 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 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 aircraft, 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.

On June 30, 1971, while returning to Earth, the crew of the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz-11 was killed

Black line

Crews for "Salut"

Forced replacement

"If this is compatibility, then what is incompatibility too?"

“The connection ends. Happily!"

"The outcome of the flight is the most difficult"

Depressurization

The crew fought to the end, but had no chance of salvation

After "Soyuz-11", the cosmonauts were again dressed in spacesuits

The history of space exploration also has a tragic side. In total, about 350 people died during unsuccessful space flights and preparations for them. In addition to astronauts, this number also includes local residents and spaceport personnel who died as a result of falling debris and explosions. In this article, we will look at five disasters, where the victims were directly the pilots of spaceships. The saddest thing is that most of the accidents could have been avoided, but fate decreed otherwise.

Apollo 1

Death toll: 3

Official reason: spark from short circuit in poorly insulated wiring

The world's first fatal space disaster occurred on January 27, 1967 with American cosmonauts during a training session in the command module of the Apollo 1 mission spacecraft.

In 1966, the moon race between the two superpowers was in full swing. Thanks to spy satellites, the United States knew about the construction of spaceships in the USSR, which, possibly, would deliver Soviet cosmonauts to the moon. The development of the Apollo ships, in this regard, was carried out in great haste. Because of this, of course, the quality of technology also suffered. The launch of two unmanned versions of AS-201 and AS-202 successfully took place in 1966, and the first manned flight to the moon was scheduled for February 1967. The Apollo command module was delivered to Cape Canaverall for crew training. The problems started from the very beginning. The module was seriously underdeveloped, and dozens of engineering corrections were made right on the spot.

On January 27, a planned simulation training was to take place in the module to test the operability of all onboard instruments of the ship. Instead of air, oxygen and nitrogen in a ratio of 60% to 40% were charged into the cockpit. The training began at one o'clock in the afternoon. It went through with constant malfunctions - there were communication problems, and the astronauts constantly felt the smell of burning, as it turned out - due to a short circuit in the wiring. At 18:31, one of the cosmonauts shouted over the intercom: “Fire in the cockpit! I'm on fire! " Fifteen seconds later, unable to withstand the pressure, the module burst. The staff of the cosmodrome who came running could not help in any way - the cosmonauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee died on the spot from numerous burns.

Soyuz-1

Death toll: 1

Official reason: failure of the parachute braking system / defects in the production of the spacecraft

On April 23, 1967, a grandiose event was scheduled - the first ever launch of a Soviet spacecraft of the Soyuz series. According to the plan, Soyuz-1 was launched first with pilot Vladimir Komarov. Then it was planned to launch the Soyuz-2 spacecraft with Bykovsky, Eliseev and Khrunov on board. V open space the ships were to dock, and Eliseev and Khrunov were to go to Soyuz-1. In words, everything sounded big, but from the very beginning something went wrong.

Immediately after the launch of Soyuz-1, one solar battery did not open, the ionic orientation system was unstable, and the solar-star orientation sensor failed. The mission had to be terminated urgently. The Soyuz-2 flight was canceled, and Vladimir Komarov was ordered to return to Earth. Here, too, serious problems arose. Due to the failure of the systems and the displacement of the center of mass, it was impossible to orient the ship to braking. Thanks to his professionalism, Komarov almost manually oriented the ship and successfully entered the atmosphere.

After the spacecraft left orbit, a braking impulse was given and an emergency disconnection of the compartments was made. However, at the last stage of the landing of the descent vehicle, the main and reserve braking parachutes did not open. At a speed of about 150 km / h, the descent vehicle crashed into the Earth's surface in the Adamovsky district of the Orenburg region and caught fire. The device was completely destroyed in the collision. Vladimir Komarov was killed. It was not possible to establish the reason for the failure of the parachute braking system.

Soyuz 11

Death toll: 3

Official reason: premature opening of the ventilation valve and further depressurization of the cabin

1971 The USSR lost the lunar race, but in response created orbital stations, where in the future it was possible to stay for months and engage in research. The world's first expedition to an orbital station was successfully completed. The crew consisting of Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsaev stayed at the station for 23 days, however, after a serious fire at the OS, the cosmonauts were ordered to return to Earth.

At an altitude of 150 km. there was a disconnection of the compartments. At the same time, the ventilation valve involuntarily opened, which was supposed to open at an altitude of 2 km. The cabin began to fill with fog, which condensed due to the drop in pressure. After 30 seconds, the astronauts lost consciousness. After another 2 minutes, the pressure dropped to 50 mm. rt. Art. Since the astronauts were not wearing spacesuits, they died of suffocation.

Despite the fact that the crew did not answer the MCC's questions, the entry into the atmosphere, braking and landing were successful. After this tragic incident, the Soyuz pilots were required to be supplied with spacesuits.

Shuttle Challenger

Death toll: 7

The official reason: a gas leak in the elements of a solid propellant booster

The mid-1980s were a real triumph for the US Space Shuttle program. Successful missions took place one after another at unusually short intervals, sometimes no more than 17 days. The STS-51-L Challenger mission was significant for two reasons. Firstly, it broke the previous record, since the interval between missions was only 16 days. Secondly, the Challenger crew included a school teacher whose task was to teach a lesson from orbit. This program was supposed to arouse interest in space flights, which in last years calmed down a bit.

On January 28, 1986, the Kennedy Space Center was packed with thousands of spectators and journalists. The live broadcast was watched by about 20% of the country's population. The shuttle soared into the air to the shouts of an admiring audience. In the beginning, everything went well, but then there was a noticeable plume of black smoke coming out of the right solid fuel booster, and then a torch of fire appeared emanating from it.

After a few seconds, the flames became significantly larger due to the combustion of the leaked liquid hydrogen. After about 70 seconds, the destruction of the external fuel tank began, followed by a sharp explosion and disconnection of the orbiter cabin. During the fall of the cabin, the astronauts remained alive and conscious, they even made attempts to restore the energy supply. But nothing helped. As a result of the impact of the orbiter's cabin on the water, at a speed of 330 km / h, all crew members died on the spot.

After the explosion of the shuttle, numerous cameras continued to film what was happening. The lenses caught the faces of shocked people, among whom were the relatives of all seven dead astronauts. This is how one of the most tragic reports in the history of television was filmed. After the disaster, a shuttle operation was banned for a period of 32 months. The system of solid-propellant boosters was also improved, and a parachute rescue system was installed on all shuttles.

Shuttle Columbia

Death toll: 7

Official reason: damage to the thermal insulation layer on the wing of the apparatus

On February 1, shuttle Columbia successfully returned to Earth after a successful space mission. At the beginning, the entry into the atmosphere went in a regular manner, but later the heat sensor on the left wing transmitted an anomalous value to the MCC. A piece of thermal insulation broke off from the outer skin, as a result of which the thermal protection system failed. After that, at least four sensors of the ship's hydraulic system went off scale, and literally 5 minutes later, the connection with the shuttle was cut off. While MCC personnel were trying to contact Columbia and find out what happened to the sensors, one of the employees saw a shuttle already falling to pieces on the air. The entire crew of 7 people died.

This tragedy dealt a serious blow to the prestige of American astronautics. The shuttle flight was again banned for 29 months. In the future, they performed only critical tasks for the repair and maintenance of the ISS. In fact, this was the end of the Space Shuttle program. The Americans were forced to turn to Russia with a request to transport astronauts to the ISS on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

The history of astronautics, unfortunately, is full of not only dizzying ups, but also terrible falls. Dead astronauts, missiles that did not take off or explode, tragic accidents - all this is also our property, and to forget about it means to erase from history all those who deliberately risked their lives for the sake of progress, science and a better future. It is about the fallen heroes of cosmonautics of the USSR that we will talk in this article.

Cosmonautics in the USSR

Until the 20th century, space flights seemed to be something absolutely fantastic. But already in 1903 K. Tsiolkovsky put forward the idea of ​​flight into space on a rocket. From that moment on, cosmonautics was born in the form in which we know it today.

In the USSR in 1933, the Jet Institute (RNII) was founded to study jet propulsion. And in 1946, work began related to rocketry.

Nevertheless, it took more years and years before a person first overcame the gravity of the Earth and ended up in space. Do not forget about the mistakes that cost the testers their lives. First of all, these are the dead. According to official data, there are only five of them, including Yuri Gagarin, who, strictly speaking, did not die in space, but after returning to Earth. Nevertheless, the astronaut also died during the tests, being a military pilot, which allows us to add him to the list presented here.

Komarov

Soviet cosmonauts who died in space made an incomparable contribution to the development of their country. Such a person was Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov, a pilot-cosmonaut and an engineer-colonel, who was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Born in Moscow on April 14, 1927. He was a member of the first in the world history of the crew of a spacecraft and was its commander. I have been in space twice.

In 1943, the future cosmonaut graduated from the seven-year school, and then entered the Air Force special school, wishing to master it. He graduated from it in 1945, and then went to the cadets of the Sasov Aviation School. And in the same year he was enrolled in the Borisoglebsk Higher Military Aviation School.

After graduating in 1949, Komarov entered the military service in the Air Force, becoming a fighter pilot. His division was located in Grozny. Here he met Valentina, a school teacher who became his wife. Soon Vladimir Mikhailovich became a senior pilot, and in 1959 he graduated from the Air Force Academy and was assigned to the Air Force Research Institute. It was here that he was selected to the first cosmonaut corps.

Space flights

To answer the question, how many astronauts died, it is first necessary to cover the very topic of flights.

So, the first flight of Komarov into space took place on the Voskhod spacecraft on October 12, 1964. It was the world's first multi-person expedition: the crew also included a doctor and an engineer. The flight lasted 24 hours and ended with a successful landing.

Komarov's second and last flight took place on the night of April 23-24, 1967. The astronaut died at the end of the flight: during the descent, the main parachute did not work, and the lines of the spare were twisted due to the strong rotation of the apparatus. The ship hit the ground and caught fire. So, due to a fatal accident, Vladimir Komarov died. He is the first Soviet cosmonaut to die. In his honor, a monument was erected in Nizhny Novgorod and a bronze bust in Moscow.

Gagarin

These were all the dead cosmonauts before Gagarin, according to official sources. That is, in fact, only one cosmonaut died in the USSR before Gagarin. However, Gagarin is the most famous Soviet cosmonaut.

Yuri Alekseevich, soviet pilot-cosmonaut, was born on March 9, 1934. He spent his childhood in the village of Kashino. He went to school in 1941, but the village was invaded by German troops and his studies were interrupted. And in the house of the Gagarin family, the SS men set up a workshop, driving the owners out into the street. Only in 1943 the village was liberated, and Yuri's studies continued.

Then Gagarin entered the Saratov technical school in 1951, where he began to attend the flying club. In 1955, he was drafted into the army and sent to an aviation school. After graduation, he served in the Air Force and by 1959 had flown approximately 265 hours. Received the rank of military pilot of the third class and the rank of senior lieutenant.

First flight and death

The deceased cosmonauts are people who were well aware of the risk they were taking, but nevertheless this did not stop them. So Gagarin, the first person to be in space, risked his life even before he became an astronaut.

However, he did not miss his chance to become the first. On April 12, 1961, Gagarin flew on a Vostok rocket into space from the Baikonur airfield. The flight lasted 108 minutes and ended with a successful landing near the town of Engels ( Saratov region). And it was this day that became the Cosmonautics Day for the whole country, which is celebrated today.

For the whole world, the first flight was an incredible event, and the pilot who made it quickly became famous. Gagarin visited more than thirty countries by invitation. The years following the flight were marked for the cosmonaut by active social and political activities.

But soon Gagarin returned to the controls of the plane. This decision was tragic for him. And in 1968, he died during a training flight in the cockpit of the MIG-15 UTI. The causes of the disaster are still unknown.

Nevertheless, the deceased cosmonauts will never be forgotten by their country. On the day of Gagarin's death, mourning was declared in the country. Later, a number of monuments to the first cosmonaut were erected in various countries.

Volkov

The future cosmonaut graduated from Moscow School No. 201 in 1953, after which he entered the Moscow Aviation Institute and received the specialty of an electrical engineer dealing with rockets. Joins the Korolev Design Bureau and helps in the creation of space technology. At the same time, he begins to attend courses for sports pilots at the Kolomna flying club.

In 1966, Volkov became a member of the cosmonaut corps, and three years later he made his first flight on the Soyuz-7 spacecraft as a flight engineer. The flight lasted 4 days, 22 hours and 40 minutes. In 1971, Volkov's second and last flight took place, in which he acted as an engineer. In addition to Vladislav Nikolaevich, the team included Patsaev and Dobrovolsky, which we will talk about below. During the landing of the ship, a depressurization occurred, and all participants in the flight were killed. The deceased cosmonauts of the USSR were cremated, and their ashes were placed in the Kremlin wall.

Dobrovolsky

Which we have already mentioned above, was born in Odessa in 1928, June 1. Pilot, cosmonaut and Air Force colonel, posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

During the war, he ended up in the territory occupied by the Romanian authorities and was arrested for possession of weapons. For the crime he was sentenced to 25 years in prison, but local residents managed to redeem it. And after the end of the Second World War, Georgy Dobrovolsky enters the Odessa Air Force School. At that moment, he did not yet know what fate was in store for him. However, astronauts who died in space, like pilots, prepare in advance for death.

In 1948, Dobrovolsky became a student at a military school in Chuguevsk, and two years later he began serving in the USSR Air Force. During the service he managed to graduate from the Academy air force... And in 1963 he became a member of the cosmonaut corps.

His first and last flight began on June 6, 1971, on the Soyuz-11 spacecraft in the role of commander. The cosmonauts visited the space station "Solut-1", where they spent several scientific research... But at the moment of returning to Earth, as mentioned above, a depressurization occurred.

Marital status and awards

The deceased cosmonauts are not only heroes of their country, who gave their lives for it, but also someone's sons, husbands and fathers. After the death of Georgy Dobrovolsky, his two daughters Marina (born in 1960) and Natalya (born in 1967) were orphaned. The only one left was the hero's widow, Lyudmila Stebleva, a high school teacher. And if the eldest daughter managed to remember her father, then the youngest, who was only 4 years old at the time of the capsule crash, does not know him at all.

In addition to the title of Hero of the USSR, Dobrovolsky was awarded the Order of Lenin (posthumously), the Golden Star, and the Medal for Military Merit. In addition, planet No. 1789, discovered in 1977, a lunar crater and a research ship were named after the cosmonaut.

Also to this day, since 1972, there is a tradition to play the Dobrovolsky Cup, which is awarded for the best jump on a trampoline.

Patsaev

So, continuing to answer the question, how many cosmonauts died in space, we move on to the next Hero of the Secular Union. was born in Aktyubinsk (Kazakhstan) in 1933, June 19. This man is known for becoming the first astronaut in the world to work outside the Earth's atmosphere. He died along with Dobrovolsky and Volkov, mentioned above.

Victor's father fell on the battlefield during the Second World War. And after the end of the war, the family was forced to move to the Kaliningrad region, where the future cosmonaut went to school for the first time. As his sister wrote in her memoirs, space began to interest Victor even then - he got hold of "Journey to the Moon" by K. Tsiolkovsky.

In 1950, Patsaev entered the Penza Industrial Institute, which he graduated from, and was sent to the Central Aerological Observatory. Here he takes part in the design of meteorological rockets.

And in 1958, Viktor Ivanovich was transferred to the Korolev Design Bureau, to the design department. It was here that the fallen Soviet cosmonauts (Volkov, Dobrovolsky and Patsaev) met. However, only in 10 years will the cosmonaut corps be formed, in whose ranks Patsaev will be. Its preparation will take three years. Unfortunately, the first flight of the cosmonaut will end in tragedy and the death of the entire crew.

How many astronauts have died in space?

There is no definite answer to this question. The fact is that some of the information about space flights remains classified to this day. There are many assumptions and conjectures, but no one has concrete evidence yet.

As for the official data, the death toll of cosmonauts and astronauts of all countries is about 170 people. The most famous of them are, of course, the representatives of the Soviet Union and the United States. Among the latter are Francis Richard, Michael Smith, Judith Resnick (one of the first female astronauts), Ronald McNair.

Other victims

If you are interested in the victims, then on this moment they don't exist. Not once since the collapse of the USSR and the formation of Russia as a separate state has not a single case of a spacecraft crash and the death of its crew been reported.

Throughout the article, we talked about those who died directly in space, but we cannot ignore those astronauts who never took off. Death overtook them on Earth.

Such was the one who was part of the group of the first cosmonauts and died during training. During his stay in the ship pressure chamber, where the cosmonaut was supposed to be alone for about 10 days, he made a mistake. He detached the vital sensors from the body and rubbed them with cotton wool dipped in alcohol, and then threw it away. The cotton swab got caught in the spiral of a hot electric stove, which caused a fire. When the camera was opened, the cosmonaut was still alive, but after 8 hours he died in the Botkin hospital. The deceased cosmonauts before Gagarin, thus, include one more person in their composition.

Nevertheless, Bondarenko will remain in the memory of descendants on a par with other deceased cosmonauts.

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, a cosmonaut 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 detachment of Soviet cosmonauts, 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.

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.

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 about 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. ..." 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 has been relieved. 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 got in touch with 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 crew is in excellent health. 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. All perfectly. 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 working out 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 deployment of the parachute of the descent vehicle, 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 radio. 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.

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 with no signs of life." This formulation was included in all official documents.

Doctors continued resuscitation measures 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. An 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 resources of the life support system is limited, and so that the astronauts do not experience a shortage of oxygen, the valve "connected" the spacecraft to the atmosphere. It should have worked 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 the 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 be "just 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. In just a few seconds, the astronauts, due to acute decompression sickness, began to experience terrible pain throughout their bodies, and then they found themselves in complete silence due to bursting eardrums.

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 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 drastically 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 with 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 fatal disasters in Russian 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.