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The Nedelin catastrophe
The Nedelin catastrophe was a disastrous launch pad accident. More than 150 people died in this accident, and many more were injured. The accident got its name from Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin, its main responsible, but no pilots were named. -
Apollo-1
NASA conducted a test of the Apollo-1 command module. The three astronauts that went were, Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee. As the astronauts inside the capsule were conducting the test, a fire broke out. The astronaut tried to escape, following the incompetent safety procedures, but the inward opening sealed them inside the capsule, killing all three. -
Mercury capsule
Gus Grissom's Mercury capsule sunk in an ocean landing after an explosion blew the escape hatch off prematurely. Once the capsule sunk Gus swam to safety. -
Gemini 8
The agency successfully docked the Gemini 8 spacecraft with a target vehicle, but the Gemini craft entered an uncontrolled roll. At one revolution per second, the spin could have caused astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott to black out. However, Neil corrected the roll by shutting off the malfunctioning main thrusters and taking control using re-entry thrusters. -
Soyuz spacecraft
The Soyuz spacecraft was an advanced 3-person capsule, capable to automatically dock in space, and it was designed to withstand a re-entry from Moon trajectory. Unfortunately, the spacecraft was not ready for human flight and Vladimir Komarov was killed. -
X-15 3 Crash
In another Apollo-related mission, astronaut in training, Michael Adams crashed an X-15 rocket-powered plane. Adams had passed 80.5 km before the crash occurred. When the X-15 3, entered a hypersonic spin while descending, then swung violently as aerodynamic forces increased after re-entry. -
Soyuz 11
In 1971 Soyuz 11 was created and was going to be tested on June 30th 1971. The three cosmonauts, Georgi T. Dolrovolsky, Vladislav N. Volkov, and Viktor I. Patsayev, were found dead in the craft after its automatic landing. The apparent cause of death was loss of pressurization in the space craft during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. -
Challenger
Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik, Micheal Smith, Francis Scobee, and Ronald McNair lost their lives when Challenger broke up 73 seconds after lift-off. The accident had been caused by a defective design of the field joint of the solid rocket booster that had allowed hot gasses to pierce-through an O-ring seal and destroy the external tank mid-flight. -
Columbia Space shuttle
Seventeen years after the Challenger tragedy, the shuttle program suffered another loss when the space shuttle Columbia broke apart upon re-entry. Investigators claimed that all 7 of the astronauts onboard died of suffocation, when they repeated some of the mistakes made in the challenger era. The astronauts on board were Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark, Rick Husband, IIan Ramon, William C. McCool, Michael P. Anderson, David M. Brown, and Linda Ham. -
Spaceship two crash
In Virgin Galactic's SpaceShip two crashes occurred during a flight test in the Mojave Desert, killing co-pilot Michael Tyner Alsbury, injuring co-pilot Peter Siebold, and the employees of Scaled Composites.
