It is enough for Soviet citizens to know they died gloriously. During the Apollo-Soyuz project Soviet engineers told their American colleagues about the air leak which caused three deaths, but such basic factual information has never been published in the Soviet media. The USSR was plunged into national mourning, and eventually the fact of their deaths was turned to proof of the leading role of the Soviet Union on the space frontier (only stay-at-homes avoid the risk of dying). James Oberg wrote in his book “Uncovering Soviet Disasters”: “On June 30, 1971, the three cosmonauts of the Soyuz 1 1 crew perished on return to Earth.
In the worst space disaster on the ground, 92 people died when a R-16 rocket exploded during fueling at the Baikonur Space Center in October 1960. Another Cosmonaut was burned to death in a fire in an experimental low-gravity chamber. Three test pilots were reportedly launched into the outer atmosphere and died in missions in 1957, 19. News came out in 2001 around the time of the 40th anniversary of Gagarin’s flight. But over all the Russians lost fewer lives in their space program than the Americans.Īt least three cosmonauts may have died before Gagarin’s flights in an effort to be the first to send a man into space. Potentially dangerous mission utilized unmanned rather than manned vehicles. Instead they launched space craft and monitored their progress and learned from mistakes. They considered many tests to be too expensive. The Russians didn't pre test equipment as much as the Americans. The Soviets didn't launch another space craft for 18 months. During an early re-entry the parachute wrapped around the spacecraft. In April 1967, a Soyuz carrying cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov malfunctioned in space. Their ashes are buried under the Kremlin wall along with ashes of other famous Russians. Five cosmonauts have died while on missions.