Deadliest Space Disasters in History

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21 May 2024

Space travel is notoriously risky and hard to prepare for. It requires months and years of preparation

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Unfortunately, humanity's quest to go beyond Earth and understand the universe has resulted in a few disasters over the long history of space travel

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Five spaceflight missions, three by NASA and two by Russia, have ended in fatalities

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Here are some of the worst space disasters in history

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Apollo 1: A fire in the command module during a simulated launch at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, killed three astronauts asphyxiation in 1967

Image: NASA

Soyuz 1: Russia's Vladimir Komarov was the first fatality in space flight when Soyuz 1, which aimed at reaching the moon, crashed into Earth on April 24, 1967

Image: X/@airandspace

Soyuz 11:  3 astronauts likely suffocated to death 30 minutes before landing due to a faulty air vent which led to depressurisation in 1971

Image: X/@HistorylandHQ

Challenger: In 1986, the space shuttle broke apart 73 seconds after its launch, crashing into the Atlantic Ocean from an altitude of some 50,000 feet. All 7 astronauts died

Image: NASA

Columbia: The shuttle's orbiter broke into pieces while entering Earth's atmosphere in 2003. The incident took place over Texas and killed all seven astronauts aboard

Image: NASA

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