The history of astronautics, unfortunately, is full of not only dizzying ups, but also terrible falls. Dead astronauts who did not take off or exploded rockets, tragic accidents - all this is also our property, and forgetting about it means deleting from the history all those who consciously risked their lives for the sake of progress, science and a better future. It is about the fallen heroes of the cosmonautics of the USSR that we will discuss in this article.
Cosmonautics in the USSR
Until the 20th century, flights into space seemed completely fantastic. But already in 1903, K. Tsiolkovsky put forward the idea of flying into space on a rocket. From this moment on, cosmonautics arises in the form in which we know it today.
In the USSR in 1933, the Reactive Institute (RNII) was founded to study jet propulsion. And in 1946, work began related to rocket science.
Nevertheless, before a person first overcame Earth's gravity and ended up in space, it took another years and years. Do not forget about the mistakes that cost the life of the testers. First of all, these are the dead cosmonauts of the USSR. According to official figures, there are only five of them, including Yuri Gagarin, who, strictly speaking, died not 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.
Mosquitoes
Soviet astronauts 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 colonel engineer, awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Born in Moscow on April 14, 1927. He was a member of the first crew of a spacecraft in world history and was its commander. Twice traveled to space.
In 1943, the future astronaut graduated from the seven-year plan, and then entered the special school of the Air Force, wanting to learn the profession of a pilot. 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 enlisted 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 as the first cosmonaut squad.
Space flights
To answer the question, how many astronauts died, you must first highlight the very topic of flights.
So, Komarov’s first flight into space took place on the Voskhod spacecraft on October 12, 1964. It was the world's first multi-seat expedition: the crew also included a doctor and engineer. The flight lasted 24 hours and ended with a successful landing.
The second and last flight of Komarov took place on the night of April 23-24, 1967. The astronaut died at the time of completion of the flight: during the descent, the main parachute did not work, and the spare lines were twisted due to the strong rotation of the device. The ship collided with the ground and caught fire. So due to a fatal accident, Vladimir Komarov died. He is the first dead cosmonaut of the USSR. In his honor, a monument was erected in Nizhny Novgorod and a bronze bust in Moscow.
Gagarin
These were all dead astronauts before Gagarin, according to official sources. That is, in fact, before Gagarin, only one cosmonaut perished in the USSR. However, Gagarin is the most famous Soviet cosmonaut.
Yuri Alekseevich, Soviet cosmonaut, was born on March 9, 1934. His childhood passed in the village of Kashino. He went to school in 1941, but German troops invaded the village, and study was interrupted. And in the house of the Gagarin family, the SS men set up a workshop, driving the owners out onto the street. Only in 1943 the village was liberated, and the study of Yuri continued.
Then Gagarin entered the Saratov College 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 flew about 265 hours. He received the rank of military pilot of the third class and the rank of senior lieutenant.
The first flight and death
The dead astronauts are people who were well aware of the risk they were taking, but nevertheless this did not stop them. So Gagarin, the first man to be in space, risked his life before he even became an astronaut.
However, he did not miss his chance to become the first. On April 12, 1961, Gagarin flew 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 this very day was for the whole country Cosmonautics Day, 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 by invitation of more than thirty countries. The years following the flight were marked for the astronaut by an active social and political activity.
But soon Gagarin again returned to the helm of the aircraft. This decision turned out to be tragic for him. And in 1968, on March 27, he died during a training flight in the MIG-15 UTI cockpit. The causes of the disaster are still unknown.
Nevertheless, the dead astronauts will never be forgotten by their country. On the day of the death of Gagarin, mourning was declared in the country. And later a number of monuments to the first astronaut were erected in various countries.
Wolves
Vladislav Nikolaevich Volkov - Soviet cosmonaut. Born in Moscow in 1935, November 23.
The future astronaut graduated from Moscow school No. 201 in 1953, after which he entered the Moscow Aviation Institute and received the specialty of an electrical engineer engaged in rocket shells. He enters the work at KB Korolev and helps in the creation of space technology. At the same time, he begins to attend pilot-athlete courses in the Kolomensk flying club.
In 1966, Volkov became a member of the cosmonaut corps, and three years later 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, the second and last flight of Volkov took place, in which he acted as an engineer. In addition to Vladislav Nikolayevich, the team included Patsaev and Dobrovolsky, which we will talk about below. When the ship landed, depressurization occurred, and all participants in the flight died. The deceased cosmonauts of the USSR were cremated, and their ashes were placed in the Kremlin wall.
Dobrovolsky
Georgy Timofeevich Dobrovolsky, which we already mentioned above, was born in Odessa in 1928, on June 1. Pilot, astronaut and colonel of the Air Force, posthumously awarded the title 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 the locals managed to redeem him. And after the Second World War, George Dobrovolsky enters the Odessa Air Force School. At that moment, he still did not know what fate was destined for him. However, the astronauts who died in space, like the pilots, are preparing for death in advance.
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 Air Force Academy. 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 ship as a commander. The astronauts visited the Solut-1 space station, where they conducted several scientific studies. But at the time of returning to Earth, depressurization occurred, as already mentioned above.
Marital status and awards
The dead astronauts are not only the heroes of their country who gave their lives for it, but also someone's sons, husbands and fathers. After the death of George Dobrovolsky, his two daughters were orphaned, Marina (born in 1960) and Natalya (born in 1967). One remained and the widow of the hero, Lyudmila Stebleva, a high school teacher. And if the eldest daughter managed to remember her father, the youngest, who was only 4 years old at the time of the capsule crash, did not know him at all.
In addition to the title of Hero of the USSR, Dobrovolsky was awarded the Order of Lenin (posthumous), the "Golden Star", and the medal "For Military Merit." In addition, the planet No. 1789, discovered in 1977, a lunar crater and a research ship, was named after the astronaut.
Also to this day, since 1972, there is a tradition of playing the Dobrovolsky Cup, which is awarded for the best trampoline.
Patsaev
So, continuing to answer the question, how many astronauts died in space, we move on to the next Hero of the Secular Union. Victor Ivanovich Patsaev was born in Aktyubinsk (Kazakhstan) in 1933, on 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 war ended, the family was forced to move to the Kaliningrad region, where the future astronaut first went to school. As his sister wrote in her memoirs, the cosmos began to interest Victor even then - he got the “Journey to the Moon” by K. Tsiolkovsky.
In 1950, Patsaev entered the Penza Industrial Institute, which graduated, 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 dead Soviet cosmonauts (Volkov, Dobrovolsky and Patsaev) met. However, only after 10 years will a cosmonaut detachment be formed, in whose ranks Patsaev will be. His training will last three years. Unfortunately, the first flight of the astronaut will end with the tragedy and death of the entire crew.
How many astronauts died in space?
This question cannot be answered unequivocally. The fact is that some of the information about space flights remains classified to this day. There are many assumptions and conjectures, but so far no one has concrete evidence.
As for official data, the number of dead astronauts and astronauts of all countries is approximately 170 people. The most famous of them, of course, are representatives of the Soviet Union and the United States. Among the latter, Francis Richard, Michael Smith, Judith Reznik (one of the first female astronauts), Ronald McNair are worth mentioning.
Other dead
If you are interested in the dead cosmonauts of Russia, then at the moment they do not exist. Since the collapse of the USSR and the formation of Russia as a separate state, not a single case of the crash of a space ship and the death of its crew has been announced.
Throughout the article, we talked about those who died directly in space, but one cannot ignore those astronauts who never happened to take off. Death overtook them on Earth.
That was Valentin Vasilyevich Bondarenko, who was a member of the group of first cosmonauts and died during training. During his stay in the pressure chamber, where the astronaut was supposed to be alone for about 10 days, he made a mistake. He detached the sensors reporting life activity from the body and wiped them with cotton wool soaked in alcohol, and then threw it away. A cotton swab fell into a spiral of a hot electric stove, which caused a fire. When the camera was opened, the astronaut was still alive, but after 8 hours he died in the Botkin hospital. The dead astronauts before Gagarin, therefore, include another person in their composition.
Nevertheless, Bondarenko will remain in the memory of the descendants on a par with the other dead astronauts.