The history of astronautics, unfortunately, is full of not only dizzying ups, but also terrible falls. Dead cosmonauts, rockets that did not take off or exploded, tragic accidents - all this is also our property, and to forget about it means to delete from 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 talk in this article.
Cosmonautics in the USSR
Until the 20th century, spaceflight was something absolutely fantastic. But already in 1903, K. Tsiolkovsky put forward the idea of flying into space on a rocket. From that moment, astronautics as we know it today is born.
In the USSR in 1933 the Jet Institute (RNII) was founded to study jet propulsion. And in 1946, work began related to rocket science.
However, before a person firstovercame the gravity of the Earth and ended up in space, it took more 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, did not die in space, but after returning to Earth. Nevertheless, the cosmonaut also died during the tests, being a military pilot, which allows us to include him in 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 colonel engineer, 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 crew of a spacecraft in the history of the world and was its commander. Been to space twice.
In 1943, the future cosmonaut graduated from the seven-year school, and then entered the Air Force special school, wanting to master the profession of a pilot. He graduated from it in 1945, and then went to the cadets of the Sasovskaya 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 receiveddistribution at the Air Force Research Institute. It was here that he was selected for the first cosmonaut squad.
Space flights
To answer the question of how many astronauts died, you must first highlight 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-seat expedition: the crew also included a doctor and an 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 cosmonaut died at the end of the flight: during the descent, the main parachute did not work, and the lines of the reserve twisted due to the strong rotation of the device. The ship collided with the ground and caught fire. So because of a fatal accident, Vladimir Komarov died. He is the first Soviet cosmonaut to die. A monument was erected in his honor 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, before Gagarin, only one cosmonaut died in the USSR. However, Gagarin is the most famous Soviet cosmonaut.
Yuri Alekseevich, Soviet pilot-cosmonaut, born March 9, 1934. His childhood passed in the village of Kashino. He went to school in 1941, but German troops invaded the village 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.
ThenGagarin enters the Saratov Technical School in 1951, where he begins to attend the flying club. In 1955, he was drafted into the army and sent to an aviation school. After graduating, he served in the Air Force and by 1959 had approximately 265 flight hours. He received the rank of military pilot of the third class and the rank of senior lieutenant.
First flight and death
The dead cosmonauts are people who were well aware of the risk they were taking, but nevertheless this did not stop them. So did Gagarin, the first man 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 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 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 by invitation more than thirty countries. The years following the flight were marked for the astronaut by active social and political activities.
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 cockpit of a MiG-15 UTI. The causes of the disaster are still unknown.
Nevertheless, the dead astronauts will never be forgotten by their country. On the day of Gagarin's death, mourning was declared in the country. And later invarious countries erected a number of monuments to the first cosmonaut.
Volkov
Vladislav Nikolaevich Volkov - Soviet cosmonaut. Born in Moscow in 1935, November 23.
The future cosmonaut graduated from Moscow School No. 201 in 1953, after which he entered the Moscow Aviation Institute and received the speci alty of an electrical engineer dealing with rockets. He goes to work at the Korolyov Design Bureau and helps in the creation of space technology. At the same time, he begins attending sports pilot courses at the Kolomna Aero 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, whom we will discuss below. During the landing of the ship, depressurization occurred, and all participants in the flight died. The dead Soviet cosmonauts were cremated, and their ashes were placed in the Kremlin wall.
Dobrovolsky
Georgy Timofeevich Dobrovolsky, whom we have already mentioned above, was born in Odessa in 1928, on June 1. Pilot, cosmonaut and colonel of the Air Force, 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 25years of imprisonment, but the locals managed to ransom him. 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 awaited him. However, astronauts who died in space, like pilots, prepare for death in advance.
In 1948, Dobrovolsky became a student at a military school in Chuguevsk, and two years later 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 spacecraft as a commander. The astronauts visited the Solyut-1 space station, where they conducted several scientific studies. But at the moment of returning to Earth, as mentioned above, depressurization occurred.
Marital status and awards
Dead cosmonauts are not only heroes of their country who gave their lives for her, but also someone's sons, husbands and fathers. After the death of George Dobrovolsky, his two daughters Marina (b. 1960) and Natalia (b. 1967) were orphaned. The hero's widow, Lyudmila Stebleva, a secondary school teacher, remained alone. 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 Gold Star, and the medal For Military Merit. In addition, the planet No. 1789, discovered in 1977, a lunar crater and a research ship were named after the astronaut.
Also to this day, since 1972, there isthe tradition of playing the Dobrovolsky Cup, which is awarded for the best trampoline jump.
Patsaev
So, continuing to answer the question of 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 being the first astronaut in the world to work outside the Earth's atmosphere. Died along with Dobrovolsky and Volkov mentioned above.
Viktor'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, Victor became interested in space even then - he got hold of K. Tsiolkovsky's Journey to the Moon.
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 dead Soviet cosmonauts (Volkov, Dobrovolsky and Patsaev) met. However, only after 10 years will a detachment of astronauts be formed, in whose ranks Patsaev will be. Its preparation will last three years. Unfortunately, the first flight of an astronaut will end in tragedy and the death of the entire crew.
How many astronauts have died in space?
This question cannot be answered unambiguouslyresponse. 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 official data, the number of dead cosmonauts 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 are Francis Richard, Michael Smith, Judith Resnick (one of the first female astronauts), Ronald McNair.
Other dead
If you are interested in the dead cosmonauts of Russia, then at the moment they do not exist. Not once since the collapse of the USSR and the formation of Russia as a separate state has a single case of a spacecraft crash and the death of its crew been announced.
Throughout the article we talked about those who died directly in space, but we cannot ignore those astronauts who never had a chance to take off. Death overtook them on Earth.
This was Valentin Vasilyevich Bondarenko, who was a member of the group of the first cosmonauts and died during training. During his stay in the chamber, where the cosmonaut had to be alone for about 10 days, he made a mistake. I unfastened the vital signs from the body and wiped them with cotton soaked in alcohol, then threw it away. A cotton swab fell into a spiral of a hot electric stove, which caused a fire. When the chamber was opened, the astronaut was still alive, but after8 hours died in the Botkin hospital. The dead cosmonauts before Gagarin, thus, include one more person in their composition.
Nevertheless, Bondarenko will remain in the memory of posterity along with other dead cosmonauts.
