In the 20th century, humanity has been able to move into the future more than in its entire history. The automobile and steam locomotive were invented, electricity and nuclear energy were discovered, man took to the air and broke the sound barrier, the computer, mobile communications and other wonderful things were invented. However, the main achievement of mankind is the spacewalk. After the flight of Yu. A. Gagarin, a new science appeared - astronautics.
However, life requires payment for everything. And cosmonautics is by no means an exception. To uncover the secrets of the universe, hundreds of daredevils risked their lives. After the fall of missiles, transport accidents can not be considered serious at all.
Stories are offered to your attention. They are about some rocket disasters (TOP), which are considered the loudest in the history of astronautics.
Falling from space. Boris Volynov
The story about the most famous rocket accidents (TOP) should start with this event. It happened on January 18, 1969. A few days before that, the first successful docking of Soyuz-4 and Soyuz-5 was carried out. The Soyuz-4 crew has already returned. Boris Volynov had to go down alone.
There were a few minutes left before the moment of disconnection. There was a pop - it was the squibs that fired off the descent compartment. Suddenly, the hatch was pressed inward like the lid of a tin can. A planned descent turned into a chaotic fall.
After 10 minutes of falling, the descent vehicle began to rotate randomly. And at that moment, Volynov decided … to conduct a live report on what was happening. This could be needed by the astronauts following him. Every 15 seconds, he transmitted instrument readings to the ground, trying with all his might to somehow influence the situation.
90 km from Earth, the descent capsule was torn off from the main ship. She freed herself from excess cargo and … caught fire. The chamber began to fill with smoke. At an altitude of 10 km, the parachute opened, but its lines began to twist. In the end, this should have led to its folding. But the latter did not happen. Spinning in different directions, the device approached the ground.
The soft landing engine fired belatedly. The blow was so strong that the astronaut broke the roots of his upper teeth.
Boris Volynov landed with his parachute not fully deployed, all beaten up, but alive.
Bad start. Soyuz-18
It happened on April 5, 1975. On this day, the Soyuz-18 spacecraft was launched for docking with the Salyut-4 orbital station. Pilot-cosmonauts V. Lazarev and O. Makarov were on board.
Frequent crashes of Soviet missiles have plagued science. The one described below is no exception.
Trouble began already at the 289th second of the flight, whencommand was given to turn off the second stage engine. Due to a broken relay, the command to reset the tail section of the third stage passed in parallel.
Violation of the stage separation process led to the appearance of rotation. At the 295th second, it led to the "Accident" command. The ship split up and began to descend. During the accident, the descent control system lost its orientation in space. Simply put, I began to confuse the top and bottom, which led to the passage of a number of incorrect commands. In particular, instead of reducing the overload, it was increased to life-threatening 21.3 g. And this despite the fact that the maximum overload on the simulators was 15 g.
Scary things began to happen to the astronauts. Start losing sight. At first it became black and white, then it began to narrow. According to the recommendations of doctors, the astronauts tried to shout loudly. True, their wheezing was a little like a human. However, this did not last long. A few minutes later, the overloads began to decrease. The parachute system worked, and the device landed on the slope of one of the Altai mountains.
R-16 missile. The catastrophe of Mitrofan Nedelin
At that time, rocket accidents at Baikonur were rare, since the cosmodrome itself appeared quite recently. The catastrophe that occurred on October 24, 1960 is considered the worst in the history of astronautics.
On that day, work was underway at launch pad No. 41 to prepare for the launch of the R-16 intercontinental rocket designed by Mikhail Yangel. After a full chargeExperts found a malfunction in the engine automation. Such cases demanded that the rocket be completely free of fuel and only then proceed with troubleshooting. However, this would delay the launch of the rocket, which would certainly lead to a "wick" from the government.
In order to avoid such troubles, Marshal M. I. Nedelin ordered to fix the malfunction on the fueled rocket. No sooner said than done. No one expected the fall of missiles, a transport disaster or anything like that. The object was surrounded by dozens of specialists. The marshal himself began to observe the progress of work, sitting on a stool a few tens of meters from the rocket body. Disaster was still not expected.
However, everything went well only until the announcement of the 30-minute readiness. Power was supplied to the corrected automation unit. And suddenly the engine of the second stage worked. A powerful jet of burning gas escaped from a height. Most people, including Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin himself, died at lightning speed. The rest of the workers rushed into the loose. However, it was not possible to escape far: the row of barbed wire enclosing the construction site turned out to be insurmountable. Hellfire vaporized people, leaving only the outlines of figures, pieces of charred belts and melted buckles.
It is believed that 92 people died and 50 were injured in this disaster. From Marshal M. Nedelin, they found only the star of the “Hero of the Soviet Union”. Designer Mikhail Yangel at the time of the accident went to the safety bunker, which saved his life.
Death of Soyuz-11
This case is also on the list of "Missile disasters:TOP-10", so it's impossible to bypass it.
The tragedy described below occurred on June 30, 1971. On this day, cosmonauts G. Dobrovolsky, V. Volkov and V. Patsaev, who had worked on board the Salyut-1 orbital station for 23 days, returned to earth. Having settled into their seats and fastened their seat belts, they began to check the operation of the on-board systems. No deviations were found.
The Soyuz-11 descent module entered the Earth's atmosphere at the estimated time. The opening of the parachute was recorded 9 km from the surface, but the crew did not get in touch. The radio antenna sewn into its lines often failed during landing, so the MCC was not alert. A similar nuisance often accompanied Soviet missile crashes, but it was not fatal. 2 minutes after landing, people ran up to the rescue capsule. No one answered the knock on the wall. Opening the hatch, they found the astronauts with no signs of life. They were quickly pulled out and started resuscitation. Attempts to revive the crew lasted more than an hour, but they did not bring any results - the astronauts died.
The investigation showed that the death of our guys came as a result of unauthorized opening of one of the air valves, whose task was to equalize the air pressure inside the descent module. It randomly opened at an altitude of about 150 km. The air left the cockpit in a few seconds.
The position of the astronauts' bodies testified to the presence of attempts to find and eliminate the malfunction. But infog that filled the cabin after depressurization, it was difficult to do this. When G. Dobrovolsky (according to other sources, V. Patsaev) discovered an open valve and tried to close it, he simply did not have enough time. All the air is already out.
"Soyuz-1". Death of Vladimir Komarov
Frequent missile crashes in the USSR continued with the same intensity. Here is another example.
The Soyuz-1 spacecraft was launched on the night of April 23, 1967. The next morning, all the newspapers of the Soviet Union reported this on the front pages, placing on them, in addition to information, a photo of cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. The next day, it reappeared in its original place, but already dressed in a mourning frame - the astronaut died.
The takeoff of Soyuz-1 did not cause any complaints. The launch vehicle delivered the ship into orbit without problems. They started later. The incomplete opening of the back-up antenna of the telemetry system and the failure of the star guidance system were the smallest of them. The second solar panel did not open - that's where the trouble is. An attempt to orient the working panel to the Sun was unsuccessful, the balance was broken. The ship began to lose energy, which threatened its death. But in manual mode, V. Komarov was able to orient the ship, deorbit and start landing.
Another accident occurred 9.5 km from the ground when the sensor gave the command to release the parachute. There are three of them in Soyuz-1: exhaust, brake and main. The first two came out successfully, but the third got stuck. The descent module began to rotate rapidly. The astronaut decidedactivate the reserve parachute. He came out fine, but when opening his lines wrapped around a dangling brake. They extinguished the dome.
Komarov died instantly. From the impact, the module went half a meter underground. The resulting fire was not extinguished immediately, so only the charred remains of the cosmonaut had to be buried in the Kremlin wall.
Rocket crash in Plesetsk
On April 23, 2015, Russian and foreign media hurried to report the unsuccessful launch of an experimental launch vehicle. It should be noted that in the Western press such words as "another catastrophe", "rocket explosion", "Plesetsk Cosmodrome" passed through all messages. However, they forgot an important thing. Missile crashes in Russia are not as frequent as in the USSR. So what happened?
According to the press service of the Russian government in the Arkhangelsk region, an experimental rocket launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome was discovered 7 kilometers from the launch site. According to special services, the scene was accepted for development by the specialists of the test site. There is no threat to nearby communities.
The rocket was used to put into orbit a satellite equipped with measuring equipment. The command of the Strategic Missile Forces stated that it had nothing to do with this incident and knew nothing about the launch. After much clarification, it became known that the device belongs to one of the defense enterprises, or rather, a plant engaged in the development of missiles."Yars" and "Topol". So, of the three constantly expressed expressions, such as: "catastrophe", "rocket explosion", "Plesetsk cosmodrome", only the last one can be considered true.
Death before launch. Apollo 1
It turns out that rocket crashes at the start pursued not only Soviet cosmonautics. The story described below, in fact, cannot be considered completely as such, after all, the rocket did not take off.
The name "Apollo-1" (Apollo-1) was assigned after the fact to the failed launch of the Apollo spacecraft and the Saturn IBA204 launch vehicle. This was to be the first manned flight. It was planned for February 21, 1967. However, on January 27, during ground tests at the 34th launch complex, a severe fire broke out on board the ship, as a result of which the entire crew of V. Grissom, E. White and R. Chaffee died.
As an atmosphere, pure oxygen was pumped into the Apollo series ships under reduced pressure. Its use provided not only savings in weight, but also the ability to lighten the life support system. In addition, the EVA operation was simplified, because in flight the pressure in the cabin was to be only 0.3 atm. However, such conditions cannot be reproduced on earth, so pure oxygen with excess pressure was used.
At that time, experts did not yet know that some materials, when used in an oxygen environment, are flammable. One of those was the Velcro. In an oxygen environment, it became a source of many sparks. In this case, forone fire would be enough.
The fire spread throughout the ship in a few seconds, damaging the astronauts' spacesuits. In addition, a complex system did not allow the crew to quickly open the hatch. According to the findings of the commission, the astronauts died within a quarter of a minute after the spark appeared.
After the fire, the manned flight program was suspended, and the 34th launch complex was dismantled. A memorial plaque was erected on its remains.
Apollo 13 mission failed
The failed mission of the Apollo 13 spacecraft (Apollo-13) is also included in the rocket accidents. Our TOP cannot do without it. His story is no better and no worse than previous and subsequent ones. She's just different.
The Apollo 13 space shuttle lifted off the Earth's surface on April 11, 1970 to take earthlings to the moon. It was piloted by Jim Lovell (Captain), Fred Hayes and John Swaygate. Two days of flight passed in normal mode. It all started April 13th. And the day is almost over. It remains only to mix the fuel in order to find out its remains. And then…
First, there was a loud bang, after which a real blast wave swept through the ship. It turned out that it was one of the tanks with liquid oxygen that collapsed. Warning lights on the dashboard began to light up. Through the thick glass of the porthole, the astronauts saw a strong jet of gas shoot out of the service module into outer space. It turned out that the explosion completely destroyed the first oxygen tank and damaged the second one. Despite alleffort, the damage could not be repaired. Soon the ship was left without water, electricity and oxygen. Then the chemical batteries installed in the command module "died". In order to stretch for some more time, it was decided to move to the lunar module. But what next?
The head of the American Mission Control Gene Krantz decided to deploy the Apollo using the gravity of the moon. The astronauts turned on the engine of the lunar module, but the ship began to rotate. It took Jim Lovell two hours to learn how to maneuver the ship in new conditions and direct it in the right direction. After orbiting the Moon, Apollo 13 rushed to Earth.
After numerous adventures that fell to the astronauts, they splashed down in a given area. Three exhausted, chilled and sleep-deprived people returned home.
Challenger disaster
In the 1980s, space rocket crashes plagued America's space industry. One example is described below.
This disaster happened on January 28, 1986. On this day, numerous people gathered at the Cape Canaveral spaceport, in the state of Florida (USA), could observe an orange-white fireball in the clear sky. It appeared 73 seconds after launch, when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded as a result of insufficient tightness of the sealing rubber on one of the solid-fuel boosters. The American space industry has lost Francis Scobee, Michael Smith, Ronald McNair, Allison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis and Christie McAuliffe. The latter was not a professional astronaut - she worked as a teacher in one ofLanema secondary schools. She was included in the team at the insistence of Ronald Reagan himself.
The night before the start, the air in Florida cooled to -27°C. All surroundings, including the hull of the ship, were covered with ice. The launch should have been delayed, especially since one of the Rockwell engineers in charge of the launch warned about it. However, they did not listen to him. The ship was stubbornly led to destruction.
16 seconds after launch, the shuttle made a graceful turn and headed out of the atmosphere. Suddenly, a flickering light appeared between the bottom of the ship and its fuel tank. A moment later there was a series of explosions. The ship broke into pieces and fell into the water. All astronauts died almost instantly.
The words "Challenger", "rocket", "catastrophe" described what happened in American newspapers. The nation mourned. The development of the space program was suspended for three years. However, it was still not completely closed.
The sinking of Columbia
The Columbia disaster is considered one of the most significant events in the history of astronautics. It happened on February 1, 2003. This is attributed not only to the number of astronauts who died at the same time, but also to the influence that was exerted on the development of space science.
The start of "Colombia" was postponed several times. The first flight was planned for May 11, 2000. There was a moment when he was generally excluded from the schedule, but the American Congress intervened. True, the flight took place after more than two years.
And here it is start. On board the shipCommander Rick Douglas Husband, Pilot William C. McCool, Specialists David M. Brown, Kalpan Chawl, Michael F. Anderson, Laurell B. Clark, and Israeli astronaut Illan Ramon ascended. The launch was filmed by several television cameras. Such precautions help to consider in more detail the various deviations, if they occur. It was with their help that at the 82nd second of the flight a small light object was recorded that hit the left wing of the shuttle. Subsequently, it turned out that it was a piece of polyurethane foam that hit the left wing of the ship and punched a half-meter hole in it. NASA simulations showed no possible negative effects, so the flight continued.
The first sign of a malfunction was noticed during the landing maneuver at 16:59 Washington time. Abnormal readings of pressure sensors were noticed by everyone. The failure was attributed to a bad connection. But it was at this time that the destruction of the ship's hull began. It fell to pieces in less than a minute. All astronauts died.
Many secrets of missile disasters have not yet been declassified. When they will be opened is unknown. But you did learn something. Did you like it?
