Space program fatalities
23 entries in the Space Program Fatalities compendium.
Michael AlsburyProject engineer and co-pilot who died in SpaceShipTwo breakup.Charles BassettNASA astronaut who died before his first spaceflight.Valentin BondarenkoSoviet cosmonaut trainee who died in a 1961 training fire.Space Shuttle Challenger disasterSpace Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after launch, killing all seven crew.Space Shuttle Columbia disasterSpace Shuttle Columbia broke apart during re-entry, killing all seven crew.Theodore FreemanFirst NASA astronaut killed in a training accident.Gordo (monkey)Early U.S. monkey in space; data contributed to space research.Vladimir KomarovOne of the first humans to die in a space flight incident.Robert Henry Lawrence Jr.First African-American selected as an astronaut by the U.S. Air Force.1966 NASA T-38 crashTwo Gemini astronauts died in a 1966 T-38 crash.Nedelin catastropheDeadliest rocket launch accident, suppressed by Soviet authorities for decades.Elliot SeeNASA astronaut killed before his first space flight.Soyuz 1First crewed Soyuz flight ended in fatal parachute failure.Soyuz 7K-OK No.1Aborted launch led to fire, explosion, and fatalities.Soyuz 11Only crewed mission to board Salyut 1; all three died in space.Space Mirror MemorialNational memorial honoring U.S. astronauts who died in the line of duty.SpaceShipTwoRetired suborbital spaceplane for tourism and scientific payloads.STS-51-L25th Shuttle mission; destroyed 73 seconds after launch.STS-107Final flight of Space Shuttle Columbia, ending in disaster during re-entry.VLS-1 V03Third VLS-1 launch attempt ended in deadly pad explosion; ranked among the worst space-related accidents but…VSS EnterpriseFirst SpaceShipTwo spaceplane, destroyed in a 2014 test flight accident.VSS Enterprise crashFirst SpaceShipTwo test vehicle destroyed in 2014 crash.Clifton WilliamsNASA astronaut who died before flying in space.
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