4 ms·
This has happened before and that was catastrophic. On June 30, 1971, the crew of Soyuz 11, Soviet cosmonauts Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor
by kinj28 8y ago
This has happened before and that was catastrophic.
On June 30, 1971, the crew of Soyuz 11, Soviet cosmonauts Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev were killed after the cabin vent valve accidentally opened before atmospheric re-entry. There had been no indication of trouble until the recovery team opened the capsule and found the dead crew.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- aaron_m04 8y agoThese are also the only people known to have died in space so far (as opposed to in the atmosphere on the way to or from space).
- eps 8y agoAs tragic as the Soyuz 11 incident was, it's hardly similar in any of its aspects: "The fault was traced to a breathing ventilation valve, located between the orbital module and the descent module, that had been jolted open as the descent module separated from the service module, 12 minutes and 3 seconds after retrofire. The two were held together by explosive bolts designed to fire sequentially; in fact, they had fired simultaneously. The explosive force of the simultaneous bolt firing caused the internal mechanism of the pressure equalization valve to loosen a seal that was usually discarded later and which normally allowed for automatic adjustment of the cabin pressure. The valve opened at an altitude of 168 kilometres, and the resultant loss of pressure was fatal within seconds."