Spaceflight is not a safe journey. The quest to explore the deep regions of space comes with huge risks for the astronauts who lead the crewed missions. According to NASA's associate director of safety and mission assurance, Nigel Packham, a total of 21 people have died in space.
Five spaceflight missions have ended in fatalities - three by NASA and two by the Soviet Union. The accidents resulted from unusual circumstances, human error, equipment error, politics, and management.
Space Shuttle Disasters
The two deadliest disasters involved space shuttle missions from NASA. On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded just 73 seconds after launch. Seven people died, including Commander Richard Scobee, Christa McAuliffe, Greg Jarvis, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, and Michael J. Smith.
A faulty seal in a booster rocket caused the disaster. Investigations revealed that hot gas leaked and burned into the propellant tank, leading to a massive explosion. Management was also partially to blame since the leadership proceeded with the launch despite the warnings of some NASA engineers.
Another deadly spaceflight disaster occurred on February 1, 2003, when space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas during re-entry. Seven people were also killed, including Commander Rick Husband, Ilan Ramon, Laurel B. Clark, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown, Michael Anderson, and William McCool.
Before the Columbia disaster, experts thought that descent, re-entry, and landing were benign components of spaceflight, especially compared to the extremely violent conditions during vehicle launch. An investigation revealed that foam insulation fell off the external tank of the shuttle during launch, something that happened during almost every launch before and after this disaster.
However, the foam struck the shuttle's wings, damaging the delicate tiles that protect the shuttle from getting too hot as it returns to Earth. The damaged wing could not sustain the high temperatures it experienced upon re-entry, so it caused the space shuttle to disintegrate.
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Soviet Soyuz
On June 30, 1971, three cosmonauts died on the Soviet Union's Soyuz 11 after undocking from the Salyut 1 space station. This incident is the only fatal accident outside Earth's atmosphere. Half an hour before the vehicle landed, a key valve opened, which led to decompression and sudden death.
Meanwhile, cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov became the first ever victim of Soviet space fatality, which happened due to a parachute failure. His ship's parachute did not open upon its return back to the ground on April 24, 1967.
X-15
The X-15 is an Air Force/NASA project that passed the 50-mile (80-kilometer) mark, which is considered the start of space travel. On November 15, 1967, Michael Adams died during a test flight that reached 50.4 miles (81.11 kilometers).
Apollo 1
Although it never left the ground, Apollo 1 is also included in the deadly human spaceflight accidents list. Three astronauts on board were setting out for a space mission. However, a pre-launch test caused a fire to break out inside the space vehicle, killing all the crewmembers inside.
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