Space Accidents Fast Facts

Here's a look at space accidents that have affected astronauts or other staff related to spaceflight. Accidents that involved unmanned spacecraft are not included.

October 24, 1960 - The first space-related fatalities occur when a rocket explodes at the Soviet Union's Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan, killing 165 people, including Air Marshal Mitrofan I. Nedelin, the head of Soviet rocket forces. The accident is officially denied until 1990.

March 23, 1961 - Russian cosmonaut Valentin Bondarenko is killed during a routine training exercise. Bondarenko is in a pressure chamber for an eight-day routine isolation test when he discards a cotton ball used to swab a sensor on his body. The cotton ball hits a hot plate used for cooking and catches fire in the oxygen-rich atmosphere. The fire isn't revealed to the public until 25 years later.

July 21, 1961 - USAF Captain Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom's Mercury capsule sinks in an ocean landing after an explosion blows the escape hatch off prematurely. He swims from the capsule safely.

January 27, 1967 - Three US astronauts are killed by a fire during a rehearsal launch for the US's Apollo 1 - USAF Lt. Col. Gus Grissom, USAF Lt. Col. Edward Higgins White and USAF Lt. Commander Roger B. Chaffee. The fire causes a 20-month delay in the first manned Apollo flight. It is believed to have been triggered by a spark from faulty electrical wiring.

April 1967 - Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov is killed while returning to the ground from a successful Soyuz 1 orbit of Earth when the main parachute fails to open.

February 1969 - The Soviet Union's N1 Moon booster explodes during its first test flight, killing 91 people on the ground. The accident is not made public until 1995.