#RUSSIAN SPACE SHUTTLE DISASTER HOW TO#

The Soviets have launched missions to many space stations over the decades, starting with the fatal Soyuz 11 flight to Salyut 1 (the first space station) in 1967. The N-1 program underwent four test launches between 19, all of which ended in failure. No fatalities were reported in the incident, Zak says, which was kept secret for some time. A rocket failure caused part of the N-1's fuel to detonate, heavily damaging the launch pad and surrounding area. At the time, NASA was only three weeks away from making the first moon landing. On July 3, 1969, the Soviets made a test attempt to launch a heavy rocket - capable of sending humans to the moon - known as the N-1. Baikonur also was the launch site for two fatal missions Soyuz 11's three cosmonauts (Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev) died during re-entry, and the parachute failed to deploy during the first re-entry of the Soyuz spacecraft (Soyuz 1) in 1967, killing Vladimir Komarov, the single cosmonaut on board. Some of its notable early missions include the first spacecraft to go close to the moon (Luna 1, 1959) the first flight of a female in space ( Valentina Tereshkova, 1963) the first flight to carry two people (Voskhod 1, 1964) and the first crewed launch to a space station (Soyuz 11, 1971). The incident was kept secret for decades, even from the families of disaster victims.īaikonur was the site for all major Soviet launches, and remains so for most Russian launches today. It happened when an R-16 missile detonated on the pad due to various factors (including skipped safety checks and a rushed launch schedule) and killed an estimated 150 people on Oct.

Prior to Gagarin's flight, Baikonur was host to the worst launch pad failure in history, known informally as the Nedelin Catastrophe after a high-ranking Soviet official who was killed in the disaster. Rather than reveal the location of the facility, the Soviet Union achieved its world record by telling the International Aviation Federation that it had launched from the town of Baikonur, Zak says. The cosmodrome only officially received the name 'Baikonur,' however, after cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin went into space on Apalso a world first. The first successful space launch from Baikonur is also the first successful space launch of a satellite - Sputnik-1, which left Earth on Oct. (Image credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani) Space-age pad

#RUSSIAN SPACE SHUTTLE DISASTER HOW TO#

While operations continue at Baikonur, the two countries have had some disputes over how to manage the space complex over the decades.Ī Soyuz rocket and spacecraft are seen at the launchpad at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 16, 2016, ahead of a planned March 18 launch that will send three spaceflyers toward the International Space Station. The Kazakh and Russian governments work together on the maintenance and operations of Baikonur, with Russia paying at least $115 million annually to lease the land. Russia has also built a new launch site, Vostochny, which is eventually expected to take over many of the launches of Baikonur.īaikonur, although it is located in Kazakhstan, is an enclave of Russian territory. Test flights for the program are currently expected in 2018 or 2019, so around the 2020s fewer American launches are expected from Baikonur. After the space shuttle program retired in 2011, NASA shifted to having all of its astronauts fly from Baikonur until the new Commercial Crew Program is ready to launch astronauts. The site has mostly been used to launch Soviet Union and Russian cosmonauts, but after the Cold War cooled, some American and European astronauts started to launch there as well.

Russian space shuttle disaster