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Space travel problems

Have there been critical situations during space flights? Part 2

The astronauts from US went through many difficulties too. There were several failures in Mercury and Gemini spacecraft. In March 1966 the Gemini-8 crew - astronauts Neil A.Armstrong and David R.Scott - docked with the Agena rocket. Suddenly the spaceship began to spin with mounting acceleration. It was only the clever actions of the crew that prevented a tragedy.

Outer space ship Gemini-8 docking with Agena rocket

In 1970 the crew of Apollo-13 spaceship underwent an ordeal, when in the base ship after an explosion oxygen started to leak and the electric systems failed. The astronauts spent nearly 72 hours in the small lunar module with limited supplies of oxygen and fuel. In addition, its navigational equipment was inadequate. It was only thanks to their knowledge, experience and courage that they managed to return to Earth.

Outer space ship Apollo-13 inner view

Outer space ship Apollo-13 view after explosion

Cosmonauts and astronauts risk their lives in every outer space flight. A very dear price had to be paid for many achievements in space rocketry. In April 1967 Vladimir Komarov tested a new Soyuz spacecraft for orbital stations. Having done all the scheduled operations he was coming back to Earth. The spaceship passed the most difficult braking phase and decreased the orbital velocity to the re-entry velocity. But then something unpredictable happened: at an altitude of seven kilometers the parachute system failed and the cosmonaut was killed.

Soyuz spacecraft tested by cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov

Vladimir Komarov spaceship landing place

Vladimir Komarov - Russian cosmonaut

Four years later Georgi Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev seemed to have successfully landed after a 23-day flight aboard the first Salyut space orbital station. When the search group opened the hatch of the descent vehicle they saw the cosmonauts in their seats. They were dead. A special investigation established that at a height of 100 or 120 kilometers, just before the descent module entered the upper layers of the atmosphere, a valve opened accidentally and the module was instantly depressurized. The crew died from explosive decompression.

Russian cosmonauts Georgi Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, Viktor Patsayev

Outer space crews from USA sustained losses too. When the Apollo spaceship was ground-tested in 1967 a fire broke out at launch. In the oxygen atmosphere, flames spread so fast that astronauts Virgil I. Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee had no time even to open the escape hatch. In January 1986 the space shuttle Challenger's flight came to a tragic end moments after liftoff. In 2003 space shuttle "Columbia" disintegrated over Texas during re-entry into the atmosphere of Earth.

Spaceship Apollo-1 crew

Space shuttle Challenger crew

Space shuttle Columbia crew

The history of astronautics has witnessed many tragedies. Man's trail to space is by no means strewn with roses.

Man's trail to outer space

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