How many people have died in space?

Answer 1

The only deaths in space were the three crew of Soyuz 11 on June 30 1971, who died when their cabin depressurized at an altitude of 168km. The official definition of the beginning of space is 100km, so they just qualify. All the other space-related deaths have been on the ground, during launch, or re-entry below 100km.

3, all members of the crew of Soyuz 11. One more died on landing (Soyuz 1). 14 US astronauts have died in spacecraft in flight (Challenger and Columbia), although all were within the atmosphere, and therefore did not die in space.

Answer 2

When you say the 'Space Race' I assume that you mean the race to the moon that happened during the 1960s between the USA and the USSR (now Russia), as, nowadays there is much more co-operation between the nations who have a space programme. This 'space race' was extremely important because it not only involved space as such - it also represented a conflict between the two nationsof the USA and USSR during a time when espionage and distrust was rife - not least because of the differences in ideologies (USA a capitalist free country, the USSR as communist and full of corruption). Therefore, we need not include the two very sad cases of the more recent Shuttle disasters - the first one of which exploded on launch, and the second on reentry. This leaves us with the early space missions of both the USA and USSR, and the US Apollo missions. The worst disaster in these missions was the Apollo 1 disaster. Apollo 1 never flew, as on January 27th 1967, on launchpad 34 during tests, the command module caught fire trapping the three astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee inside. Their deaths at such an early stage in the Apollo programme meant that NASA put safety and safety features at the top of the list for all subsequent missions. Since then with the Apollo missions there were a few close calls not least on Apollo 11 when Neil Armstrong saved the mission by taking over from the on-board computer to set the LEM on the moon manually, as it was leading them to a landing site that was totally unsuitable being strewn with rocks and craters. Another close call, of course, was Apollo 13 which had an explosion on board in its way to the moon. Every effort was made to get the three astronauts back - Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert back safely, which, thank God, they did. Swigert has ince died of cancer, but the other two are still very much with us. The difference between the US and USSR was that in those days the US was very open about its successes - and its failures. The USSR, however, was very secretive about its work in space, often only releasing news of successes after they happened. It was within this atmosphere that they announced that Yuri Gagarin had returned safely from the first human trip into space - beating the Americans' astronaut Alan Shephard (the first American in space) and John Glenn (the first American in orbit) into the cosmos. However, rumours soon started that Gagarin was not the first person in space - but the first to return safely, and the last in a long line of cosmonauts who were launched into space but who perished, and of whom the Russians kept quiet. Although there was no firm evidence for this conspiracy theorists insisted that this was the case. So, despite the incredible amount of pioneering technology and risk, the number of deaths in the race has been remarkably low - and long may it continue like that.

Answer 3

No. One of the closest was Apollo 13 which I'm sure you've heard of. The shuttle became crippled after a fault in the electrical system caused an explosion which resulted in the loss of electrical power and failure of both oxegyn tanks. Thankfully, everybody on board made it home safe and sound. The second is Gemini 8. Neil Armstrong, yes, the one you're thinking of, and David Scott were on board. They were attempting to do the first docking in space. It was succesfull but then it started rolling continuously, still docked to the Agena Target Vehicle. The Problem was a stuck thruster on the spacecraft, which was starting to tumble even faster at the dizzying rate of on revolution per second. The only way to stop the problem was to use the capsule's reentry control thrusters which sent the shuttle back to Earth. They were both still nauseated, but completely fine Answer: There have of course been deaths (and close calls) in space, all associated with re-entry. Reviewing the three space going nations:

American: Aside from deaths during launch, the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster occurred on February 1, 2003, when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Palestine, Texas during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, with the loss of all seven crew members, shortly before it was scheduled to conclude its 28th mission Russian: Although the have been conspiracy theories around Russian space deaths, only one has been confirmed. Vladimir Komarov, waskilled in 1967 when the chute on his Soyuz 1spacecraft failed. Chinese: Yang Liwei orbited the Earth in 2003 in what was a resounding success for its space program. Problems during reentry were almost fatal.

Answer 4

Everyone who has ever died, has died in space. We're all in space, and always have been!

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Two US Space shuttles have been lost with all hands aboard...However, both were destroyed within the Earth's atmosphere, not in space. That accounts for the USA. As for Russian Cosmonauts, we are not sure, they don't report on it.

Answer 5

Noone has died on the moon. 24 men have travelled there with half of them landing. All have made it back to earth alive. Jim Irwin was the first man to die after going to the moon. He died on August 8, 1991, which was 20 years after he walked on it.

Answer 6

3 Russians were suffocated and the 12 American were killed at re entry.

Answer 7

Not to our knowledge, no one has been to Mars yet.

Answer 8

No, no one has died in outer space before, other than in the shuttle or on the ground or reentering the atmousephere

Answer 9

no, humans do not have the technology to reach a black hole, but some aliens might have, i feel so bad for them.

Answer 10

No astronauts have ever died on the moon.