Space Race

The Space Race, an informal competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, lasted roughly from 1957 to 1975. It involved the parallel efforts by each of those countries to explore outer space with artificial satellites, to send humans into space, and to land people on the moon.

Deaths

When America's Apollo 15 left the moon, the astronauts left behind a memorial to astronauts from both nations who had perished during the efforts to reach the moon. In the United States, the first astronauts to die during direct participation in space travel or preparation served in Apollo 1: Command Pilot Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Senior Pilot Edward White, and Pilot Roger Chaffee. These three died in a fire during a ground test on January 27, 1967.

Related Topics:
Apollo 1 - Virgil "Gus" Grissom - Edward White - Roger Chaffee - January 27 - 1967

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Flights of the Soviet Union's Soyuz 1 and Soyuz 11 also resulted in cosmonaut deaths. Soyuz 1, launched into orbit on April 23 1967, carried a single cosmonaut, Colonel Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov, who died when the spacecraft crashed after return to Earth. In 1971, Soyuz 11's cosmonauts Georgi Dobrovolski, Viktor Patsayev, and Vladislav Volkov asphyxiated during re-entry. The monitoring of Soviet telemetry has led to claims of other deaths (based on audio or loss of their telemetered vital signs in spaceflight) which the Soviet Union did not announce.

Related Topics:
Soyuz 1 - Soyuz 11 - April 23 - 1967 - Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov - Georgi Dobrovolski - Viktor Patsayev - Vladislav Volkov

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Other astronauts died in related missions, including four Americans who died in crashes of T-38 aircraft. Russian Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, met a similar death when he crashed in a MiG fighter in 1968.

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