The tragic final moments of the Soyuz 11 mission
In short: Discover the harrowing story of three Soviet cosmonauts who completed a successful orbital mission, only to face an unexpected catastrophe during their return to Earth.
On June 6, 1971, Georgi Dobrovolski, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev launched aboard Soyuz 11 to the Salyut-1 space station. Their three-week mission involved diverse experiments, including growing Chinese cabbage and bulb onions, taking star spectrograms, and photographing the River Volga's ice.
The disaster occurred during reentry on June 29, 1971. After undocking from Salyut-1 and firing their engines for return, the crew prepared for touchdown at an altitude of 160 kilometers. When explosive charges fired to separate the orbital bell-shaped capsule from its instrument modules, something unexpected happened that turned a routine homecoming into a tragedy.
Opens the Intellect+ feed with this card first. Swipe up for the next one.
Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Three Men Lost in Space! The Space Disasters
To cite this card, link to https://intellectplus.co.uk/app/space-three-men-lost-in-space-the-space-disasters.
How we source, check and correct cards: Editorial standards.
General information, not professional advice. Spotted an error? Flag the card or see corrections and complaints.
Intellect Plus is a visual educational discovery platform for exploring fascinating facts and ideas. Brain Food, Not Brain Rot. What is Intellect Plus?
Related
More in Space · Latest · A–Z · All topics
