14 Deaths in U.S., Soviet Space Programs : Experts Praise Safety Records

In a quarter century of manned space flight, disaster has struck the U.S. and Soviet programs twice each, killing 10 American and four Russian crew members.

But despite those tragedies and a number of close calls, space experts suggested Tuesday that the two nations have built an impressive safety record, considering the total number of launches--66 Soviet and 56 American, including 25 shuttles--as well as the huge risks involved.

“NASA has been extremely conservative in the chances they will take in the manned space program,” David D. Clement, a House Science and Technology Committee aide, said after the blowup of the space shuttle Challenger claimed seven lives.

“Unfortunately, we tend to forget this is an extremely dangerous business and the shuttle system is one of the most complex pieces of machinery that man has ever designed,” he added.

Apollo Flash Fire

The Challenger catastrophe came 19 years and one day after disaster rocked the Apollo program, killing three crewmen and forcing a broad reappraisal of the U.S. space effort.

Astronauts Virgil I. (Gus) Grissom, 40, Edward H. White II, 36, and Roger B. Chaffee, 31, died when a flash fire swept their spacecraft in a ground test at what was then known as Cape Kennedy, Fla. The trio, who had been designated to fly the first Apollo spaceship into orbit, fought unsuccessfully for 13 frantic seconds to open the capsule’s single hatch.

Three months later, Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir M. Komarov was killed in his Soyuz 1 spaceship after its parachute straps became tangled on reentry. In contrast with the U.S. practice of allowing wide news coverage of space flights, the Soviets conceal most details of theirs. But as Komarov’s vehicle plunged toward Earth, U.S. intelligence experts intercepted heart-breaking radio conversations that Komarov had with his wife and then-Soviet leader Alexei Kosygin, who was crying.

Komarov told his wife “how to handle her affairs and what to do with the kids,” the U.S. interceptor reported. A few minutes later, “there was just a scream as he died.”

In 1971, three more Soviet cosmonauts died as they were about to land after a record 24 days aloft. They were killed when all the air in their Soyuz spacecraft rushed out through an exhaust valve that had accidentally been triggered open.

Death Rumors Discounted

Despite rumors of other Soviet deaths, “the odds are overwhelming” that there have been none, according to a Congressional Research Service report by two space experts, Charles S. Sheldon and Marcia S. Smith. Much like the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “the Russians have followed a conservative approach to manned flight,” loading substantial backup equipment on board in case something breaks down, the report said.

Both the U.S. and Soviet programs have had some near misses, however. In 1961, months after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and U.S. astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. became the first humans to travel into space, Grissom’s Mercury capsule sank in an ocean landing after an explosion blew the escape hatch off prematurely. He swam from the capsule safely.

In 1970, three astronauts on a moon mission aboard Apollo 13 saw the oxygen and power in their command module sink to dangerously low levels because of a ruptured oxygen tank. Using power from the lunar landing craft to stay alive, they were able to circle the moon and return to Earth three days later.

“After seeing what happened (to the Challenger) today,” said Leonard David, research director of a presidential commission reviewing the space program, “you come away with the feeling that we have been very fortunate not to have lost more lives than we have.”