This article lists verifiable spaceflight-related accidents and incidents resulting in human death or serious injury. These include incidents during flight or training for crewed space missions and testing, assembly, preparation, or flight of crewed and robotic spacecraft.

Do any of these things sound particularly prone to accidents? Space travel is tricky work that takes careful calculations and even more careful actions when situations get tough. Here is a list of seven accidents and disasters that have occurred during space expeditions.

May 31, 2018 · Just three months after the Apollo 1 fire, Russian cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov became the first fatality in space flight when Soyuz 1, the first Soviet space vehicle aimed at eventually reaching the...

5 days ago · A concise history of NASA's most devastating accidents and near-misses, from Apollo 1 to the Space Shuttle disasters. ... After astronaut Gus Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 splashed down from its successful 15-minute suborbital flight, the explosive bolts on the capsule's hatch detonated, causing the spacecraft to flood and sink 15,000 feet into the ...

On Saturday, February 1, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated as it re-entered the atmosphere over Texas and Louisiana, killing all seven astronauts on board. It was the second Space Shuttle mission to end in disaster, after the loss of Challenger and crew in 1986.

Jan 28, 2025 · The Space Mirror Memorial is engraved with the names of the crews of three space missions along with astronaut candidates who died in accidents. On Jan. 27, 1967, Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Ed ...

Sep 25, 2023 · In the last half-century, about 30 astronauts and cosmonauts have died while training for or attempting dangerous space missions. But the vast majority of these deaths occurred either on the...

On January 28, 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard. The spacecraft disintegrated 46,000 feet (14 km) above the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 16:39:13 UTC (11:39:13 a.m. EST, local time at the launch site).

Mar 8, 2024 · This pathfinder covers five American manned spacecraft accidents: the Apollo I fire in January of 1967, the crash of X-15 no. 3 in November of 1967, the near-loss of Apollo XIII in April of 1970, the destruction of Challenger in January of 1986, and the disintegration of Columbia in February of 2003.

Oct 25, 2024 · A Crew-8 astronaut experienced a "medical issue" shortly after splashing down safely on Earth off the coast of Florida, NASA said. All four astronauts were flown to Ascension Sacred Heart ...