Soyuz 11

Key facts

Mission & specifications

Mission

Soyuz 11 carried the only human beings ever to die in space itself. In June 1971 its three cosmonauts — commander Georgy Dobrovolsky, flight engineer Vladislav Volkov and test engineer Viktor Patsayev — flew to Salyut 1, the world's first space station, and became its first resident crew. For twenty-three days they lived and worked aboard the station, setting an endurance record and carrying out the first sustained programme of science in orbit, their daily lives followed on Soviet television. It was a national triumph, and the men became heroes while still aloft. The tragedy came in the final minutes of their return. On 30 June 1971, as their Soyuz capsule separated from its service module to begin re-entry, a pressure-equalisation valve was jolted open. At that altitude, above the breathable atmosphere, the cabin air rushed out into the vacuum within seconds. The crew were not wearing pressure suits — like Voskhod before it, the capsule was too cramped to carry three suited men — and they had no way to close the valve in time. They lost consciousness almost at once and died of decompression within about a minute, while the spacecraft, flying its automatic sequence flawlessly, carried on and landed softly on the steppe. The recovery team opened the hatch expecting to greet returning heroes and found all three dead in their couches. The shock was immense. The Soviet programme was grounded for more than two years, and the lesson was absolute: from then on, Soyuz crews would wear pressure suits during launch and re-entry, and would fly only two at a time until the cabin could be made safe for three. Dobrovolsky, Volkov and Patsayev were buried with state honours in the Kremlin wall. Their deaths, more than half a century later, remain the only fatalities to have occurred in space rather than in the atmosphere, and they reshaped how every nation protects its crews on the journey home.

1. 1971Soyuz 11 launchesLaunch

   Dobrovolsky, Volkov and Patsayev head for the first space station, Salyut 1.

2. 1971The first station crewArrival

   The crew board Salyut 1 and live aboard for 23 days, setting an endurance record.

3. 1971Decompression on returnMission end

   A valve opens during separation; the unsuited crew die minutes before an otherwise perfect landing.

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