About half an hour before the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft was scheduled to land on June 30, 1971, in the plains of Kazakhstan, the flight control center located in Yevpatoriya experienced an unexpected silence.
Three Soviet cosmonauts – Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev – were descending back to Earth after a record-setting duration aboard the Salyut 1 space station, where they conducted experiments and explored many unknown aspects of human habitation in space.
Georgy Dobrovolsky (center), Viktor Patsayev (left), and Vladislav Volkov (right) inside the Soyuz spacecraft.
Their spacecraft, Soyuz 11, was launched on June 6, 1971. At the time of the American Apollo 11 landing on the Moon two years earlier, the longest duration humans had spent in space was about two weeks.
This Soviet crew had spent 23 days in space, setting a new record for human endurance in space before their return home.
As the spacecraft was returning, a communications officer expressed concerns about the lack of updates from the cosmonauts.
“We asked cosmonaut Dobrovolsky to provide information during the time the landing module entered the coverage area, but he did not say a word,” communication officer Aleksei Yeliseyev reported. “It’s strange that cosmonaut Volkov was so quiet. In the previous connection, he talked a lot.”
The module carrying the brave men landed around 2 a.m., approximately 90 km southwest of the town of Karazhal. A rescue team was immediately dispatched.
And there was an additional 20 minutes of silence as the team at the control center received no further reports.
Finally, news from the rescue team came through. Sitting “in a tranquil position,” the three cosmonauts were found dead inside the spacecraft.
Behind the Race to the Moon
Russians watching the delayed broadcast of the American Apollo 11 moon landing in July 1969.
The Soyuz 11 mission began as public interest in space exploration was waning.
By then, Apollo 11 had landed on the Moon in 1969. Many historians consider this event to mark the conclusion of the great space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. However, as it was believed to be over, public interest gradually diminished, as there were countless other pressing issues that needed funding.
Nonetheless, there was still much to explore about space and many milestones yet to be broken. For instance, scientists at the time had limited knowledge about the effects of prolonged weightlessness on the human body. The longest time humans had spent in space prior to the Moon landing was only about two weeks.
“The Soviet Union was always concerned about the long-term effects of humans in space,” stated Asif A. Siddiqi, a history professor at Fordham University. “You really cannot think about going anywhere, like to Mars, unless you truly understand how the human body will react.”
To compensate for the loss in the Moon race, the Soviet Union quickly shifted focus to a space station program. They pooled existing equipment and hurriedly assembled a space station, launching it on April 19, 1971. The station was named Salyut 1 and was the world’s first space station orbiting Earth.
The first attempt to send cosmonauts to this space station took place just three days after the launch of Salyut 1. However, the four-person crew was unable to dock and had to return to Earth within less than two days.
The next attempt was Soyuz 11, which occurred in June of the same year.
Initially, a different team of three cosmonauts was assigned to the Soyuz 11 mission. However, just two days before the scheduled launch, a “chicken egg-sized” spot was discovered inside the right lung of a flight engineer.
A backup team consisting of Dobrovolsky, the commander, Volkov, the flight engineer, and Patasayev, a research engineer, was designated to replace the primary team. The first trio was eliminated simply because you cannot substitute a newcomer for someone in a crew of three. A flight crew must consist of individuals who have trained together for a long time to coordinate and interact smoothly.
Another Leap for Humanity
Inside Salyut 1 space station, the hatch leading to Soyuz 11.
Soyuz 11 was launched on June 6, 1971. The three cosmonauts quickly achieved a milestone success by successfully docking with Salyut 1 the next day.
Essentially, the Salyut 1 space station was quite modest in size, equivalent to a two or three-bedroom apartment. Numerous studies conducted inside Salyut 1 were related to biomedicine, but the crew also undertook many other experiments.
According to NASA, Patsayev was the first person to operate a telescope in space. In another compartment, the cosmonauts grew cabbage and onions. Patsayev also became the first person to celebrate a birthday in space, and these men even voted in an election in the Soviet Union.
Scientists also wanted to closely monitor the effects of space on the human body. A treadmill was installed on Salyut 1, and the astronauts wore their space suits rather than their regular flight suits while aboard the space station and Soyuz.
However, the astronauts experienced setbacks, including a small fire on board and some “personality conflicts.” Nevertheless, this crew successfully broke the record for time spent in space, surpassing the previous 18-day record set in 1970. In total, they spent about 22 days aboard this space station.
The Tragedy Inside Soyuz 11
Dobrovolsky, Volkov, and Patsayev inside Soyuz 11.
Most aspects of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft functioned as intended.
“The Soyuz spacecraft is a highly automated vessel, so you don’t have to do much,” Professor Siddiqi stated. “The program to bring the Soyuz back to Earth continued to work and it functioned perfectly.”
The landing module carrying the three men self-oriented, and the parachute deployed in the early morning of June 30, 1971. The spacecraft landed gently on the Kazakh steppe. Reports also indicated that the astronauts were in good physical condition during the final days of the journey.
However, a few mistakes on the spacecraft and within the Soviet space program led to the tragic deaths of the astronauts. Michael Smith, a historian at Purdue University who studied the Soviet space program, remarked that Soyuz 11 can be viewed as “a case study in risk planning.”
Soyuz 11 consisted of three modules. At the front of the spacecraft was a module that functioned as the crew’s workspace. In the middle was a cabin for three, and at the back was the service module containing the engines and power supply. To separate the modules, small boxes containing explosives were to be activated at precise moments in a sequence. However, in this incident, the boxes were activated simultaneously.
Unfortunately, the shock of the module separation caused a valve in the cabin to open while the spacecraft was at a lethal altitude. The air inside rapidly escaped, and within seconds, the astronauts lost consciousness.
Without space suits and emergency oxygen tanks for protection, the astronauts perished. The position of the bodies later indicated that Dobrovolsky and Patsayev had attempted to close the valve but were unable to react quickly enough.
Just two minutes after landing, a rescue team by helicopter approached the module, which was now lying on its side on the ground.
Upon opening the hatch, they found all three men sitting in their seats in “a peaceful position.” There were dark blue spots on their faces. Blood was coming from the noses and ears of the astronauts. Cosmonaut Dobrovolsky’s body was still warm. The doctors attempted artificial resuscitation but were unsuccessful. According to reports, the cause of death was asphyxiation.
It is not hard to imagine the feelings the astronauts experienced in the first moments of the incident. An intense pain throughout their bodies would have rendered them unable to think or comprehend what was happening. Surely, they heard the hiss of escaping air, but their eardrums burst quickly, and absolute silence began. Based on the rate of pressure drop, they could actively move and try to do something for about 15 to 20 seconds.
The valve opened at an altitude of approximately 170 km, above the Kármán line – an imaginary boundary often used to define the point at which one enters outer space. Dobrovolsky, Volkov, and Patsayev are the only individuals to have died outside of that boundary to date.
It is unfortunate that if the astronauts had been wearing their space suits, they would have certainly survived the decompression incident. However, this was a common issue for the mission, as previous tests were insufficient, partly due to the rush caused by the space race.
“Many malfunctions in spacecraft do not become apparent immediately,” said Professor Siddiqi. “Sometimes you have to test it 50 times before any issues arise. Therefore, they did not fly these things enough to truly understand how they would react.”
Contributions to History
A crowd marches through Red Square in Moscow to commemorate the deaths of three astronauts.
According to Time magazine, a national day of mourning was held alongside a grand state funeral. Condolences from Soviet leaders were sent to the families of the men. Leaders from other countries also extended their sympathies.
In a telegram sent to Nikolai Podgorny, the head of state of the Soviet Union at the time, U.S. President Richard Nixon wrote: “The American people join me in expressing our deepest sympathy to you and the people of the Soviet Union over the tragic death of the three Soviet cosmonauts. The whole world has witnessed the feats of these brave explorers of the unknown and shares in the sorrow of their tragedy. However, the achievements of cosmonauts Dobrovolsky, Volkov, and Patsayev will endure forever.”
According to historian Professor Siddiqi, the deaths of the three cosmonauts had a lasting impact on the Soviet space program in the years that followed. For the next two years, other flight efforts were not undertaken.
By the end of the 1970s, no further fatalities occurred. The Soviet Union launched the Salyut 6 space station in 1977. Many large crews docked and unloaded here, and mission durations gradually increased from three months to six months.
A more encouraging note is that subsequent redesigns and improvements made to the Soyuz spacecraft (including the space suits used during launches and landings) demonstrated significant durability.
