The history of space exploration also has a tragic side. In total, about 350 people died during unsuccessful space flights and preparations for them. In addition to astronauts, this number also includes local residents and spaceport personnel who died as a result of falling debris and explosions. In this article, we will look at five disasters where the pilots of spacecraft directly became victims. The saddest thing is that most accidents could have been avoided, but fate decreed otherwise.
Apollo 1
Year: 1967 Number of dead: 3
Official reason: spark due to short circuit in poorly insulated wiring
The world's first space disaster fatal occurred on January 27, 1967 with American astronauts during training in the command module of the Apollo 1 mission.
In 1966, the moon race between the two superpowers was in full swing. Thanks to spy satellites, the United States knew about the construction of spacecraft in the USSR, which could possibly deliver Soviet cosmonauts to the moon. The development of the Apollo spacecraft, therefore, was carried out in great haste. Because of this, of course, the quality of technology also suffered. The launch of two unmanned versions, AS-201 and AS-202, was successfully launched in 1966, and the first manned flight to the Moon was scheduled for February 1967. For crew training, the command module of the Apollo spacecraft was delivered to Cape Canaverall. The problems started from the very beginning. The module was seriously flawed, and dozens of engineering adjustments were made right on the spot.
On January 27, the planned simulation training in the module was supposed to take place to test the performance of all on-board instruments of the ship. Instead of air, oxygen and nitrogen were filled into the cabin in a ratio of 60% to 40%. The training started at 1pm. It took place with constant malfunctions - there were communication problems, and the astronauts constantly smelled of burning, as it turned out as a result - due to a short circuit in the wiring. At 18:31, one of the cosmonauts shouted over the intercom: “Fire in the cabin! I'm on fire! Fifteen seconds later, unable to withstand the pressure, the module burst. The cosmodrome employees who came running could not help - astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee died on the spot from numerous burns.
Soyuz-1
Death toll: 1
Official reason: failure of the brake parachute system / flaws in production spaceship
On April 23, 1967, a grand event was scheduled - the first ever launch of a Soviet spacecraft of the Soyuz series. According to the plan, Soyuz 1 was the first to launch, piloted by Vladimir Komarov. Then it was planned to launch the Soyuz-2 spacecraft with Bykovsky, Eliseev and Khrunov on board. AT open space the ships were to dock, and Eliseev and Khrunov were to transfer to Soyuz-1. In words, everything sounded big, but from the very beginning something went wrong.
Immediately after the launch of Soyuz-1, one solar battery did not open, the ion orientation system was unstable, and the solar-stellar orientation sensor failed. The mission had to be terminated urgently. The Soyuz-2 flight was canceled and Vladimir Komarov was ordered to return to Earth. Here, too, arose serious problems. Due to the failure of the systems and the displacement of the center of mass, it was impossible to orient the ship for braking. Due to his professionalism, Komarov almost manually oriented the ship and successfully entered the atmosphere.
After the ship left orbit, a braking impulse was applied and an emergency detachment of the compartments was made. However, at the last stage of the landing of the descent vehicle, the main and reserve drogue parachutes did not open. At a speed of about 150 km / h, the descent vehicle crashed into the Earth's surface in the Adamovsky district of the Orenburg region and caught fire. The apparatus was completely destroyed in the collision. Vladimir Komarov died. The reason for the failure of the brake parachute system could not be established.
Soyuz-11
Death toll: 3
Official reason: premature opening of the ventilation valve and further depressurization of the cabin
1971 The USSR lost the lunar race, but in response created orbital stations, where in the future it was possible to stay for months and do research. Successfully completed the world's first expedition to orbital station. The crew consisting of Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsaev stayed at the station for 23 days, however, after a serious fire at the OS, the cosmonauts were ordered to return to Earth.
At an altitude of 150 km. separation has occurred. At the same time, the ventilation valve opened involuntarily, which was supposed to open at an altitude of 2 km. The cabin began to fill with fog, which condensed due to pressure drop. After 30 seconds, the astronauts lost consciousness. After another 2 minutes, the pressure dropped to 50 mm. rt. Art. Since the astronauts did not have spacesuits, they died from suffocation.
Despite the fact that the crew did not respond to MCC questions, re-entry, braking and landing were successful. After this tragic incident, the Soyuz pilots began to without fail supply spacesuits.
Shuttle Challenger
Death toll: 7
Official reason: gas leak in the elements of the solid fuel booster
The mid-1980s were a real triumph for the American Space Shuttle program. Successful missions took place one after another at unusually short intervals, sometimes no more than 17 days. The Challenger mission STS-51-L was significant for two reasons. Firstly, she broke the previous record, as the interval between missions was only 16 days. Secondly, the Challenger crew included a school teacher whose task was to conduct a lesson from orbit. This program was supposed to generate interest in space flight, which in last years calmed down a bit.
On January 28, 1986, the Kennedy Space Center was packed with thousands of spectators and journalists. About 20% of the country's population watched the live broadcast. The shuttle soared into the air to the cries of the admiring audience. Everything went well in the beginning, but then puffs of black smoke were visible coming out of the right solid rocket booster, and then a torch of fire appeared from it.
A few seconds later, the flame became significantly larger due to the combustion of the leaked liquid hydrogen. Approximately 70 seconds later, the destruction of the external fuel tank began, followed by a sharp explosion and detachment of the orbiter's cabin. During the fall of the cabin, the astronauts remained alive and conscious, they even made attempts to restore the power supply. But nothing helped. As a result of the impact of the orbiter cabin on the water, at a speed of 330 km / h, all crew members died on the spot.
After the shuttle exploded, numerous cameras continued to film what was happening. The faces of shocked people got into the lenses, among which were the relatives of all seven dead astronauts. Thus was filmed one of the most tragic reports in the history of television. After the disaster, a ban was imposed on the operation of shuttles for a period of 32 months. The system of solid-fuel boosters was also finalized, and a parachute rescue system was installed on all shuttles.
Shuttle Columbia
Death toll: 7
Official reason: damage to the heat-insulating layer on the wing of the device
On February 1, the shuttle Columbia successfully returned to Earth after a successful space mission. Initially, reentry into the atmosphere proceeded normally, but later a thermal sensor on the left wing transmitted an anomalous value to the MCC. A piece of thermal insulation broke off from the outer skin, as a result of which the thermal protection system failed. After that, four sensors of the ship's hydraulic system went off scale, and literally 5 minutes later the connection with the shuttle was cut off. While the MCC staff was trying to contact Columbia and find out what happened to the sensors, one of the employees saw in live the shuttle already falling apart. The entire crew of 7 people died.
This tragedy dealt a serious blow to the prestige of American space exploration. Shuttle flights were once again banned for 29 months. In the future, they performed only critical tasks for the repair and maintenance of the ISS. In fact, this was the end of the existence of the Space Shuttle program. The Americans were forced to ask Russia to transport cosmonauts to the ISS on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
Soyuz carrier rocket, which was supposed to deliver a cargo spacecraft into the Earth's orbit. Progress MS-04”, started on December 1 at 17:51 Moscow time. The spacecraft was supposed to deliver 2.5 tons of cargo to the ISS, but the ship was lost at an altitude of 190 kilometers above Tuva. It is noted that most of the fragments burned up in the atmosphere.
Despite the fact that the cargo ship was supposed to deliver 2.5 tons of cargo to the ISS, which included fuel, water, refueling systems and medicines, experts note that its loss will not affect the functioning of the International Space Station and its crew. In addition, Progress was supposed to deliver scientific equipment into orbit: the Lada-2 greenhouse, with which it was planned to grow sweet peppers, and the updated Orlan ISS spacesuit, which has a unique thermal control system, which allows cosmonauts not to be distracted by turning heating systems on and off manually. It also became known that the ship was carrying New Year's gifts to the ISS. The accident occurred while the third stage engines were running.
Those remnants of the ship that did not burn up in the atmosphere probably fell near the Russian-Mongolian border, 60-70 kilometers west of the city of Kyzyl. The task force of firefighters immediately went to the place of the likely fall. Information is collected from eyewitnesses. The search work is complicated by the wooded area of the area. Employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations said that the search for debris in the endless taiga is almost hopeless. Rescuers called local residents immediately report the found fragments of the rocket to the appropriate authorities.
Meanwhile, the network reacted to the fall of Progress with humor. One of the commentators wrote: “But now there is at least some progress in Tuva,” and another commentator wrote such an ironic post: “The people of Tuva thank Roskosmos for the Progress ship with New Year’s products.”
The fall of the Progress spacecraft over Tuva video
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The Progress cargo ship, launched on Thursday evening from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, failed to reach its intended orbit and crashed in Russia. The Soyuz-U launch vehicle with the Progress MS-04 transport cargo spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station.
"The fragments fell, presumably in Tuva, searches for them were organized,"
- the source told the RIA Novosti agency. According to another source, the wreckage of the Progress MS-04 could have fallen in southeastern Siberia "near the Russian-Mongolian border."
Initially, the problems during the launch became clear from a short message from Roskosmos: “We inform you that today, after the launch of the Soyuz-U launch vehicle with the Progress MS-04 transport cargo ship, telemetry has disappeared from the 383rd second.”
According to the site russianspaceweb.com, shortly after the launch, the inhabitants of Tuva reported a powerful explosion in the sky,
shook the ground, after which falling debris was visible.
The indicated communication interruption time indicates that an abnormal situation occurred during the operation of the third stage engine. Later, Roskosmos officially confirmed the loss of the cargo ship. “Until the 382nd second, the flight of the launch vehicle proceeded normally. After the 382nd second of the flight, the reception of telemetric information stopped. Regular means of control did not record the functioning of the ship in the calculated orbit, ”the message says. According to preliminary information, as a result of an emergency situation, the loss of TGK
occurred at an altitude of about 190 km above the hard-to-reach deserted mountainous territory of the Tyva Republic, and most of the fragments burned up in the dense layers of the atmosphere.
The cargo ship was scheduled to dock at the Zvezda command module on Saturday and remain docked until April 2017.
Progress MS-04 was supposed to deliver more than two tons of various cargoes, including fuel, life support for the crew members of the ISS 50th long-term expedition, equipment to maintain the station in operation, packages for cosmonauts and astronauts.
In addition, the cargo included a new Orlan-MKS spacesuit of the latest modification for Russian cosmonauts, a mini-greenhouse and an experimental facility for water and urine processing. Greenhouse "Lada-2" was intended for long-term experiments on growing plants in zero gravity. Similar studies were started at the Soviet Salyut stations, and then at Mir.
The failure to launch the Soyuz was the first accident in 2016 and the first after the “unsuccessful” year for Russian cosmonautics in 2015.
That year, two rockets were lost during launches one after the other, which caused a wave of criticism of the Russian space industry and called into question the reliability Russian missiles. On April 28, the Progress M-27M cargo spacecraft left and was unable to deliver fuel, air, food and spare parts to the ISS.
In May, she suffered with a Mexican communications satellite. Then problems arose in the third stage at the 497th second of the flight - an abnormal operation of the engines was recorded.
Now Progress MS-05, the launch of which was planned for February, can be sent to the ISS ahead of schedule in case of loss of the Progress MS-04 spacecraft.
The Soyuz-U rocket is the oldest of the flying Soyuz, and this was its penultimate launch, Igor Afanasyev, editor of the News of Cosmonautics magazine, reminded Gazeta.Ru. “She has been flying for a long time, manned ships and Progress were launched on her. There is a more powerful Soyuz-FG modification with more powerful engines and the latest Soyuz-2a, Soyuz-2b modifications and the Soyuz-2.1v light rocket,” the expert recalled. - Soyuz-U was planned to be discontinued and smoothly switched to Soyuz-2. By the end of the Federal space program only Soyuz-2 should fly. The most important thing is to determine the cause of the fall. Maybe it's the engine, maybe the control system - whatever," the expert added.
The catastrophic launch of the next-generation Progress MS-04 cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station was Russia's first major space failure in the last year and a half. Four days earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said that Russia had escaped "from the veil of defeats, insulting accidents and catastrophes." What happened to Progress and what it threatens, Lenta.ru figured out.
The launch of the Soyuz with Progress took place at the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 17:52 Moscow time. The launch of the launch vehicle and the separation of the first two stages were successful. It was assumed that the ship will spend two days in an autonomous flight. Docking with the ISS was scheduled for 19:43 Moscow time on December 3rd.
383 seconds after the launch, Roskosmos reported the loss of telemetry, and regular controls did not detect the ship in the calculated orbit. Communication was lost when the ship was at an altitude of about 190 kilometers above the deserted mountainous terrain of the Tuva Republic. "Progress MS-04" could not enter the calculated orbit due to the fact that the launch vehicle did not gain sufficient speed. The ship was destroyed while entering the dense layers of the atmosphere.
On board the spacecraft were about 2.5 tons of various cargoes for the crew members of the ISS 50th long-term expedition. In addition to food, water, air, various packages and other life support for astronauts and astronauts, Progress MS-04 was supposed to deliver fuel to the space station. Among other things, the ship carried the Lada-2 greenhouse for growing sweet peppers, wheat and lettuce in weightless conditions, as well as the first copy of the new-generation Orlan-MKS spacesuit.
According to preliminary data, the damage to Roskosmos from the loss of Progress may exceed four billion rubles. The launch was carried out on budgetary funds, and insurance will not fully cover the damage. Some experts hurried to find a Ukrainian trace in the catastrophe - allegedly there was a malfunction of the control system, produced, according to preliminary data, at the Kharkov State Research and Production Enterprise "Kommunar".
A source in the space industry told Lente.ru that the reason for what happened could be the refusal of Roskosmos from modern Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicles in favor of the outdated Soyuz-U modification.
“At this rate, we will have nothing to launch our Progresses on, and we will not do without the help of the Americans: after the loss of a cargo ship in April 2015, we were forced to switch from the modern Soyuz-2.1a carrier to the old and proven Soyuz- U". Now it seems that there are problems with him, ”the source clarified. He also noted that it is premature to draw conclusions and name the perpetrators.
The source of "Lenta.ru" had in mind an accident that occurred a year and a half ago, on the morning of April 28, 2015. Then, from the Progress M-27M truck launched to the ISS with the help of the Soyuz-2.1a rocket, the MCC also stopped receiving telemetry data. Roskosmos announced that it is transferring the docking of a truck from the ISS to a two-day scheme. During the day, the department did not give intelligible comments. Meanwhile, in the late afternoon of April 28, Progress M-27M entered an uncontrolled rotation, and the next day, the US Air Force recorded debris of unknown origin in orbit next to the truck.
"Progress M-27M" began an uncontrolled deorbit, and on May 8, fragments of the truck (which, by the way, was supposed to deliver the Banner of Victory to the ISS) fell into Pacific Ocean. This made a lot of noise on the network, and the space agency was quick to say that the Victory Banner had already been delivered to the station. Experts called the cause of the accident the design features of the joint use of the rocket and the truck - in other words, they were in good order separately, but their joint work was not agreed upon. AT this case, probably, there was a depressurization of the fuel tanks of the third stage.
This failure forced Roskosmos to send trucks not on modern Soyuz-2.1a rockets, but on Soyuz-U carriers, which are considered the most reliable in the world. However, they have been used for too long, since 1973, so their last flight was scheduled in 2017. Moreover, even improved modifications of Progress MS trucks were launched on the same Soyuz-U. But Soyuz-2.1a was not forgotten either - it was he, in the version adapted for the new launch pad, that launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome exactly one year after the disaster, on April 28, 2016. Then, too, there were some problems - the launch, scheduled for April 27, was postponed for a day due to a malfunction in the missile control system unit.
The fault was caused by negligence in the manufacture of the cable leading to the fuel valve. Leonid Shalimov, general director of the Yekaterinburg NPO Automation, received a warning about incomplete official compliance from President Vladimir Putin and resigned. The head of state called the incident "an example of ideal sloppiness." Roscosmos head Igor Komarov and Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin got off with a reprimand.
Ironically, Rogozin managed to declare four days ago, on November 28, 2016, that “ Russian cosmonautics, breaking out of this veil of defeats, embarrassing accidents and disasters, having stabilized quality issues, made a qualitative breakthrough further in creating the latest technologies.
The current situation almost exactly reproduces the events of August 24, 2011, when an accident occurred with a Progress M-12M truck at the site of the third stage of the Soyuz-U rocket. “Then at the 325th second there was a malfunction of the propulsion system, which led to its emergency shutdown. The wreckage of the space truck, which did not burn up in the dense layers of the atmosphere, fell in the Altai Mountains. There were no casualties or destruction on earth,” the source said.
According to him, everything was normal up to the third stage operation area, the 309th second of the flight. 16 seconds after the launch of the third stage, the operation of the RD-0110 engine was disrupted, and after another 33 seconds it turned off in an emergency. The third stage of the rocket with the Progress M-12M spacecraft that did not detach from it entered the atmosphere along a ballistic trajectory and collapsed.
The reasons for the emergency situation became clear almost immediately - a violation of working conditions and a decrease in the parameters of the RD-0110 engine and its emergency shutdown resulted in a decrease in fuel consumption in the gas generator due to clogging of its supply path. The commission recognized the identified manufacturing defect as accidental, that is, an isolated case that will not be repeated during the next Soyuz-U launches.
The final document of the interdepartmental commission on the results of the investigation of the accident on August 24, 2011 states the need to "develop and implement additional measures to control the condition of new engine units in the process of their development and manufacture, including the installation of video surveillance systems at workplaces in the final assembly shops."
“The accidental manufacturing defect is not caused by faulty technological cycle, but single factors, which, in general, should not be, but can occur in production. The task of a competent business executive is to avoid such accidental defects; they have no place in the industry. If an accidental defect occurs a second time, it should already be classified as a manufacturing defect. But I repeat, it’s too early to draw conclusions, ”a source told Lenta.ru.
Now, in addition to the Russian Progress, private American trucks Dragon (SpaceX) and Cygnus (Orbital ATK), as well as Japanese HTV can deliver cargo to the ISS. Dragon is the only spacecraft to date capable of returning cargo from orbit to Earth. The rest burn up with waste in the planet's atmosphere. The investigation into the causes of what happened will certainly take some time - to rush into this matter would be crazy. So far, Russia can use the help of partners in the ISS.
The next launch to the ISS should take place in a week, on December 9th. The HTV spacecraft of the Japan Space Agency will depart for the station for the sixth time.
On August 24, fragments of the Progress M-12M spacecraft fell near the village of Karakoksha in the south of the Choi district in the Altai Republic.
A large number of forces of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the region are concentrated in the village. Aircraft are involved in the search for the wreckage. Specialists from Roskosmos are also working on site. But on August 26, search work was suspended due to bad weather.
According to the press service of Roscosmos, during the launch of the Soyuz-U launch vehicle with the Progress M-12M transport cargo ship during the operation of the third stage at 325 seconds of flight, according to preliminary data, there was a malfunction of the propulsion system, which led to its emergency shutdown.
Employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations claim that the launch vehicle exploded in the air without touching the ground, presumably at an altitude of 100 kilometers. Local residents who collected nuts at that time confirm this information. While they were in the forest, they heard an explosion, but did not see any fiery flashes.
Correspondent " KP "-Barnaul" Managed to talk with tourists vacationing on the Uymen River. They also heard a loud explosion, which then reflected from mountain to mountain for a long time.
There is no panic among the population, since this is far from the first such incident for local residents. For many years, the spent stages of launch vehicles launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome have been falling on the territory of the Altai Republic.
Over the past two days, on August 25 and 26, ten people have already applied to the Karakokshinsky district hospital in the Altai Republic with complaints of deteriorating health. Many attribute this to the crash of the Progress M-12M ship. However, as told in the village hospital, there is nothing unusual in the number of applications.
It happens that more people complain about their health in a day, - explains Olga Tadykova, and. about. head physician of the Karakoksha district hospital. – This time, people mostly complained about high blood pressure.
By the way, as Olga Vladimirovna noted, among those who applied were people over the age of 50.
As reported and about. Prime Minister of the Republic of Altai Yuri Antaradonov, settlements located at a considerable distance from the place where the debris fell.
The Progress M-12M cargo ship was supposed to deliver 2,670 kilograms of various cargoes to the station: fuel, equipment for scientific research, supplies of compressed oxygen, food, consumable equipment for the Russian and American segments of the station, packages for the ISS crew.
ISS Program Manager at NASA Michael Saffredini stated that the permanent crew of the ISS could be reduced from six people to three if a possible pause in the launches of manned Soyuz due to the accident of the Progress space truck dragged on for more than 40-50 days.
And at this time
There are 10 lumberjacks and berry pickers in the area where the Progress spacecraft crashed. This was announced on Thursday, August 25, at a meeting of the Commission for Emergency Situations in the Altai Republic chief forester of the Choi region Anatoly Chepkanakov.
Mode emergency now introduced in the tracts of Bezhel-Bik, Kuzya and Nyrna, the main efforts are aimed at the evacuation of loggers.
How does the Progress catastrophe threaten Altai?
The fuel of the crashed Progress M-12M spacecraft contains heptyl, a poisonous substance dangerous to humans. Altai experts are confident that once heptyl enters the atmosphere, it will fall to the ground as poisonous rains, which are extremely dangerous for humans. KP found out from environmentalists whether this is so.
The rocket fell from a great height, - says Chairman of the Samara International Ecological Union Sergey Simak. - Since the fuel was dispersed over a large area, having entered the atmosphere, heptyl will surely then fall to the ground along with precipitation. So poisonous rains will be sure, another question is where and when exactly they will pass. As for pulmonary edema, alas, this is very likely. It's all about concentration, but heptyl is so poisonous that it doesn't take much to get sick.
Information has already appeared on some information sites that residents of the crash zone are turning to hospitals with respiratory injuries. But in management Rospotrebnadzor in the Republic of Altai, this information was refuted.
We are receiving information from all over the Republic - there was not a single report of poisoning, - the press service of the department assured the KP-Barnaul correspondent.
Boris Lekontsev, Honored Meteorologist of the Russian Federation
"The hazardous fuel of the Progress ship can infect rivers"
The fall of debris from the Progress spacecraft could cause serious environmental issues. The fact is that there are many rivers in the Choi region, for example, Katun, Isha. And if heptyl gets into them (the fuel used by space ships. - Note. ed.), it can infect rivers. And although they say on the radio that they did not fill it with heptyl, I do not believe it.
But you should not worry about any climatic changes: there will be no change in the weather because of this.
Alexander Milkus, editor of the education department of Komsomolskaya Pravda
It's good that it's not the "Union"
This is Russia 's fourth space loss in nine months . In December last year, three Glonass-M satellites went into the milk. In February, the Geo-IK-2 military satellite was lost. The other day, we were unable to establish contact with the Express AM4 launched into an off-design orbit ... And now - Progress. In each case, for sure, the specific causes of failures will be different - somewhere the programmer overlooked, somewhere the engineer made a mistake in the calculations, or the microcircuit failed. But according to these symptoms, an experienced doctor would have long ago made a diagnosis - systemic lesions of the space industry.
They started back in the 90s. It's just that the margin of safety, laid down by Korolev, was so great for astronautics that it managed to hold out longer than other industries. Worn-out planes fell, decrepit ships sank. But rockets were launched into space, international station. It just couldn't go on like this for too long. Designers left design bureaus and factories, control over technology was weakened. At the enterprises they began shamelessly sawing the already meager budgetary funds.
And here is the result. In my opinion, it’s still lucky that the tragedy happened to the Progress, and not to the manned Soyuz, which would also have to launch to the ISS very soon.
The fall of the truck will cause many changes both in orbit and on the ground.
The six cosmonauts who are now on duty at the station will not soon have to wait for fresh food, replenishment of water and air supplies, and change of clothes. I am not talking about equipment for experiments - in the current situation, this is secondary. But after the shuttles were laid up, the Russian Progresses are the only transport that regularly supplied the ISS with cargo.
It may be necessary to completely revise the work schedule of expeditions at the station. It is clear that until the causes of the failure are clarified, the launches of Progress and Soyuz (manned ships are lifted into orbit by a rocket of the same type as trucks, and from the same launch pad) will be set. The change to the ISS is now unlikely to arrive on time. And those who are now on watch will have to seriously tighten their belts. Or one of the triplets will simply have to be returned home.
On the ground, most likely, resignations of Roscosmos officials and heads of space enterprises will follow. They began to talk about them immediately after the loss of Express. The fall of "Progress" will clearly put bullet point on the careers of many high-ranking "cosmonauts".
By the way
The territory of the Republic of Altai has been used for more than 40 years as a fall area for spent stages of launch vehicles launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome.
And a few years ago, one large fragment of a spaceship landed in the courtyard of a resident of the village of Korgon in the Ust-Kansk region, only by a lucky chance not killing the owner of the house, who was chopping firewood at that moment in the yard. The man appealed to Roskosmos with a claim for compensation for moral damages, and he was later paid 10 thousand rubles, - the official website of the United Russia party says.
