7 Accidents and Disasters in Spaceflight History

By Manish Choudhary

1. Apollo 1 (1967) 

A fire in the cabin during a test before launch killed three astronauts. 

2. Challenger Disaster (1986) 

The Space Shuttle Challenger exploded soon after liftoff, killing all seven crew members. 

3. Columbia Disaster (2003) 

The Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart during re-entry, resulting in the deaths of all seven astronauts. 

4. Soyuz 11 (1971) 

Three cosmonauts died when their spacecraft lost pressure during re-entry. 

5. Soyuz 1 (1967) 

Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov died in a crash landing when his spacecraft's parachutes failed. 

6. SpaceShipTwo VSS Enterprise Crash (2014) 

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo broke apart during a test flight, killing one pilot. 

7. X-15 Flight 3-65-97 (1967) 

Air Force pilot Michael J. Adams died when his aircraft broke apart during re-entry from space.