Topic: Remembering the loss of Soyuz 11: June 30, 1971
Blackarrow Member
Posts: 3120 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
posted 06-29-2011 06:38 PM
In Europe it is now 30th June, the 40th anniversary of the tragic end of the Soyuz 11 mission. I still vividly remember the intense shock and sadness on learning of the deaths of space pioneers Dobrovolsky, Volkov and Patsayev. After a very successful mission occupying the world's first space-station, Salyut 1, it was particularly tragic that the cosmonauts died in the last hour of their flight, as their cabin oxygen escaped through a valve that jarred open. I am a passionate and enthusiastic supporter of the American space programme, but I have always admired the courage, skill and achievements of Russia's cosmonauts. On that sad day 40 years ago, everyone who believes in the exploration of space bowed their heads in sorrow.
It is also worth bearing in mind that for several days the press were speculating that the cosmonauts died because, after 24 days of weightlessness, they had passed some sort of "threshold" beyond which the human body could not survive in space, and that longer flights would forever be denied us. For a while we were not only mourning the loss of the three cosmonauts, but contemplating the end of any hope for future long-duration flights. It is to their great credit that Russia's cosmonauts returned to space and incrementally raised the bar with longer and longer flights.
Forty years on, please remember the contribution and tragic deaths of Georgi, Vladislav and Viktor.
ejectr Member
Posts: 1751 From: Killingly, CT Registered: Mar 2002
posted 06-29-2011 07:41 PM
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APG85 Member
Posts: 306 From: Registered: Jan 2008
posted 06-29-2011 07:59 PM
Certainly an enormous event in space flight history. Wonder what became of the Soyuz 11 capsule?
Jay Chladek Member
Posts: 2272 From: Bellevue, NE, USA Registered: Aug 2007
posted 06-30-2011 12:08 AM
I recently concluded reading the Springer Praxis Salyut book. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to read about Salyut 1 and Soyuz 11. I admire the Russian courage for continuing in the face of adversity back then. Not a lot of people remember that at the time Mishin's bureau was also trying to fly the N-1 for the third time in order to salvage the lunar program. So when it failed and the Soyuz 11 cosmonauts came home dead, they could have turned their back on spaceflight. But they didn't. They kept on going. They seemed to know that the conquest of space was a long haul and there would be casualties along the way. I wish many people in my country would also realize that rather than using it as an excuse to not continue.
Of the cosmonauts on that flight, I probably felt the most for Patseyev as he was the quiet engineer who did his job like the Energizer bunny. He just kept going and going and going with no complaint. He rarely smiled, but when he did it was a nice smile. He was very lucky to get his flight and he made the most of it.
Dobrovolsky was the good military cosmonaut who did his job well given the increase in his responsibilities. He was a good fit for that mission in my opinion. Volkov seemed to come off as the know it all since he was the veteran cosmonaut of the crew (and the book hints that Volkov wasn't too keen on replacing Kubasov on Leonov's crew if a backup switch was made as he would then have lost the perceived prestige of being the veteran cosmonaut on Dobrovolsky's crew). All three men certainly went before their time though.
Reading the book, I found it interesting how the Soviet (specifically Mishin's) mindset was at the time was in regards to flying without pressure suits and oxygen supply in the descent module. I wouldn't say their philosophy was wrong per-se, but like any other engineering disaster, it was a chain of events that killed the crew of Soyuz 11. Break one link in the chain, no disaster.
Of course, not many people remember that while Apollo astronauts launched with pressure suits, they typically didn't come home wearing them and a different problem with a valve and outside air supply caused a problem on ASTP during the Apollo CMs return when hypergolic fumes entered the capsule. So while a disaster exactly like what happened to Soyuz 11 probably wouldn't have happened in an Apollo spacecraft, other things could have happened that would have killed an American crew just as easily during reentry and landing.
MarylandSpace Member
Posts: 1336 From: Registered: Aug 2002
posted 06-30-2011 12:49 AM
I remember hearing the tragic news on the late night radio show with host Larry Glick on WBZ-1030 from Boston.
A tragic loss.
ColinBurgess Member
Posts: 2031 From: Sydney, Australia Registered: Sep 2003
posted 06-30-2011 02:24 AM
Well said, Geoffery and Jay. I still remember the horror I felt on reading a newspaper banner that day to the effect that three Russians had died in space, and how, over the next little while, there was increasing speculation about what caused their sudden deaths. This included dire predictions that the human heart could not stand up to prolonged weightlessness and the reintroduction of gravitational forces could kill any space explorers. A lot of pressure was applied on the Soviets to "come clean" on the actual cause, and in an act of mutual consideration they did just that.
One is left wondering at the actual preparedness of this crew to fly the mission, as they were only undergoing training as the backup crew to Alexei Leonov, Valery Kubasov and Pyotr Kolodin. During a routine medical check three days before the Soyuz 11 mission Kubasov was diagnosed with a mnor lung condition. Instead of just replacing him on the crew, the entire backup crew was surprisingly handed the mission - according to Leonov - just eleven hours before liftoff. One is left wondering whether the Leonov crew would have been better trained and prepared for the emergency, had it occurred when they undocked from Salyut 1.
Lasv3 Member
Posts: 410 From: Bratislava, Slovakia Registered: Apr 2009
posted 06-30-2011 06:58 AM
Leonov felt very guilty of the death of his colleagues dying "instead of his crew". As he expressed in one - and surely more other - interview I saw on the Russian TV few years ago, "this was his mission taken from him in the last moment".
As for the happiness of the Dobrovolski crew to be named as a prime crew there is a doubt at least in case of Viktor Patsayev. As Leonov said there were mixed feelings visible with the crew - the joy to fly and the fear of being undertrained.
Leonov later painted a picture he named "Viktor Patsayev Eyes" - the painting shows the expression of Patsayev face after the flight appointment which in Leonov's words was more troublesome shock than hapiness.
Anyway, this was a bad day. I served my compulsory one month of the military service during a university holiday and the news has been brought by our commanding officer. We were taken aback with this sad news and let's hope the tragedies like this will be limited to absolute minimum even knowing they can't be avoided fully.
Rusty B Member
Posts: 239 From: Sacramento, CA Registered: Oct 2004
posted 06-30-2011 07:25 AM
I was searching Google Maps and photos and I found an entry showing a Soyuz 11 landing site memorial monument. The link shows a photo of the monument and its coordinates. People that visited the location have posted this to Google Maps.
Soyuz 11 - 47.35663°N 70.12142°E
Monument Photo (Memorial monument to Soyuz 11 crew at landing site location)
According to this website (that I read through Babelfish translation) a recent visitor to the site found that the Soyuz 11 memorial had been vandalized and destroyed: http://moonrainbow.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?p=19457%20
Lasv3 Member
Posts: 410 From: Bratislava, Slovakia Registered: Apr 2009
posted 06-30-2011 08:43 AM
The documentary I spoke about in my previous post was produced by the Russian TV First Channel ORT in 2006, the title is "Vernutsa i umeret" meaning "To come back and die".
There is a lot of unique and interesting footage, interviews with cosmonauts Alexei Leonov, Valery Kubasov, Pjotr Kolodin, Vladimir Shatalov, star journalist late Yaroslav Golovanov and the daughter of Georgi Dobrovolski Marina.
Marina speaks very nicely on Valentina Tereshkova who helped their family to come through the difficult times after the tragedy and she still keeps the personal letter from President Nixon she received after the death of her father.
Maybe somebody will be able to locate this documentary somewhere on the web, it's worth seeing even in Russian language.
MSS Member
Posts: 633 From: Poland Registered: May 2003
posted 08-24-2011 01:53 PM
quote:Originally posted by Lasv3: Maybe somebody will be able to locate this documentary somewhere on the web, it's worth seeing even in Russian language.
posted 06-29-2011 06:38 PM
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