Worst Space Program Tragedies
Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster: All seven crew members on board were killed. One of those killed was an elementary school teacher named Christa McAuliffe.
Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster: 2/1/2003 - Space Shuttle Colombia disintegrated during reentry to Earth's atmosphere. All 7 crew members were killed
Apollo 1 Launch Pad Fire: 1/27/1967 - A cabin fire during a launch simulation killed three astronauts. The test was thought to be non hazardous due to no fuel or pyrotechnics being used.
Soyuz 1 Parachute Failure: 4/24/1967 - Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov was killed when his module's parachutes failed to deploy upon re-entry.
Soyuz 11 Decompression Accident: 6/30/1971 - Upon preparing to re enter Earth's atmosphere, the capsule experienced sudden cabin depressurization that killed all three on board.
Chinese Rocket Crashes Into Village: 2/15/96 - A Chinese long march rocket carrying a satellite veered off course immediately after lift off and crashed into a nearby village.
Vostok-2M Rocket Explosion: The explosion was so massive it killed 48 (some reported 80+) crew members on the ground.
New "Space Plane" Test Flight Crash: 10/31/2014 - SpaceShip Two VSS Enterprise was to be the first of five commercial sub orbital spacecraft by Virgin Galactic.
Russian Water Recovery Training Accident: 7/11/93 - Cosmonaut Sergei Vozovikov drowned while participating in a water recovery training sessions in the Black Sea.
Russian Low Pressure Altitude Chamber Endurance Test Accident: . Bondarenko suffered third degree burns on most of his body and face. He died 16 hours later.