Imagine sitting on a huge bomb. That is what every astronaut does when they are in a rocket on the launch pad. Even though they have been through countless trial runs, there is nothing like the real thing. Fortunately, the astronauts are too busy getting ready to launch to have time to think about what they are sitting on. Space exploration is a very dangerous business. In this activity, you will learn about some of the risks and dangers with space exploration.

Men started dying very early in the space race. Valentin Bondarenko, a Soviet cosmonaut, was the first man to die in the space race. He died in a fire on the ground on March 23, 1961. This was followed by Vladimir Komarov, who died trying to land his crippled capsule on Earth. His parachute didn't open, and he hit the ground at an incredible speed.

On January 27, 1967, the Americans had their first casualties of the space race. Ed White, Gus Grissom, and Roger Chaffe died when their Apollo 1 capsule caught fire on the launch pad. Because of a problem with the construction of the door, the people outside were unable to open the door and get the men out.

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 Soyuz Rocket

On June 29, 1971, the Soviet Union lost three more men. Soyuz 11 had completed a successful space mission and was about to return to Earth. A valve opened, which allowed the atmosphere to begin leaking out of the ship. The cosmonauts found the problem but were unable to completely close the valve before their air ran out and they died. The capsule landed successfully, but the recovery crews found all three men dead inside.

To date, NASA has lost 17 astronauts in three tragedies and Russia has lost four cosmonauts in two tragedies. You will learn about the Space Shuttles Challenger and Columbia in the next activity.

Space travel is a risky business. While we take launches and landings for granted, they really are quite dangerous. The people in the ship are dealing with a range of dangers, from being on top of a bomb on the pad to anything that could go wrong in orbit to the incredible heat of reentry. There are too many things that could go wrong with a mission to list them all. Yet, people are still very interested in space travel and continue to fly the missions to further the knowledge of the human race.