There have been a number of significant accidents and incidents in the history of spaceflight. In particular, incidents during human spaceflight missions have resulted in 18 astronaut and cosmonaut fatalities, as of 2010.[1][nb 1] Additionally, there have been some astronaut fatalities during other spaceflight-related activities, such as the Apollo 1 launch pad fire which killed all three crew members. There have also been some non-astronaut fatalities during spaceflight-related activities.
This article provides an overview of all known fatalities and near-fatalities that occurred during manned space missions, accidents during astronaut training and during the testing, assembling or preparing for flight of manned and unmanned spacecraft. Not included are fatalities occurring during intercontinental ballistic missile accidents, and Soviet or Germanrocket-fighter projects of World War II. Also not included are alleged unreported Soviet space accidents that are not believed by a majority of historians to have occurred.
Percentage of fatal spaceflights
There are various ways of measuring the danger of spaceflight based on comparing the number of fatalities to the number of non-fatal spaceflights.
About two percent of the manned launch/reentry attempts have killed their crew, with Soyuz and the Shuttle having almost the same death percentage rates. Except for the X-15 (which is a suborbital rocket plane), other launchers have not launched sufficiently often for reasonable safety comparisons to be made.
About five percent of the people that have been launched have died doing so. As of November 2004, 439 individuals have flown on spaceflights: Russia/Soviet Union (96), USA (277), others (66).[citation needed] Twenty-two have died while in a spacecraft: three onApollo 1, one on Soyuz 1, one on X-15-3, three on Soyuz 11, seven on Challenger, and seven on Columbia. By space program, 18 NASA astronauts (4.1%) and four Russian cosmonauts (0.9% of all the people launched) died while in a spacecraft.[citation needed]
Soyuz accidents have claimed the lives of four cosmonauts. No deaths have occurred on Soyuz missions since 1971, and none with the current design of the Soyuz. Including the early Soyuz design, the average deaths per launched crew member on Soyuz are currently under two percent. However, there have also been several serious injuries, and some other incidents in which crews nearly died.