How many astronauts died during space missions?

The gripping depiction of a space disaster in "Gravity" may be fictional, but the potential for death and destruction has long haunted the final frontier, said ... read more

A total of 18 astronauts have died while on space missions. 1 - Soyuz 1 - Vladimir Komarov many issues on the flight, but the parachute failure was the factor that killed him. 3 - Soyuz 11 - Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, Viktor Patsayev - due to a failure in a pressure equalization valve, they lost their cabin atmosphere while starting re-entry and asphyxiated on the way down. read more

As of 2018, there have been 18 astronaut and cosmonaut fatalities during spaceflight. Astronauts have also died while training for space missions, such as the Apollo 1 launch pad fire which killed an entire crew of three. There have also been some non-astronaut fatalities during spaceflight-related activities. read more

27 January 1967; Apollo 1 - Astronauts Roger Chaffee, Virgil Grissom (Mercury 4 and Gemini 3), and Edward White (Gemini 4) were killed at Cape Kennedy during a training exercise for the Apollo 1 mission. read more