posted 06-30-2021 02:32 PM               

Cosmonaut Training Center honored the memory of the Soyuz 11 crew who died 50 years ago

Today (June 30), at the Yu.A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (CTC) held commemorative events dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the death of the crew of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft. The tragedy took place on June 30, 1971. When the cosmonauts Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsaev returned to Earth, having completed the tasks assigned to them in orbit, the descent vehicle was depressurized.

The lack of rescue suits on the crew, the imperfection of the design of the ventilation valve and its location, the inconsistency of instructions for the equipment itself — experts are still discussing the circumstances of the disaster.

Half a century by the standards of human life is a long time for memories to lose their brightness. However, the CTC speaks of the tragedy with Dobrovolsky's crew as if it happened quite recently. With a bitterness that has not gone anywhere over the years, here they can make out every detail of the flight that cost the lives of the astronauts.

The event at the CTC was opened by the head of the first department, Valery Korzun. He talked about how they preserved the memory of the deceased cosmonauts at the site of their descent vehicle landing 176 kilometers (109 miles) from the Kazakh town of Dzhezkazgan. The first monument to the Soyuz 11 crew was destroyed by vandals. Caring people did everything in their power, not allowing the memorial site to be empty: they assembled self-made structures, brought flowers to them, until a new monument was erected in Dzhezkazgan. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the tragedy, a funeral wreath from the CTC was also delivered there.

The head of the Zvezdny Gorodok (Star City) district, Yevgeny Barishevsky, expressed regret that the event, significant for all employees of the CTC and residents of the town, could not be held on a larger scale due to the pandemic in the country and the region.

Veterans of the center in their speeches again and again returned to the causes of the tragedy. Were they pondering whether Dobrovolsky's crew could have survived in those 40 seconds that had become fatal for them? From declassified archival documents, medical reports and eyewitness accounts of the tragedy, a picture of what happened was formed. One can only guess what state the cosmonauts experienced before their death.

"We were shocked by what a terrible death the crew died and until the end of our days we will remember these cosmonauts: literate, diligent, cheerful. I happened to work with all three. On a training plane, they flew alone and everyone was delighted how such a large machine could create weightlessness. Now the Tu-104B laboratory aircraft is installed on the territory of the center, and you can see what training was carried out at that time," said the veteran of the CTC Sergei Aleksandrovich Kiselev, who was preparing cosmonauts for work in zero gravity, at a meeting with the staff.

Center instructor Viktor Mikhailovich Suvorov recalled how the crews were preparing to fly to the first space station Salyut 1. Dobrovolsky, Volkov and Patsaev were the first to dock with it. According to him, a native of Odessa, Georgy Dobrovolsky had to prepare especially carefully for the flight.

"He came to class both in the evenings and on weekends. We constantly heard from him the following phrase: "Guys, Odessa will not forget you," said Viktor Mikhailovich Suvorov. "If we talk about whether someone had a premonition of the tragedy, then Vladislav Volkov's anxiety comes to mind. A few days before the start, he was constantly interested in whether there would be resuscitators at the landing site."

There is no fault of the CTC specialists in the incident. They conscientiously prepared Dobrovolsky, Volkov and Patsaev for the flight, spent long days and hours with them, and therefore they still take to heart the tragedy that happened 50 years ago. And, of course, despite their considerable age, the instructors of the Soyuz 11 crew remember very well what they taught their wards. And therefore, mentally they continue to scroll through all possible options for the development of a situation that could not be prevented.

The crew of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft was buried at the Kremlin wall in Moscow. Representatives of the center and the cosmonaut corps of Roscosmos have visited it today. Flowers were laid at the monument erected in honor of the 10th anniversary of space flights on the territory of the CTC. But the most important thing is that the memory of the Heroes of the Soviet Union Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsaev is kept in the hearts of people.

posted 06-30-2021 02:35 PM               

50th anniversary of the death of the Soyuz 11 crew

Fifty years ago, on June 30, 1971, Soviet cosmonauts Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsaev died as a result of an abnormal depressurization of the descent vehicle during the return of the Soyuz 11 crewed spacecraft to Earth after the completion of the first expedition to the Salyut 1 space station.

Today, the members of the delegation of RSC Energia named after S.P. Korolyov laid flowers at the Kremlin wall at the burial place of the heroic crew of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft and honored the memory of the cosmonauts with a minute of silence. A mourning event was also organized with the laying of wreaths at the "Three Heroes" memorial at the site of the landing of the Soyuz 11 descent vehicle in the Kazakh steppe.

The RSC Energia team will always remember the first space explorers who dedicated their lives to the development of rocket and space technology and space exploration.