April 23, 1967 - Soyuz 1, death in space

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Numerous cosmonauts had their deaths covered up by the Soviet Union.

Three Americans died in the launch pad fire of Apollo 1 on January 27, 1967.

On April 24, 1967, cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov became the first confirmed in-flight fatality in the history of spaceflight.

NPR recenty published an article about this.

Komarov died when his spacecraft hit the ground.

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Before leaving the Moon on Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong's final task was to place a small package of memorial items to honor Komarov, Yuri Gagarin, and the Apollo 1 astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee. Komarov's name also appears on a plaque left at Hadley Rille on the Moon by the commander of Apollo 15, David Scott, along with a small sculpture representing the "Fallen Astronaut" on August 1, 1971. This plaque and the sculpture represent those astronauts and cosmonauts who died in the quest to reach outer space and the Moon.

[ozzy72]

Thanks for these Jim, superb reading on something I knew only a tiny amount about

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Those were exciting times.

The American joked that they went into space in machines built by the lowest bidder.