Who was the first astronaut or cosmonaut to perish during a mission?

elburcher

Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov (Russian: Владимир Михайлович Комаров; March 16, 1927 – April 24, 1967) was a Soviet cosmonaut. He was the first human to die during a space mission, on Soyuz 1. Laika (from Russian: Лайка, "Barker") was a Russian space dog that became the first living creature from Earth to enter orbit. She was launched into space on Sputnik 2, a Soviet spacecraft, on November 3, 1957. Like many other animals in space, she died during the mission, though earlier than expected.Laika died a few hours after launch from stress and overheating. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Space_program_fatalities Aug 02 06, 1:22 PM

Arpeggionist

Gus Grissum, Roger Chaffey (spelling?) and Ed White died during preparations for their mission inside the Apollo 1 command module on January 27th, 1967, three months before Komorov. I would think that counts. Though the Soviet space program had rumors of cosmonauts who died in space and even of one or two who went into and died in orbit even before Gagarin's mission of 1961. The story of Komarov's mission is actually quite interesting. Miraculously, he got through a good launch, detected trouble in orbit, suvived reentery into Earth's atmosphere and managed to say goodbye to his wife, and it was the crash landing that killed him. His craft hit the ground at some 400 MPH because he couldn't get enough power to put the thrusters to full throttle. Aug 02 06, 2:30 PM

elburcher

The Apollo 1 spacecraft was destroyed by fire during a training exercise on January 27, 1967, killing its crew of Command Pilot Virgil I. Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee. While tragic, it was a training exercise for their mission not the mission itself, which is what the question asks. Aug 02 06, 7:33 PM

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