Famous astronauts who got lost or killed in space

As the world is waiting with bated breath, praying for the safe return of astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, NASA is set to take final decision on whether or not the astronauts will make a return journey to Earth aboard Boeing's Starliner, on Saturday. "NASA's decision on whether to return Starliner to Earth with astronauts aboard is expected no earlier than August 24 (Saturday) at the conclusion of an agency-level review," the space agency said in a statement.Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore have been stuck in space since June 6. Originally intended to be an eight-day mission on the International Space Station (ISS), it has now extended indefinitely. As the fate of the two astronauts hangs in the balance, here's looking at famous astronauts who got lost in space due to some glitch or the other.

Vladimir Komarov (1967)Vladimir Komarov was the first astronaut who got killed in space during the ill-fated Soyuz-1 mission on April 23, 1967. The Soviet cosmonaut and aerospace engineer died in a tragic crash due to the failure of parachute system during the re-entry of the Soyuz-1 spacecraft. The mission aimed to test the Soyuz spacecraft in a manned mode and conduct the world’s first docking in space with another Soyuz-2 spacecraft, however it couldn't be accomplished as Soyuz-1's two solar panels failed to deploy, causing a critical power shortage. During his return to earth, the main parachute failed to deploy due to a malfunction, and the reserve parachute became entangled, which caused the descent vehicle to crash into the ground at a deadly speed of 50 meters per second, instantly killed Komarov. It was said that it happened due to a glitch in spacecraft's thermal protection.

Vlad Volkov, Georgy Dobrovolsky and Viktor Patsaev (1971)

A tragic twist of fate stole lives of three bright astronauts who successfully carried out their mission and spent three weeks in space. After conducting a series of experiments on how human body copes with long durations of weightlessness, unfortunately astronauts Vlad Volkov, Georgy Dobrovolsky and Viktor Patsaev on their way back to earth met with a tragic end. On June 29 1971, the cosmonauts began their descent to earth riding in Soyuz 11 spacecraft. While their re-entry to earth seemed perfect, upon their landing in Kazakhstan, they were found dead. Turned out a faulty valve seal on the spacecraft’s descent vehicle had burst open during its separation from the service module which sucked all the air out of the crew cabin, depressurizing it, which led to their death.

Francis R. Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Judith A. Resnik, Ellison S. Onizuka, Ronald E. McNair, S. Christa McAuliffe, Gregory B. Jarvis (1986)

In one of the worst space disasters of all time, space shuttle Challenger exploded, 73 seconds after its liftoff killing all seven crewmembers, on January 28, 1986. A technical issue with the rubber O-ring seals between the two lower segments of the right-hand solid rocket booster led to the tragedy. The failure of O-ring seals led the external tank to separate from the shuttle stack, and caused the solid rocket boosters to fly uncontrollably. This led to disintegrate of the spacecraft 46,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean.

Kalpana Chawla (2003)

Another horrific space tragedy that killed the seven-member crew Kalpana Chawla, Rick Husband, Michael Anderson, David Brown, Laurel Clark, William McCool and Ilan Ramon, unfolded on February 1, 2003 when Columbia disintegrated during its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. "Our mission is successful and we are all fine here," were reportedly the last words of Kalpana Chawla. The crew performed 80 experiments in life sciences, material sciences, fluid physics and other matters, but unfortunately perished in the tragedy. According to Space.com, 82 seconds after Columbia left the ground, a piece of foam fell from a "bipod ramp" that was part of a structure that attached the external tank to the shuttle. The foam struck Columbia's left wing carving a hold the left wing that allowed atmospheric gases to bleed into the shuttle leading to the loss of the sensors which led to disintegration of Columbia and the death of astronauts inside.