On the morning of June 30, 1971, near sunrise on the steppes of Kazakhstan, recovery crews prepared to receive the crew of Soyuz 11, which had completed a successful 24-day mission to the world’s first space station: Salyut 1. The Soviet leadership and public were eager to welcome cosmonauts Georgi Dobrovolski, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev home after they broke the world spaceflight endurance record of 18 days, set a year earlier by their countrymen aboard Soyuz 9.
The Soyuz 11 descent module’s parachute system started to deploy as planned, at approximately 10 kilometers in altitude, and the main parachute deployed nominally. There had not been communications with the crew since before the deorbit burn, but ground crews were preparing for what they expected would be a nominal return from orbit.
The descent module completed a nominal touchdown at the landing site east of Dzhezkazgan, an area still used today for Soyuz landings. The spacecraft landed on its side on a beautiful day with a clear sky with recovery forces in a good position to receive the crew. The recovery teams proceeded to safe the spacecraft and opened the hatch.
What they found inside Soyuz 11 would shock and devastate them, with severe consequences to the Soviet program, and would spawn safety modifications and equipment that are in use in the present day.
Soyuz 11’s three person crew were dead.
