Spaceflight is anything but safe, and the quest to explore the final frontier comes with huge risks for the astronauts leading the charge. But has spaceflight actually cost people their lives?
Yes, 21 people have died in space, Nigel Packham, NASA’s associate director of safety and mission assurance, told Live Science.
Five spaceflight missions — three by NASA and two by the Soviet Union — have ended in fatalities. “The accidents are usually a combination of unusual circumstances, equipment error, human error, politics and management,” said Jim Hermanson, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics at the University of Washington in Seattle.
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