The Mammoth Book of Space Exploration and Disasters

The Democratic presidential candidate, John F. Kennedy criticized his opponent, President Eisenhower, saying that President Eisenhower had allowed the Soviets to challenge US global leadership, especially in space. If the “space gap” continued it would represent “the most serious defeat the US has suffered in many, many years”.

Soviet test disasters

The Soviets were building larger Korabl Sputniks, officially designated “manned spacecraft prototypes”. They were already trying to launch Mars probes and had sent one (Luna 1) into the moon in September 1959. Two Soviet efforts had failed at the fourth stage when on 24 October 1960, their third attempt failed and Marshal Nedelin, who was in charge, would not accept the delay so went forward to investigate. Aldrin:

The countdown reached zero and the ignition signal was transmitted. But the clustered booster engines failed to ignite, possibly because of an electronic fault in the massive rocket’s first stage. Korolev issued the proper “safing” commands, which disabled the booster’s main electrical systems. Under normal circumstances, the rocket would be drained of fuel, tested for malfunctions, and refueled for the next launch attempt: this could take weeks, but Marshal Nedelin could not accept this delay. He desperately needed a success, or he would face Khrushchev’s wrath. Nedelin led a team of engineers from the blockhouse to the launch pad to inspect the rocket.

Korolev wisely stayed sheltered within the thick concrete walls of the launch bunker, a safe distance from the pad.

As Khrushchev later recalled in his memoirs, “The rocket reared up and fell, throwing acid and flames all over the place… Dozens of soldiers, specialists, and technical personnel…” died in the disaster. “Nedelin was sitting nearby watching the test when the missile malfunctioned, and he was killed.”

It was not until December 1960 that a successful test of the Mercury Redstone (M-R 1) was achieved. After his election, President Kennedy delegated space affairs to his Vice-President Lyndon Johnson. M-R 2 carried a chimpanzee named Ham. It produced unexpectedly high thrust. It landed down range having pulled 15g on reentry. The next launch was delayed until April.