Georgy Dobrovolsky

Georgy Timofeyevich Dobrovolsky was a Soviet cosmonaut. He was born on 1 June 1928 and sadly passed away on 30 June 1971. Dobrovolsky became well known for commanding the three-man crew of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft.

His crew made history as the first people to visit a space station, Salyut 1. This was an important moment for space exploration. However, during their mission, a problem happened with a valve that opened by accident. Because of this, Dobrovolsky and his crewmates died from not having enough air. They were the first and only humans to have died while traveling in space.

Biography

Georgy Dobrovolsky, along with Viktor Patsayev and Vladislav Volkov, flew on the Soyuz 11 mission. They were the first and last three crew members to pass away during a space flight.

After the spacecraft returned to Earth, the capsule was opened and the crew was found to have passed away. A valve had opened just before the spacecraft left orbit, allowing the air inside to escape into space. Dobrovolsky’s ashes were placed in an urn in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis on Red Square in Moscow. He was honored with several awards after his death.