List of spaceflight-related accidents and incidents

This article talks about accidents and incidents that happened during space missions and space-related activities. These include problems during actual spaceflights, training for missions, and preparing spacecraft. It does not cover accidents from missile tests, animal tests, flights without people, or old rocket planes from World War II.

As of April 2026, 19 people have sadly died during spaceflights that reached or were meant to reach space, which the United States defines as 50 miles (80 kilometers) above sea level. Astronauts have also died during training, like in the Apollo 1 launch pad fire. There have also been some deaths involving people who were not astronauts.

More than 188 people have died in spaceflight-related incidents. One amazing story is about astronaut Peter Siebold, who survived when his spacecraft broke apart during flight on October 31, 2014. He fell 15 kilometers (50,000 feet) without oxygen and deployed his parachute at 17,000 feet. He had serious injuries but recovered fully after many surgeries.

Astronaut fatalities

"Dead astronauts" redirects here. For the novel, see Dead Astronauts.

In the statistics below, the term "astronaut" is used to refer to all space travelers (to avoid the use of "astronaut/cosmonaut").

During spaceflight

As of 17 April 2026, there have been five incidents in which a spacecraft in flight had crew members who did not survive. Of these, two had reached the internationally recognized edge of space (100 km or 62 mi above sea level) when or before the incident occurred, one had reached the U.S. definition of space at 266,000 ft, and one was planned to do so. In each of these accidents, the entire crew did not survive. As of April 2026, a total of 791 people have flown into space and 19 of them have died in related incidents. This sets the current statistical fatality rate at 2.4 percent.

NASA astronauts who died on duty are memorialized at the Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Merritt Island, Florida. Cosmonauts who died on duty under the Soviet Union were generally honored by burial at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis in Moscow. No Soviet or Russian cosmonauts have died during spaceflight since 1971.

During training or testing

In addition to accidents during spaceflights, 11 astronauts, test pilots, and other personnel have been killed during training or tests.

Non-fatal incidents during spaceflight

Besides major disasters, there were 40 missions that came very close to serious problems. These included moments during spaceflights and training where things almost went very wrong, but everyone was safe in the end.

Non-fatal training accidents

Main article: List of spaceflight non-fatal training accidents

Sometimes, while getting ready for space missions, people have gotten hurt. This can happen when they are building, testing, or getting spacecraft ready. These accidents have happened since the very first space programs began, and there have been 35 such accidents since 2009.

Non-astronaut fatalities

Fatalities caused by rocket explosions

This section talks about people who sadly passed away because of rocket explosions. It does not include deaths from military actions or during the making of rockets. For instance, during the production of certain rockets, many workers faced dangerous situations.

Other non-astronaut fatalities

There were 47 unfortunate events where people were harmed.