The 5 most shocking moments in the history of the aerospace industry

Since launching the first missile into space in 1944, we have witnessed a number of "thousands of hair hanging" situations happening to astronauts.

The most terrifying aerospace accidents in history

Those are the horrific accidents, rated by the astronauts as the "most horrifying" of their careers.

1. Loss of control over space

On March 16, 1966, Neil Armstrong made his first voyage into space with the Gemini 8 - the sixth manned ship in the Gemini Mission. The mission was to connect Gemni 8 with Agena - unmanned device in the universe.

Neil Armstrong and his partner, David Scott.

A few hours after leaving the launch pad, the ship's connection was successful. However, half an hour later, both vehicles began to turn around abnormally and uncontrollably.

Armstrong was forced to disconnect between Gemini 8 and Agena, but the ship turned faster and faster.

Landing safely on the Pacific Ocean.

Eventually he had to stabilize Gemini 8 using an ion jet engine - the only engine used to return to Earth. After using this engine, the Gemini 8 mission was forced to cancel 2 days earlier than planned.

Less than 11 hours after starting the mission, Armstrong and his colleagues landed in the Pacific Ocean safely. The history of space science has recorded this as a "squeaky" situation, because if disaster happens, we have lost Neil Armstrong - the first person to set foot on the Moon two years later.

2. 7 minutes of breathlessness of Curiosity autonomous robot

Before Curiosity, self-propelled robots often landed by dropping bulging airbags until stable on the surface of Mars.

However, Curiosity is too big and heavy to use this way, so NASA has designed a device for this self-propelled robot - a device with four jet engines will slowly lower Curiosity from a height of 20m.

Image simulating Curiosity landing process.

On August 5, 2012, Curiosity penetrated into the Martian atmosphere. The estimated time since Curiosity reached the Martian atmosphere until landing is 7 minutes.

However, it took a total of 14 minutes for the spacecraft to communicate from Mars to Earth, so the scientists were forced to let the system operate itself during this time. The short period of time but this "long heavenly fall" has been dubbed "the panic of Curiosity " by NASA .

Fortunately, the system has operated stably and Curiosity is safe. And also so that we can now know Mars has many lakes and may have existed.

3. Apollo 13 mission

Apollo 13 should have been the third landing of humans on the Moon. The ship was launched on April 11, 1970 from the Kennedy Space Center (USA).

But after more than two days since leaving the launch pad and being 320,000 kilometers from Earth, an oxygen tank exploded and crippled Apollo 13. This was a very unexpected situation, which made the crew of three people risk of dropping out of space.

Apollo 13. Crew of James A. Lowell, John L. Swigert and Fred W. Haise (from left to right).

Losing a large amount of oxygen, the energy source is exhausted, the astronauts must reside in the Moon module - the part used to land (each spacecraft is composed of many different modules). They distribute drinking water and food sparingly, waiting for the opportunity to return to Earth in despair.

Finally, thanks to NASA's rescue efforts, the crew landed safely on the Pacific Ocean on April 17.

4. Almost drowned in the universe

On July 16, 2013, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano made a space walk at the International Space Station (ISS). It was just a normal space walk if the unexpected incident did not happen.

After more than an hour, Parmitano discovered the water rising in his helmet. Parmitano recounted: 'As I moved, I became more and more aware of the rising water. I felt the water seep into the sponge in my headset and I wondered when I would lose contact. '

Italian astronaut - Luca Parmitano in space.

Nearly not seeing anything because of the water, the astronaut could only follow the safety cable to return to the cabin. Fortunately, he "made it in time" before . drowning in his own astronaut clothes.

Imagine what it would be like if you were stuck in this water-filled hat .

NASA experts say it is possible that water from the cooling system has flowed into Parmitano's hat, through a vented groove in the neck.

5. The Mir space station is nearly abandoned

The Mir space station is also known as the Russian-made Hoa Binh space station. This is one of the most crashed space stations in aerospace history, in which the accident in 1997 was really a nightmare.

Mir space station with huge solar panels.

On June 25, 1997, during the interrupt and reconnection process, a spacecraft crashed into the solar panel of the station.

The accident caused Mir to lose balance, turn uncontrollably and unable to store energy. This means that when the stored battery runs out of energy, the entire crew must live without energy whenever the station is in the dark region of the Earth - a completely dark space.

After much effort, the experts overcame and brought Mir back to orbit and function normally. However, Mir only "survived" another 4 years before being brought to Earth. The station was destroyed when it collided with the atmosphere in 2001, and the debris fell into the Pacific Ocean.