Nedelin catastrophe at Baikonur Cosmodrome

Nedelin catastrophe at Baikonur Cosmodrome

[olivertoeknuckleiii]

What makes this more horrifying is fact that arrogance and ego caused all of these preventable deaths. A high-ranking commander decided to literally drag a chair into the danger zone close to the rocket, as a sign of confidence that it wouldn’t fail. All of his underlings really had no choice but to join their boss in the blast zone, for fear of punishment if they didn’t. You can see what happened next. The USSR lost some if their top scientists, commanders and many other important personnel, which probably ruined any chance they ever had of going to the moon.

[javaskull]

120 injured 78 dead. Missile designer and test range commanding officer Mikhail Yangel had left to smoke a cigarette behind a bunker a few hundred yards away. Asked by Nikita Khrushchev "But why have you remained alive?" Yangel answered in a trembling voice – "Walked away for a smoke. It's all my fault."

[rocktcatU]

This is why you don't stand next to a fully fueled anything, let alone a hypergolic rocket.

[nickfosterxx]

Hydrazine and nitric acid. Unimaginable.

[markmitchell]

No narration or explanation.
The comments are the best source of information.

[georgechambless]

I read the story of what happened before seeing this video, and I must say it's amazing to watch.
The fact that it's just the video without commentary makes it even better.

[Microbex]

I read that the heat reached some 3000 degrees. Probably the reason many of the fleeing people was 'smoking'.

[henrybemis]

One time when Smoking was good for a persons

[ScribblyPoppo]

They decided to test the warhead instead. "Ah, fuck the propulsion system."

[firstname]

This was just Woods and Mason rescuing Weaver and sabotaging Soviet rockets

[animussilica]

Grim humor, but it is amusing how it is named "Emergency handling of 8-k-64 unit". Emergency handling... thats how "run the fuck out for your lives" was called back then :D

[vitakyo]

Horrifying to see these guys burning & running to escape .... did anyone of them survived ?

[olivertoeknuckleiii]

Every life has a backstory. They had wives, children, and an entire life, just like you have. Just because they were unlucky enough to be born in Russia doesn’t mean that they deserve to die, or that their lives have little consequence.

[IbnShahid]

Technological progress the hard way... (Mind you, in the Soviet Union they always seemed to do everything the hard way).

[arkadiuszcichocki]

The main constructor went to smoke and thanks to that he survived. ZSRR.'s Marshall died.

[ibelieveingaming]

Absolutely insane,
At the pearly gates: "Congratulations! You take the record for 'most badly burned' from Kaiichi the sun-maiden!"

[BDX]

Crazy that the head of program who was working on the rocket at this exact moment apparently died in a plane crash the same day.

[georgewilson]

You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain
Too much love drives a man insane
You broke my will, but what a thrill
Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!

[biscuits]

Fucking hell on earth. Massively energetic fire, deadly fumes... those men running out of the blaze on fire, some collapsing and others just running and running. Not trying to be a jackass, but the first thing i thought was fucking stop drop and roll... although ive never been on fire.

Fuck nukes and icbms, but nobody should suffer this fate. May the find peace and rest in happiness.

[larissafrehley]

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