Astronaut's two-word last request before harrowing death in space

An astronaut uttered a chilling two-word request moments before he died in a harrowing incident in space, isolated from Earth.

As mankind strives to deepen its understanding of the cosmos, space agencies across the globe undertake countless missions and initiatives in the relentless pursuit of knowledge and discovery, alongside hopes of ensuring humanity’s future survival.

Countries are bound together by their shared ambition and determination to achieve technological breakthroughs, collect vital medical and environmental information, and far more besides.

Space agencies worldwide collaborate in an effort to answer fundamental scientific questions, while pursuing revolutionary discoveries. During this endeavour, animals have been sacrificed in space as part of experiments paving the way for human spaceflight.

Tragically, some astronauts have also perished in space, their names etched into the history books for their ultimate sacrifice.

On 30 June 1971, this would prove to be the fate of commander Georgi Dobrovolsky, flight engineer Vladislav Volkov and research engineer Viktor Patsayev.

The astronauts were discovered lifeless in their seats aboard the Soyuz 11 spacecraft following what appeared to be a successful re-entry and touchdown back on Earth.

Soyuz 11 was the sole crewed expedition to dock with the world’s first space station, Salyut 1, having launched on 6 June 1971. In a tragic turn of events, the crew on board were the reserve astronauts for this mission – taking over from the primary crew following a medical X-ray examination four days prior to launch which indicated original flight engineer Valery Kubasov might have tuberculosis.

According to mission protocols, the primary crew was substituted with the reserve crew – though it subsequently emerged that Kubasov didn’t have TB.

The reserve crew had completed 24 days in space which, at the time, was the longest period anyone had remained in space – but it concluded in catastrophe.

NASA confirmed shortly before their re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere, “tragedy struck” and “the cosmonauts died as a result of the sudden depressurisation of their spacecraft”.

Explosive bolts “separated the Soyuz into its three components, with the crew inside the middle bell-shaped descent module”.

Throughout the years, the final communications heard from within their spacecraft have been disputed.

Soviet Air Force representative to the space programme Nikolai Kamanin officially communicated with the crew at 12.16am, with the controller concluding by conveying his wishes of good luck for a soft landing.

Yet space historian Peter Smolders asserted later in 1971 that Dobrovolsky made one final transmission to confirm he was “beginning the descent procedure.”

Adding to the uncertainty was Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Yeliseyev, who maintained contact with the crew from the Yevpatoria control centre in Crimea and had assisted them in resolving an earlier problem with the hatch door of the Soyuz 11 descent module.

Yeliseyev recorded Volkov had issued a two-word request, light-heartedly asking flight controllers to “prepare cognac”, which was regarded as a customary welcome-home gesture, before concluding with “see you tomorrow!”

Tragically, the entire crew died in the spacecraft.

Of the crew’s deaths, NASA explained: “The shock from the explosive bolts jarred open a pressure equalisation valve that normally opened only once the spacecraft was descending on its parachute, well inside the atmosphere.

“But in this case, the valve opened to the vacuum of space and the capsule’s air escaped in less than one minute. There’s evidence the cosmonauts tried to respond to the emergency by manually closing the valve, a process that took several minutes.

“They rapidly lost consciousness as the pressure continued to drop and died [within] two minutes. Not wearing pressure suits, they had no hope of surviving.”