In 1960, a secret Soviet missile explosion killed over 100 people on the launchpad
A devastating launchpad explosion in 1960, hidden from the world for decades, claimed the lives of over one hundred Soviet personnel after safety protocols were ignored during the height of the Space Race.
The Nedelin catastrophe remains one of the deadliest accidents in aerospace history. On October 24, 1960, an R-16 ballistic missile accidentally ignited its second-stage engine while still on the launchpad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The resulting inferno killed over one hundred people, including Field Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin.
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