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to the disaster reported that the first explosion originated from the Block E stage. Fire crept down the side of the rocket and rapidly ignited the core stage and strap-ons. The 300 tons of fuel destroyed the launch pad and surrounding area. The intense heat of the fire caused the metal support structures on LC-43/4 to glow red. The pad was left a twisted mass of rubble. It took a few days to remove all the dead from the pad area during which time small fires continued to burn. LC-43/4 was not used again for four years. Another Vostok-2M vehicle successfully launched a
Tselina-D satellite from LC-43/4 on 4 June and completed the mission the 18 March launch was supposed to have done.
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assigned blame to the crew that was killed at the site of the fire by specifically stating the official cause as "explosion (inflammation) of material soaked in liquid oxygen as a result of unauthorized actions of one of the members of the ground crew." The investigative committee was under political
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On 17 March the rocket was installed at the launch site. Various preliminary tests conducted before the fueling went as expected and without problem. The Vostok-2M had been flying for 16 years with only a single in-flight failure and this vehicle, S/N 78055-330, would have been the 70th one launched.
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where R-7 vehicles were assembled. However, less than a year later, on 23 July 1981 after a second disaster of the same cause was narrowly avoided, it was discovered that a design flaw in the fuel filters of the rocket were likely the cause of the 1980 disaster, although it was impossible to confirm
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was completed, a huge explosion at the site was witnessed at 19:01 MSK; 44 people in the area were killed and another 43 required hospitalization for burns, four of whom later died while in the hospital. Many of the survivors suffered severe burns and lung damage. Over 80% of surviving eyewitnesses
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reported that the launch of the rocket was a success and did not say anything about the explosion. It was only in 1999, almost two decades after the disaster, that an investigative committee ruled that the cause of the disaster was "probably" use of lead solder in the fuel filters.
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at 19:01 local time (16:01 GMT) on 18 March 1980, two hours and fifteen minutes before the intended launch time. Forty-four people were killed in the initial fire and four more soon died in the hospital from burns. It is the
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which type of filters were used in the rocket that exploded. The catalytically active lead solder on the filters would cause an explosion upon contact with hydrogen peroxide.
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and several other sources reported 50 deaths instead of 48; after more information about the event became available the death toll was amended to 48.
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pressure to blame the launch crews, many of whom were dead and couldn't defend themselves, rather than the workforce at the
Khrunichiev plant in
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The launch of the rocket was scheduled to take place at 21:16 on 18 March. Several hours before the intended launch, the tanks were filled with
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The disaster was not reported in Soviet media at the time and was not publically admitted to until the glasnost era nine years later.
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301:[Medal 'for the lack of Corpus Delicti' - 20 years Plesetsk Cosmodrome Catastrophy].
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The official investigation responsible for determining the cause of the disaster headed by
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298:Медаль 'За отсутствие состава преступления' - 20 лет катастрофе на космодроме Плесецк
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239:[The explosion of the 'Vostok' carrier rocket at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome].
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second deadliest space exploration related disaster in history
236:Взрыв ракеты-носителя "Восток" на космодроме Плесецк (1980)
267:. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 174.
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457:Space accidents and incidents in the Soviet Union
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16:Vostok-2M rocket explosion during refueling
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113:at 19:00 and preceded by the addition of
373:Guardian Staff; agencies (1999-10-28).
347:"1980 Soviet Rocket Accident Killed 50"
261:Shteinberg, Alexander S. (2008-09-26).
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467:March 1980 events in the Soviet Union
121:to side tanks. After the addition of
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40:19:01 MSK (16:01 GMT) 18 March 1980
31:Memorial to victims of the disaster
442:1980 disasters in the Soviet Union
323:"Soviet rocket blast left 48 dead"
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213:[The explosion of 1980].
73:1980 Plesetsk launch pad disaster
20:1980 Plesetsk launch pad disaster
375:"Space disasters - a timeline"
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307:. 2000-03-18. Archived from
83:satellite during fueling at
437:March 1980 events in Europe
49:Plesetsk Cosmodrome Site 43
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273:10.1007/978-3-540-78861-4
65:87 injured (43 seriously)
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243:(in Russian). 2015-03-18
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75:was the explosion of a
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135:Initial investigation
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355:. 28 September 1989
89:Plesetsk Cosmodrome
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447:Explosions in 1980
418:62.92861; 40.45667
104:Sequence of events
79:rocket carrying a
311:on 21 March 2020.
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241:РИА Новости
431:Categories
404:40°27′24″E
401:62°55′43″N
384:2018-05-28
359:2018-05-27
332:2018-05-27
304:Kommersant
247:2018-05-27
220:2018-05-27
192:References
55:Casualties
168:Footnotes
130:Aftermath
81:Tselina-D
77:Vostok-2M
153:Cover-up
45:Location
87:of the
85:Site 43
60:48 dead
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160:Pravda
146:Samara
93:Mirny
277:ISBN
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111:RP-1
71:The
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