The space race, which started with the orbiting of Sputnik 1, the first functional satellite of mankind, by the Soviet Union, witnessed both great breakthroughs and serious differences of opinion.
Probably the greatest of these surviving differences of opinion is the debate about where the starting point of space is. The uncertainty that arises due to the fact that a consensus has not yet been reached on this issue can sometimes even prevent some tragic cases from being classified as tragic cases. In this article, we will talk about these cases, the tragedy of “Soyuz 11” and how this tragedy was affected by this uncertainty.
The border accepted by most of the planet: The Karman Line
This limit, which was determined by the Hungarian-American scientist Theodore von Kármán to be 100 kilometers above sea level, is accepted as the standard atmosphere-space boundary by all states and institutions except the United States Armed Forces. According to this institution, the standard limit is determined as 80 kilometers above sea level.
While there’s no clear reason why the United States didn’t exactly standardize on the Karman Line, you wouldn’t be wrong if this reminded you to use a variant of the imperial system instead of the metric system.
The USSR, which broke new ground with its surprising space breakthroughs and whose rocket engines continue to be used even today; He owes these successes to the lessons he has learned from the many disasters he has experienced.
Unlike the United States, the Soviet Union’s space doctrine was focused on achieving as many firsts as possible rather than concentrating on specific goals. For this reason, Soviet engineers, unlike their American counterparts, constantly had to deal with brand new and experimental systems. Sudden transitions from one mission to another often prevented a deep focus on a single mission and making it as safe as possible.
One of these missions, “Soyuz 11”, turned into an unprecedented tragedy towards the end, despite achieving its original goal of docking with a space station. When this Soviet spacecraft, which had landed back on Earth, was reached, it was revealed that all three cosmonauts aboard died by drowning. The three cosmonauts were eventually buried in the Kremlin.
Let us recall the uncertainty caused by the dispute over the space boundary. The question of whether these cosmonauts die in space is a situation that may vary depending on exactly where they drowned. If the events took place above the Karman Line, the three cosmonauts in question died in space, and if they took place below the Karman Line, they died on Earth. If the likelihood that they perished beyond the Karman Line is true, they may also have gone down in history as the only team to die beyond the Karman Line.
Efforts to go into space, which used to be only possible by states and state institutions, have gradually emerged from the monopoly of the states as the increasingly wealthy private companies and billionaires entered the sector.
Thanks to the breakthroughs of private space companies such as SpaceX, these efforts have begun to be embraced by CEOs of non-industry companies. One of the most notable of these recently was one of the initiatives of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and British billionaire Richard Branson.
Joining the industry with great ambition, Bezos and Branson embarked on a space race of their own in July 2021. As a result, if the “Karman Line” is accepted as the limit, Bezos won the race, and if the 80 kilometer line is accepted as the limit, Branson won. Today, it is still debated who won this race.
To summarize; It can be said that this space border issue, which continues to exist even today, has evolved into a confusion that can make some tragedies not be space tragedies, but also deprive some space races of a clear winner and make people grapple with uncertainty.
- Sources: Inquestion, SpaceSafetyMagazine, USA Today
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