Date in year · 1960 · The 1960s
On October 24, 1960, nedelin catastrophe: An R-16 ballistic missile explodes on the launch pad at the Soviet Union's Baikonur Cosmodrome space facility, killing over 100 people, including Field Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin. The year's #1 song was "Theme from A Summer Place" by Percy Faith. Rudi Völler, Yelena Zhupiyeva-Vyazova, Gustavo Petro would arrive in the same year.
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Featured · October 24, 1960
The Nedelin catastrophe or Nedelin disaster, known in Russia as the Catastrophe at Baikonur Cosmodrome, was a launch-pad accident that occurred on 24 October 1960 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh SSR, during preparations for the first test flight of a prototype R-16 intercontinental ballistic missile. The missile's second-stage engine ignited while it was still on the pad, rupturing the first stage and causing a fire and explosion among military and technical personnel gathered around the fuelled missile. The Soviet authorities suppressed information about the disaster for decades and falsely reported that Chief Marshal of Artillery Mitrofan Ivanovich Nedelin, head of the R-16 development programme, had died in an air crash.
Around 1960
1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1960th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 960th year of the 2nd millennium, the 60th year of the 20th century, and the 1st year of the 1960s decade.
What happened
1960 fatal Soviet launch pad disaster
The Nedelin catastrophe or Nedelin disaster, known in Russia as the Catastrophe at Baikonur Cosmodrome, was a launch-pad accident that occurred on 24 October 1960 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh SSR, during preparations for the first test flight of a prototype R-16 intercontinental ballistic missile. The missile's second-stage engine ignited while it was still on the pad, rupturing the first stage and causing a fire and explosion among military and technical personnel gathered around the fuelled missile. The Soviet authorities suppressed information about the disaster for decades and falsely reported that Chief Marshal of Artillery Mitrofan Ivanovich Nedelin, head of the R-16 development programme, had died in an air crash.
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