The Terrifying 112 Seconds That Erased a Soviet Space Crew

In 1971, Soviet engineers stripped the pressure suits from the Soyuz spacecraft to cram three men into a two-seat capsule. The objective was clear. Occupy the Salyut-1 space station. Match the American Apollo program. They reduced the mission margin for error to absolute zero. Deep in the vacuum of space, a dormant flaw in the explosive separation sequencer triggered an unprecedented pneumatic anomaly. The hardware returned to Earth in pristine condition. What happened inside remained hidden.