On June 30, 1971, the Soviet Soyuz 11 mission ended in one of the most haunting tragedies in the history of space exploration. The crew, consisting of Georgi Dobrovolski, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev, had just completed a record breaking 22 day stay aboard the Salyut 1 space station. During the descent to Earth, a pressure equalization valve was accidentally jarred open by the firing of explosive bolts used to separate the modules. The horror of the event was the invisible speed of the