10 Terrifying Real-Life Astronaut Stories
10. Just A Matter Of Seconds
The first flight of Canadian former astronaut
Chris Hadfield didn’t go as planned at all.
It was 1995 and the mission was to deliver
a Docking Module to the Russian Mir Space
Station. Hadfield’s job was to relay the
speed and range information to the pilot as
they were docking, an extremely high-precision
event. If you hit the station a little too
soft, the spring mechanisms would bounce you
off into space. If you hit it too hard, you
would break Mir in half and kill the three
people on board. Add to that their target
was the size of a saucer.
As they were approaching the station, the
shuttle sensors each displayed different things.
One reported the team positions at about 32
feet away, the other one recorded a margin
of 20 feet. That is not what you wanna hear
during a mission in which timing is everything.
To add pressure, they only had a mere 30 seconds
to figure out what to do.
Hadfield went back to basics and used his
thumb to approximate the distance. This confirmed
they were about 21 feet away. The mission
ended with the team hitting the docking target
at the correct speed and well within the time
window - only 3 seconds early.
9. Sunbathing To Save Lives
Seemingly a dream job to many, Bob Curbeam’s
mission of 2001 wasn’t actually that much
of fun.
The goal of the mission was to install the
U.S. Destiny Laboratory onto the International
Space Station. The job involved spacewalking,
something Curbeam had already experienced
in 1997, so he was really no stranger to that.
However, he couldn’t anticipate that, while
he was working on the external electrical
system of the station, a cooling line would
break and spew toxic ammonia all over him.
You see, a spacecraft is a closed system,
meaning you cannot bring anything that could
compromise that system from outside. - It
was definitely a “Houston We Have A Problem”
moment.
As a trained professional, Curbeam first focused
on stopping the leak. Only then he came up
with a clever idea on how to get back into
the space shuttle without bringing in the
volatile ammonia. He remembered that ammonia
has a low boiling point, so all he had to
do was “bake” himself in sunlight for
an extra 30 minutes, waiting for the dangerous
substance to vaporize.
8. Snakes In Space
When a professional astronaut such as Story
Musgrave says that he's seen a snake flitting
about in the cosmo, who are we to say the
contrary? I mean, the former astronaut has
six academic degrees, making him the highest
qualified man to have entered space. He took
part in six space flights - making him one
of the few astronauts to achieve that feat
- and he was also of the Marine Corps and
Air Force.
So, as odd as it may seem, Musgrave couldn’t
find any better/fitting description for what
he saw than a snake-ish figure, as he told
Science magazine Omni. The creature was reportedly
between 6 and 8 feet long and it looked rubbery
with internal waves in it - well, you would
expect something odd from a space snake so,
here you have it.
I know it’s hard to believe and, to be fair,
Musgrave still can’t explain it either,
but he’s also quite sure of what he saw.
No wonder then, he is a strong believer in
extraterrestrial life.
7. Nomadic Shepherds To The Rescue
With that title, you already know this is
a truly unique story. Scientist and astronaut
Soyeon Yi became the first South Korean citizen
to enter space in 2008, reaching the International
Space Station, where she carried out experiments
and medical tests.
The mission was a success. However, troubles
started during the crew journey back to Earth.
The Russian Soyuz spacecraft module, on which
Yi boarded, failed to separate properly from
the reentry module. This led the onboard computers
to switch to a “ballistic reentry,” a
backup method that is dependent on atmospheric
drag. The craft made a terrifyingly rough
landing in the desolate steppes of Kazakhstan.
Normally, you expect there to be a whole team
to help you out of the vehicle. But with no
one around, the astronauts had to crawl out
of the craft on their own, only to meet some
shocked and almost certainly terrified Kazakhstani
nomadic herders. As reported by Yi, they had
no idea about the space program. In fact,
they thought they were alien at first. Then,
once they realised they were humans, the shepherds
helped the rest of the crew to get out.
6. Space Fire
Astronaut Jerry Linenger and the rest of the
crew onboard the Mir space station in 1997,
had to face a possibly fatal space fire.
The space station normally held three astronauts
at a time. However, when you’re switching
personnel, two different crews could stay
at the station at the same time. So when did
the catastrophic fire decide to strike? Right
in the middle of this dangerously crowded
process.
One of the oxygen tanks caught fire and turned
into a huge, unstoppable blowtorch. With the
possibility of toxic substances in the air
and rapid decompression - which would almost
certainly happen if the flames spread inside
the station - the crew had to come up with
a good plan. As three astronauts were fighting
the blaze, the other three prepared Soyuz
ships for an emergency escape. But there was
a problem. One of the two ships was blocked
by the fire, so only three of the six would
be able to escape Mir.
Luckily, after 14 minutes, the crew was able
to stop the fire and didn’t have to make
that tough decision.
5. Mysterious Colorful Lights In Space
Over the years, over many different space
stations, several lucky astronauts have managed
to witness our planet from above. One thing
that many different spacemen have claimed
to have witnessed are colourful light phenomenons.
One of these events dates back to 1963. Leroy
Gordon Cooper Jr. was one of the first American
astronauts to reach space. Cooper made his
journey on a solo mission onboard the Faith
7 spaceship. Once back on Earth, he claimed
to have observed a circular object emitting
green light speeding towards his ship. To
this day, the apparition remains unexplained.
16 years later, another astronaut witnessed
an odd light phenomenon. In November 2014
Samantha Cristoforetti [ Chris-to-for-AT-ee]
was onboard the Soyuz TMA-15M on their way
to the International Space Station. As the
ship approached the station she reportedly
noticed the station appeared to be of vivid
orange color. As she wrote in a blog post,
the orange light looked almost alien. This
mystery, though, was later solved. It’s
a rarely seen phenomenon, but when the sun
hits the space station’s solar panels in
a particular way, an orange hue is cast over
the structure.
4. High Tension In Space
Speaking of unexpected accidents, Scott Parazynski’s
mission of 2007 was no picnic either. The
mission was to install a new module on the
International Space Station that would serve
as a node for the addition of future research
laboratories. The astronaut’s job was to
change the location of an array of solar panels.
- Easy, you may think.
You’re wrong - it was a complex job already,
but it got worse when the crew inside commanded
these large solar panels to extend. They got
jammed up and began to tear, requiring prompt
unplanned intervention. NASA had to come up
with the perfect plan because, as Parazynski
later explained, by trying to undock the space
shuttle they could risk ripping it apart.
There was also the risk of damaging the Space
Station.
Their best shot was Parazynski. He traveled
further away from the safety of an airlock
than had never been previously attempted to
manually repair the array. His life was at
stake - If any metal part of his suit touched
the metal parts of the solar panel he risked
electrocution or the ignition of the 100%
of his oxygen. Thankfully, everything worked
out for the best.
3. Clouds Of Smoke
After a snake, clouds of smoke in space don’t
seem that frightening, after all. But wait
till you hear the full story.
In 2004 Russian news website Pravda.ru published
the claim made by Vladimir Kovalyonok, a former
astronaut who took part in three space missions
and has spent a total of 216 days in space.
- A respectable resume. The astronaut told
the website he saw a UFO back in 1981, during
his last mission on board the Salyut orbital
station.
One day, through one of the portholes on the
station he noticed something strange was going
on outside a tiny orbiting object. It was
apparently hard to tell if it was actually
small or was just too far away, and it was
possible to determine its speed. Anyway, right
when Kovalyonok and a colleague were on the
point of taking a picture, the object exploded,
leaving only clouds of smoke behind.
2. Space Music?
Actually, the idea of some kind of music traveling
across space is quite fascinating. Why should
it be terrifying? We’ll get there in a sec.
But, first things first. Apollo 10 - the vessel
of this story - was the final reconnaissance
mission around the moon before Apollo 11 reached
its soil a few months later. It’s May 1969
and onboard the ship there are three astronauts:
John Young, Eugene Cernana, and Thomas Stafford.
The goal of the mission was to test the Lunar
Module without actually landing it. In the
process of orbiting the Moon, once they reached
the dark side of the satellite, the crew experienced
a bizarre phenomenon. They lost any radio
contact with Mission Control and heard something
unexpected: Music. Apparently, the noise that
spooked the crew reported it sounded like
an eerie whistling.
Nowadays, It is mysterious indeed that NASA
kept this sound secret until 2016. The space
agency also explained that space music was,
in fact, a radio interference.
1. Alien Bacteria
Funny we’ve mentioned 2016, ‘cause the
following year, Russian astronaut Anton Shkaplerov
made an astonishing claim.
Shkaplerov has served onboard the International
Space Station for a total of 3 missions. He
told the Russian state news agency that one
of the several experiments carried out in
space revealed something interesting. They
had allegedly found a bacteria on the outside
of the station that he claimed to be of alien
origins. How so?
The astronaut said that previous cosmonauts
swabbed the station's segment during spacewalks.
The samples extracted and sent back to Earth
were examined and revealed they came from
places on the station that had accumulated
fuel waste. However, further tests revealed
that the swabs held types of bacteria that
were not on the module when it originally
launched into orbit. Considering the world
has been dealing with a global pandemic this
last year, the idea of an additional bacteria
- possibly alien - coming from space it’s
just a tiny bit alarming, don’t you think?
Anyway, Shkaplerov also made clear that the
bacteria don't seem to pose a threat to humanity.
Still, NASA remained silent 
on the matter.
