  viktor ivanovich patsayev (; 19 june 193330 june 1971) was a soviet cosmonaut who flew on the soyuz 11 mission and had the unfortunate distinction of being part of the second crew to die during a space flight. on board the space station salyut 1 he operated the orion 1 space observatory (see orion 1 and orion 2 space observatories), he became the first man to operate a telescope outside the earthâs atmosphere. after a normal re-entry, the capsule was opened and the crew was found dead. it was discovered that a valve had opened just prior to leaving orbit that had allowed the capsule's atmosphere to vent away into space, suffocating the crew. one of patsayev's hands was found to be bruised, and he may have been trying to shut the valve manually at the time he lost consciousness. patsayev's ashes were inurned in the kremlin wall on the red square in moscow. he was posthumously awarded the title of hero of the soviet union, the order of lenin and the title of pilot-cosmonaut of the ussr. patsaev crater and [[1791 pat
1933_births 1971_deaths 1971_in_spaceflight Burials_at_the_Kremlin_Wall_Necropolis Deaths_from_hypoxia Deaths_in_space Heroes_of_the_Soviet_Union Kazakhstani_Soviet_cosmonauts People_from_Aktobe Space_program_fatalities