Did America Secretly Witness the Most Terrifying Rocket Disaster?

Right after the Soviet Union put two dogs into space and successfully returned them to Earth, a disaster so big that it was kept from the public eye for decades took place at the Baikonur test range in Kazakhstan.

In the late 1950s, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, and Sputnik 2, which put the first living organism into orbit. Then, in August of 1960, two dogs, Belka and Strelka, returned alive from space.

As far as the world knew, the Soviets were on a fast track towards being the first nation to put a man in orbit.

However, a launch pad incident on October 24, 1960, would prove a setback that would remain a secret for decades, leaving the grieving families to hurt in silence.

The Nedelin catastrophe would become known as the single greatest disaster in the history of Space Flight, even worse than the Challenger and Columbia accidents.

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