Introduction: A historic mission with a devastating turn In June 1971, the Soviet Union achieved a milestone that had long captivated humanity: the launch of the world’s first space station, Salyut 1. Three cosmonauts—Georgi Dobrovolsky, Viktor Patsayev, and Vladislav Volkov—boarded the Soyuz 11 spacecraft to live and work aboard the station for about three weeks.…