Soyuz 11 television coverage. Soviet cosmonauts Georgy Dobrovolsky (1928-1971), Vladislav Volkov (1935-1971) and Viktor Patsayev (1933-1971, in the background), during a live television press conference as part of the Soyuz 11 mission (6-30 June 1971). Soyuz 11 went disastrously wrong. The crew spent 23 days onboard Salyut 1 space station. On re-entry there was a leak in the descent module. When it landed the crew were found asphyxiated due to the loss of atmosphere from the module. Following this, Soyuz crews were reduced to two so that there was room to wear spacesuits on take-off and landing.