Has anyone actually ever died of suffocation outside of the Earth's atmosphere?

Question

Are there records of an astronaut taking off their helmet, or running out of oxygen, and dying?

Answer 1

Cosmonauts?

Answer 2

nope.

Answer 3

There is a story of a Russian dying in space but I'm not sure its true

Answer 4

omg idk but i like how you think ;)

Answer 5

No astronaut has ever died of suffocation in space.

According to this website, however, Soyuz 11 depressurized during re-entry, which would have caused suffocation in the upper atmosphere, similar to what would happen in a jet at high altitude.

Answer 6

Three Russian cosmonauts suffocated when their Soyuz lost cabin pressure just before returning to Earth. The recovery crew found cosmonauts dead when they opened the hatch on the ground.

Answer 7

I have.

Answer 8

Your supplemental point about the Soviet crew of Soyuz 11 was nonsensical. They did die of lack of air to breathe, at an altitude of 168 KM/104 MI. Thats space.

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On June 30, 1971, after an apparently normal re-entry of the capsule of the Soyuz 11 mission, the recovery team opened the capsule to find the crew dead.[1][2][7] It quickly became apparent that they had suffocated. The fault was traced to a breathing ventilation valve, located between the orbital module and the descent module, that had been jolted open as the descent module separated from the service module.[8][9] The two were held together by explosive bolts designed to fire sequentially, but in fact, they fired simultaneously while over France.[8] The force of this caused the internal mechanism of the pressure equalization valve to loosen a seal that was usually discarded later, and normally allowed automatic adjustment of the cabin pressure.[1][8] When the valve opened at 168 kilometers (104 mi), the gradual loss of pressure was fatal within seconds.[8][10] By 935 seconds after the retrofire, the cabin pressure was zero, and remained there until the capsule hit the earth's atmosphere.[8]

Located beneath the cosmonaut's couches, the valve was impossible to locate and block the leak before the air was lost. It is estimated that the cabin lost all its atmosphere in about 30 seconds. Flight recorder data from the single cosmonaut outfitted with biomedical sensors showed death occurred within 40 seconds of pressure loss.

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No one has ever died at an equal or higher altitude from Earth. No one died on any Moon flights.