A frightening event, 21 years ago today, in Kazakhstan
The rocket of Soyuz T 10 A , with Vladimir Titov and Gennady Strekalov on board, caught fire, seconds before liftoff.
A command was sent to explosively separate the capsule from its launcher and the launch escape tower sent the crew in their capsule very fast up in the air and high enough for the parachute to deploy and rescue the cosmonauts.
This was the only time such an escape tower was used. Unfortunately, the Shuttle's design doesn't allow for such an escape mean.
Raoul