Has any spacecraft to date suffered catastrophic gasket degeneration in space?

Question

A gasket is a precisely formed body of some (yielding) material placed at a mating surface usually to prevent leakage. It may also be constructed of an alloy as was done in early IC engines.

Spacecraft work in a vacuum, typically with instruments, engine/s, and fuel/s. Anthropic habitats are restricted to

Spacesuits,
ISS,
Crew/resupply missions
Test flight

The loss of a craft to a faulty gasket would be quite the anti-climax given the figures usually bandied against mere construction/testing of the spacecraft, to say nothing of launch/deployment. It may be worse to have it happen to a habitat.

Has any mission to-date in orbit, or beyond suffered a damaged gasket?
- Are gaskets even used in spacecraft?
- What material are such gaskets constructed of?
What procedures are in place for damage control against such an event?

Related: http://space.stackexchange.com/questions/894/how-do-manned-spacecraft-achieve-an-airtight-connection-while-docking — Deer Hunter, Nov 08 '13 at 20:53
Candidate materials: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materials_for_use_in_vacuum#Materials_for_use_in_space — Camille Goudeseune, May 21 '14 at 16:13

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 28 '14 at 12:19

I haven't done an exhaustive search, but I came across one example: Zond 6. This was an unmanned test of the Soyuz 7K-L1, a stripped-down version of the 7K-L3 design for a manned capsule for moon missions. Zond 6 carried turtles, fruit flies and various other biological samples to test the capsule's life support systems. It was sent on a free-return trajectory around the Moon.
During the return flight, a hatch seal failed, depressurizing the cabin and killing all life on board.

Has any spacecraft to date suffered catastrophic gasket degeneration in space?

1 Answers1