After over 40 years of secrecy, the real cause of death of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space, has been made public. Russia's prominent cosmonaut Aleksey Leonov reveals the truth behind
After over 40 years of secrecy, the real cause of death of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space, has been made public. Russia's prominent cosmonaut Aleksey Leonov reveals the truth behind the events of that tragic day. For over 20 years Aleksey Leonov, the first man to conduct a spacewalk in 1965, has been struggling to gain permission to disclose details of what happened to the legendary Yuri Gagarin in March 1968.
Back then a State Commission established to investigate the accident (which Leonov was a part of), concluded that a crew of MiG-15UTI, Yuri Gagarin and experienced instructor Vladimir Seryogin, tried to avoid a foreign object – like geese or a hot air balloon – by carrying out a maneuver that had led to a tailspin and, finally, collision with the ground. Both pilots died in that test flight.
“That conclusion is believable to a civilian – not to a professional,” Leonov told RT. He has always had a firm stance against the secrecy surrounding Gagarin’s death, and wanted at least his family to know the truth. "In fact, everything went down differently,” he says.
According to a declassified report, there is a human factor behind the tragic incident - an unauthorized SU-15 fighter jet was flying dangerously close to Gagarin’s aircraft. “In this case, the pilot didn’t follow the book, descending to an altitude of 450 meters. I know this because I was there; I heard the sound and talked to witnesses.
While afterburning the aircraft reduced its echelon at a distance of 10-15 meters in the clouds, passing close to Gagarin, turning his plane and thus sending it into a tailspin – a deep spiral, to be precise – at a speed of 750 kilometers per hour,” Leonov tells.
Conspiracy theories have surrounded the events of that day for years. They included suicide – even a collision with a UFO. But for all intents and purposes, the case is closed, and the newfound truth should provide those affected with closure.
Such is the conclusion of the first woman in space, Russian Valentina Tereshkova. She spoke at a press conference at the UN headquarters in Vienna, where she participated in a conference of the Committee for the Peaceful Use of Outer Space. “The only regret here is that it took so long for the truth to be revealed,” she said. “But we can finally rest easy.”
Originally posted by OzTiger
Wasn't there a story that Yuri was NOT the first man in space but was preceded by another Russian who orbited the earth 3 times before problems with his craft forced it into re-entry. After surviving the re-entry he found that the craft was damaged to the extent that the parachutes failed to oped completely causing him to crash-land in China. He suffered innumerable broken bones but amazingly survived the ordeal. The entire event was kept from Khrushchev (who was on holiday at the time) as it wasn't successful enough to broadcast to the world.
An investigative team found the evidence and were also amazed to find that the original pilot who survived the ordeal was still alive and was interviewed but he would not allow any photographs to be taken.
Does anyone else remember this? I don't believe that it was a hoax.