Forty years on, Yuri Gagarin's death still a mystery - [the first man in space]
ZapRat
16:05 | 27/ 03/ 2008
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080327/102375607.html
http://img.rian.ru/images/10234/77/102347749.jpg
MOSCOW, March 27 (RIA Novosti) - Forty years after he perished in a
plane crash, the death of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, remains
the subject of speculation and conspiracy theories.
Gagarin died exactly four decades ago, on March 27, 1968, a little under
seven years after becoming the first human to fly to space and orbit the
Earth. His death came during what should have been a routine practice
flight in a MiG-15UTI fighter plane, which crashed near the town of
Kirzhach in Central Russia.
Soviet officials made no official announcement as to the cause of the
crash and all the details of the accident were archived and marked "Top
Secret."
On Thursday, a Russian Air Force official rejected suggestions that a
new probe should be launched into Gagarin's death, saying: "No
additional investigation is necessary." The Kremlin also turned down an
appeal for the case to be reopened in 2007.
The Air Force official also categorically rejected calls for the
hermetically-sealed barrels containing the fragments of Gagarin's plane
to be reopened.
However, despite top-level reluctance to look into the causes of the
accident, even during Soviet times there were whispers and rumors that
the cosmonaut's death was due to something more than a routine training
flight gone wrong. Although Gagarin was in the process of retraining as
a fighter pilot when his plane went down, both he and his instructor,
Vladimir Seryoghin, were hugely experienced pilots.
The theories as to the 'true' cause of the crash ranged from the
plausible to the outlandish: in 1986, a belated inquest suggested that
the afterburners of a passing jet may have caused the crash. Others
alleged that the then Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev, had ordered
Gagarin's death due to feelings of envy over the charismatic cosmonaut's
popularity.
Fringe theories had it that Gagarin had been taken away by aliens, while
another theory, voiced in the 1990s by Finnish conspiracy theorists,
claimed that Gagarin had never been in space and that the whole thing
had been an elaborate Soviet propaganda exercise. Gagarin was murdered,
they said, to protect the secret.
Following the tragedy, Gagarin and Seryoghin were buried in the Kremlin
walls, an honor reserved for the communist state's most respected and
famous citizens. Gzhatsk, a town in the Smolensk Region, was also
renamed after Gagarin.
Gagarin left a wife and two daughters, and perhaps the most fitting
tribute to the Soviet cosmonaut can be found in the letter he wrote to
them before his momentous 1961 flight into space. Although he said he
implicitly "trusted the technology" that was to take him on his
momentous journey, he wanted to leave a message to his family in case
something went wrong. After all, as he said in the letter, anyone of us
might "get knocked down by a car tomorrow."
"I have lived honestly," he wrote, "and tried to bring some benefit to
other people, small as this may be. I read sometime during my childhood
the words of V.P Chkalova [the Soviet pilot who first flew non-stop
across the North Pole] -'If you are going to be - be first.' I have
tried to do this and will go on trying."
Forty years after Gagarin's death and less than 24 hours after the
Endeavour space shuttle returned from its mission to the International
Space Station, the legendary Soviet cosmonaut's feats may seem
technically humble in comparison to the lengthy spacewalks carried out
by today's astronauts. However, Gagarin himself realized that space
travel would continue to progress, and that his mission was just the
first step, writing in his 'farewell' letter: "This is history! The
start of a new era!"
--
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Kris Baker
"ZapRat" <zapratR...@newsguy.com> wrote in message
news:47EBBA16...@newsguy.com...
> Forty years on, Yuri Gagarin's death still a mystery
>
> 16:05 | 27/ 03/ 2008
> http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080327/102375607.html
>
> http://img.rian.ru/images/10234/77/102347749.jpg
>
> MOSCOW, March 27 (RIA Novosti) - Forty years after he perished in a plane
> crash, the death of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, remains the
> subject of speculation and conspiracy theories.
>
> Gagarin died exactly four decades ago, on March 27, 1968, a little under
> seven years after becoming the first human to fly to space and orbit the
> Earth. His death came during what should have been a routine practice
> flight in a MiG-15UTI fighter plane, which crashed near the town of
> Kirzhach in Central Russia.
He crashed. Pilots crash. Jet-jockeys crash. Our test-pilot
friend crashed.
Remember: shiny side out.
Kris
homes...@netburner.net
> "ZapRat" <zapratRATZAP...@newsguy.com> wrote in message
>
> - Show quoted text -
The Soviets did lie about one aspect of Gagarin's flight. America
picked a nit with the first man in space challenge by saying a man
must go up into space and land to the Earth in his capsule. Gagarin
bailed out of his capsule at about 60.000 feet on re-entry,
parachuting to earth while his capsule landed without him. The
Soviets lied for years claiming that he landed with his capsule.
The first woman in space, Valentina Terishkova(?) was said to have
lost her mind from the experience of having to bail out at 60,000
feet.
Kris Baker
<homes...@netburner.net> wrote in message
news:6a618f15-be1a-4c26...@s12g2000prg.googlegroups.com...
--------------------
Actually, it was well-known at the time that he'd bailed out:
My favorite news site is Time magazine's, which lets you
read all of their archives for free. This is from their
1961 report on his flight:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,895299-5,00.html
"Fedorov's account suggested that the cosmonaut landed inside his space
capsule, but according to other sources in Russia, Major Gagarin parachuted
out of the capsule before it hit the ground. Space Scientist Nikolai
Gurovsky said: "The cosmonaut came down smoothly in a glade near a field.
Landing on his feet, without even tumbling, he walked up to the people who
saw him."
We knew they knew we knew, and like Kruschev's claim (after visiting the US)
about the "average US home" and something about Disneyland.....we just let
'em look like the goofs they were.
Kris
J.D. Baldwin
In the previous article, <homes...@netburner.net> wrote:
> The first woman in space, Valentina Terishkova(?) was said to have
> lost her mind from the experience of having to bail out at 60,000
> feet.
This is the first time I've heard that about Tereshkova. It would be
very, very odd for there to be any truth to it, given that she became
a cosmonaut in the first place because of her expertise and experience
in high-altitude parachuting.
That said, 60,000' is a pretty ballsy jump, I don't care who you are.
Tereshkova made a lot of public appearances after her flight; I doubt
she was very seriously affected.
--
_+_ From the catapult of |If anyone disagrees with any statement I make, I
_|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |am quite prepared not only to retract it, but also
\ / bal...@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it. -T. Lehrer
***~~~~-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Matthew Kruk
news:fsiqpb$csn$1...@reader2.panix.com...>> The first woman in space, Valentina Terishkova ...
Interesting note from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentina_Tereshkova:
She gave birth to daughter Elena Andrianovna (now a doctor, and the first person
to have two parents who had travelled in space) in 1964. She and
(Andriyan )Nikolayev divorced in 1982.
george
> He crashed. Pilots crash. Jet-jockeys crash. Our test-pilot
> friend crashed.
>
> Remember: shiny side out.
And altitude below..
No matter what it is some-one will try to turn it into a conspiracy
homes...@netburner.net
> On Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:15:34 -0500, ZapRat <zapratRATZAP...@newsguy.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> >Forty years on, Yuri Gagarin's death still a mystery
>
> >16:05 | 27/ 03/ 2008
> >http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080327/102375607.html
>
> >http://img.rian.ru/images/10234/77/102347749.jpg
>
> >MOSCOW, March 27 (RIA Novosti) - Forty years after he perished in a
> >plane crash, the death of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, remains
> >the subject of speculation and conspiracy theories.
>
> >Gagarin died exactly four decades ago, on March 27, 1968, a little under
> >seven years after becoming the first human to fly to space and orbit the
> >Earth. His death came during what should have been a routine practice
> >flight in a MiG-15UTI fighter plane, which crashed near the town of
> >Kirzhach in Central Russia.
>
>
> Why do some people have to find a conspiracy behind EVERYTHING? Even my
> mother was like that. Once she had some idea in her mind, there was no
> logic or facts that you could possibly use that would get her to change
> her mind. She got most her 'facts' from the National Enquirer.
>
> There is an old saying in flying: "There is nothing more worthless than
> the runway behind you, or the altitude above you."
>
> Flying has its inherent dangers...Look at Steve Fossett! And military
> flying is especially tricky.
>
> Gary- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
IIRC Neil Armstrong was nearly killed weeks before the historic
moonflight while test piloting a LEM craft.
I have to say Armstrong was one of my childhood heroes. His conduct
after his flight is impeccable and I don't have to see him hawking oil
filters on TV like Yeager. Think of the millions he has passed on by
not schilling.