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Death of Yuri Gagarin demystified 40 years on


Waspie_Dwarf

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Death of Yuri Gagarin demystified 40 years on

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. Prominent Russian 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.

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hat's gotta be off to leanov for sticking with it, even after 45yrs!

it's a good mate that'll try & get the truth after that amount of time!

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And once again, a very logical explanation to render something unexplained as explained.

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Why classify it for so long if that's all it was?

For him to die young needed it to be a "heroic" death. That his death was the result of another pilots irresponsibility was not good enough, and also embarrassing. So it was better if it was thought he died testing a plane, so dying doing his duty, not result of stupid accident, even if not Gagarin's fault. I wonder how many similar events around the world are kept secret simply because of national pride....

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Sounds very much like what happened to the Tu-144 at Paris in '73. They reckon that was caused by a chase plane getting too close and the slipstream causing them to lose control.

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Yeah, I recall a tragic accident that happened in my town at that time: Source: http://www.ktvq.com/...ears-ago-today/#_

Just after 5pm on Dec. 18th 1992, a twin-engine Cessna Citation Jet carrying two pilots and six employees of the Western Area Power Administration... crashed on its final approach to Billings Logan International Airport.

The plane hit the Billings School District Two warehouse located in the Magic City's northeast industrial area.

All eight people on board died when the plane exploded on impact.

Miraculously, three School District Two employees were inside the warehouse at the time, but escaped unharmed.

Temperatures were below zero at the time of the crash, complicating the fire fighting effort.

The National Transportation Safety Board later determined the pilot of the Cessna was flying too close to a Boeing 757 cargo plane, and got caught in its wake turbulence.

----------------

From what I remember of the aftermath, rules were changed at Logan to require much more separation between both inbound and outbound planes iinvolving large jets or any aircraf(such as military jets) which could create potential catastrophic turbulence to another, smaller plane if nearby.

Edited by pallidin
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Death of Yuri Gagarin demystified 40 years on

So a government has actually been keeping something secret? This would probably shock a lot of people.

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Sounds very much like what happened to the Tu-144 at Paris in '73. They reckon that was caused by a chase plane getting too close and the slipstream causing them to lose control.

There is another theory to this crash, and one that is contentious and damaging to reputations of the dead. It does not look so, but there is an aerodynamic similarity between MiG-21 and TU-144. A Test pilot for MiG-21 found there was a problem of instability at negative angles of attack at close to ground level. One MiG-21 was lost to this, the pilot not surving as ejection seats not as good as today. This test pilot believes that cause of crash was pilot error, but of course that is not what authorities wanted to hear. I cannot say if this theory is correct or not, though to me it seems that the mirage being so close must have had a serious effect.

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That is not why he died. He fell out of favor with Khruschev. He was grounded for several years and his best friend replaced him in a flight which was known to be dangerous and died as a result. The first time he flew after being grounded he met with a fatal accident during the flight. Reeks of a coverup by the KGB

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That is not why he died. He fell out of favor with Khruschev. He was grounded for several years and his best friend replaced him in a flight which was known to be dangerous and died as a result. The first time he flew after being grounded he met with a fatal accident during the flight. Reeks of a coverup by the KGB

If so, then you have to fill in a gap between Krushchev being pushed out in 1964 and death of Gagarin in 1968. And he was grounded for some time specificaly to avoid there being an accident. After Gagarin's death, Valentina Tereshkova was permanently grounded so she would not be lost as well. Your post reeks of lack of knowledge and repeating propaganda......

Edited by Tutankhaten-pasheri
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That is not why he died. He fell out of favor with Khruschev. He was grounded for several years and his best friend replaced him in a flight which was known to be dangerous and died as a result. The first time he flew after being grounded he met with a fatal accident during the flight. Reeks of a coverup by the KGB

Your evidence for this is conspicuous by it's total absence.

Even glossing over the fact that Khrushchev had been replaced as head of the Soviet Union nearly 4 years before Gagarin's death you are still incorrect.

It is true that Gagarin had not flown much in the intervening time between his flight on Vostok 1 and his death, but there is no mystery in this. For several years after his flight Gagarin had essentially become a PR man of the Soviet Union. As a global hero he travelled around the world meeting world leaders. This did not leave a lot of time for flying.

The mission you talk about was Soyuz 1. Gagarin was most certainly not replaced. Gagarin was selected as the back up for Vladimir Komarov and never intended to fly UNLESS Komarov was grounded for some reason. Komarov believed (correctly as it turned out) that the mission would kill him, but refused to step down because he knew that if he did Gagarin would fly in his place.

Edited by Waspie_Dwarf
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At last we now know how Yuri Gagarin died now may he rest in peace a true hero.

To be fair, we've always known how he died. It was the root cause of the accident that was hidden,

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Tut-pasheri and the good Col. R. above have hit upon an issue that deserves a thread of its own: National governments covering up mistakes, friendly-fire incidents and other foul-ups that, truth be told at the time, would be an embarrassment to said government(s). Most recently comes to mind the obvious mental diminution of Ronnie Reagan in his second term; confirmed in fact as Alzheimer's Disease upon his retirement. For wartime morale/propaganda/secrecy reasons, the truth of 700+ US soldiers dying off the cliffs of Dover in a 1944 rehearsal for D-Day (due to military blunders) remained veiled for decades. Other examples abound.

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If so, then you have to fill in a gap between Krushchev being pushed out in 1964 and death of Gagarin in 1968. And he was grounded for some time specificaly to avoid there being an accident. After Gagarin's death, Valentina Tereshkova was permanently grounded so she would not be lost as well. Your post reeks of lack of knowledge and repeating propaganda......

It was Khruschevs own son who told of the split between his father and Gagarin.Being in the top echelon of power and prestige Gagarin began drinking more heavily. check out his bio on http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin and some of other Russian websites.

I am from that part of the world and we know the difference between propaganda and fact. It is common belief among the people that there was KGB and foul play involved in his death. You know nothing about living under the communist system. Gagarin did not die on a soyuz mission.He died in a jet crash along with his flight instrutor in a Mig-15UTI

near the town of Kirzhatch. Teresnkova was grounded for different reasons and had nothing to do with Gagarin but more about safety issues with the space flights. Komarov died in the Sojuz1 despite Gagarin's objections of the safety issues. Further flights were cancelled due to Komarov's death. Gagarin was, is and always will be a hero.

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Tut-pasheri and the good Col. R. above have hit upon an issue that deserves a thread of its own: National governments covering up mistakes, friendly-fire incidents and other foul-ups that, truth be told at the time, would be an embarrassment to said government(s). Most recently comes to mind the obvious mental diminution of Ronnie Reagan in his second term; confirmed in fact as Alzheimer's Disease upon his retirement. For wartime morale/propaganda/secrecy reasons, the truth of 700+ US soldiers dying off the cliffs of Dover in a 1944 rehearsal for D-Day (due to military blunders) remained veiled for decades. Other examples abound.

Governments care nothing about the people only coverups to save face. When it came to Gagarin his fate was sealed when he criticized the safety problems in the flights. The government and the leaders wanted fame and glory so they went ahead and sent Komarov on a death flight. Gagarin knew that but his friend refused to let him take his place and died. No one is surprised to what lenghts the communists would go to save face. Khruschev was a trickster and he showed his true self in the 1956 Hungarian revolution by sending in troops and shooting at the population. Unfortunately war time millitary blunders and friendly fire incidents still happen but governments keep a tight lid on things they don't want the public to know.

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It was Khruschevs own son who told of the split between his father and Gagarin.Being in the top echelon of power and prestige Gagarin began drinking more heavily. check out his bio on http://en.m.wikipedi...ki/Yuri_Gagarin and some of other Russian websites.

I am from that part of the world and we know the difference between propaganda and fact. It is common belief among the people that there was KGB and foul play involved in his death. You know nothing about living under the communist system. Gagarin did not die on a soyuz mission.He died in a jet crash along with his flight instrutor in a Mig-15UTI

near the town of Kirzhatch. Teresnkova was grounded for different reasons and had nothing to do with Gagarin but more about safety issues with the space flights. Komarov died in the Sojuz1 despite Gagarin's objections of the safety issues. Further flights were cancelled due to Komarov's death. Gagarin was, is and always will be a hero.

ясно..... :rolleyes:

Edited by Tutankhaten-pasheri
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ясно..... :rolleyes:

I was born in 1948 in Budapest Hungary. While I forgot my Russian which was mandatory to learn I do remember my native language. We left in 1956 after Khruschev sent in his troops to quell the revolution. Since my English is not perfect it is not bad considering it is not my first language but my fourth. Besides I don't waste time correcting spelling or grammar errors of others.

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I was born in 1948 in Budapest Hungary. While I forgot my Russian which was mandatory to learn I do remember my native language. We left in 1956 after Khruschev sent in his troops to quell the revolution. Since my English is not perfect it is not bad considering it is not my first language but my fourth. Besides I don't waste time correcting spelling or grammar errors of others.

Though I think your obvious reason for not liking Krushchev is not a reason to say that Gagarin was victim of KGB four years after Krushchev left office. That some people are suspiscious and make rumours does not make rumours the truth. What you in effect say is that Gagarin was murdered by the state. This is wrong and much too cynical, something from Hollywood. Tereshkova herself has always said that she was permanently grounded because of Gagarin's death. Besides, after Soyuz 1 there was only one more Soyuz accident, that of Soyuz 11, and it was not a systemic failure in the sense of burocratic interference and stupidity, but "one off" component failure. Nobody denies there were problems after Korolev died, and that Gagarin certainly knew there were problems, but he was not killed by the state.

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Death of Yuri Gagarin demystified 40 years on

All the hallmarks of a lizard-bird incident imv. The SU-15 might have been subject to a lizard-bird gaze forcing the pilot to a lower altitude and forcing Gargarin & co to have a near miss etc..

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.

Leonov had been in charge of parachute jump training on that day. The weather was extremely bad, with rain, wind and snow making it impossible to carry out exercises. He waited for an official confirmation that the exercises would be cancelled, but then heard a super-sonic noise followed by an explosion only a second apart from each other. That is when he knew something was up.

“We knew that a Su-15 was scheduled to be tested that day, but it was supposed to be flying at the altitude of 10,000 meters or higher, not 450-500 meters. It was a violation of the flight procedure.”

Leonov that day talked to witnesses that pointed at the model of a Su-15 saying that it appeared out of the clouds with its tail smoking and burning.

“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.

According to the report that Seryogin wrote in his own hand, no aerobatic maneuvers or spins were to be performed by the crew of the MiG-15 with RD-45 engine and external fuel tanks, 260 liters each. Simple turns, pitching and nosedives were conducted after which Yuri reported: “Codename 645, task completed, descending” Leonov explains.

“That was the last we heard from him. The control point recorded that he was at the altitude of 4,200 at the time. 55 seconds later the plane crashed.”

Edited by RingFenceTheCity
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Though I think your obvious reason for not liking Krushchev is not a reason to say that Gagarin was victim of KGB four years after Krushchev left office. That some people are suspiscious and make rumours does not make rumours the truth. What you in effect say is that Gagarin was murdered by the state. This is wrong and much too cynical, something from Hollywood. Tereshkova herself has always said that she was permanently grounded because of Gagarin's death. Besides, after Soyuz 1 there was only one more Soyuz accident, that of Soyuz 11, and it was not a systemic failure in the sense of burocratic interference and stupidity, but "one off" component failure. Nobody denies there were problems after Korolev died, and that Gagarin certainly knew there were problems, but he was not killed by the state.

... and what does even the U.S. rely on now to get people into space .... ?

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... and what does even the U.S. rely on now to get people into space .... ?

The legacy of the genius and hero of mankind Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. His name will live on as we one day will journey out into the cosmos beyond our system. Korolev and Gagarin will live while others have become dust.

b4cd41c462ec.jpg

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