RUSSIA: New documents released shedding light to the mystery of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's death

Record ID: 739351

  • Title: RUSSIA: New documents released shedding light to the mystery of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's death
  • Date: 9th April 2011
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (APRIL 8, 2011) (REUTERS) NEWS CONFERENCE AT INTERFAX NEWS AGENCY VARIOUS BOOKS ABOUT RUSSIAN COSMONAUT YURI GAGARIN (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ALEXANDER STEPANOV, HEAD OF DEPARTMENT, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT'S ARCHIVE, SAYING: "A separate set of documents which I believe is of particular interest, are the documents of the state commission on the investigation of the death of Yuri Gagarin in 1968. I hope they will dismiss the very many speculations that are circulating in pseudo-history books and especially in the Internet." PHOTOGRAPHER TAKING PICTURE (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ALEXANDER STEPANOV, HEAD OF DEPARTMENT, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT'S ARCHIVE, SAYING: "The most likely cause of the catastrophe was a sharp manoeuvre to avoid a balloon probe or, less likely, to avoid entry into the upper limit of the first layer of cloud cover. The sharp manoeuvre led to a supercritical flight regime and to its stalling in complex meteorological conditions." JOURNALISTS STATUE OF COSMONAUT IN THE MUSEUM (*** FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ***) FORMER DEPUTY CHIEF SPACE DESIGNER, BORIS CHERKOV, IN WHEELCHAIR CUTTING RED RIBBON POSTER WITH YURI GAGARIN'S PHOTOGRAPH IN SPACE SUIT VARIOUS EXHIBITION (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) GEORGY GRECHKO, FORMER COSMONAUT, SPACE DESIGNER, SAYING: "Our work will always be associated with risk. Had we set a task of launching Gagarin when there would be no risk there would not have been a flight by the time we celebrate its 50th anniversary." PHOTOS OF FIRST COSMONAUT YURI GAGARIN AND SECOND COSMONAUT GERMAN TITOV (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) GEORGY GRECHKO, FORMER COSMONAUT, SPACE DESIGNER, SAYING: "Gagarin became the face of our country, and it was a remarkable face". GAGARIN'S PHOTO VARIOUS EXHIBITS WOMAN LOOKING AT PHOTOGRAPHS OF RUSSIAN COSMONAUTS
  • Embargoed: 24th April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: History,Space
  • Reuters ID: LVAEJ9FQIVYNJGITE80H8WT15EQF
  • Story Text: Russian officials announced in a news conference on Friday (April 8) that a number of new documents, related to Yuri Gagarin and his historic flight to space, have been declassified and published for the first time.
    "A separate set of documents which I believe is of particular interest, are the documents of the state commission on the investigation of the death of Yuri Gagarin in 1968. I hope they will dismiss very many speculations that are circulating in pseudo-history books and especially in the Internet," said Alexander Stepanov, an official from Russian President's Archive.
    Stepanov read out in an extract from a state commission in charge of investigation of Yuri Gagarin's mysterious death in a training flight in 1968: "The most likely cause of the catastrophe was a sharp manoeuvre to avoid a balloon probe or, less likely, to avoid entry into the upper limit of the first layer of cloud cover."
    The conclusions of the investigation were outlined in a decree of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Council of Ministers dated November 28, 1968, which was marked 'absolutely secret.' The presidential archive published the two-page conclusion of the commission, signed off by Brezhnev, in a book of archive materials published for the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's first manned space flight.
    The book, which has more than 700 pages, was published in a print-run of only 800 copies.
    Gagarin died on March 27, 1968, when a Mig fighter jet carrying him and instructor Vladimir Seryogin crashed in the Vladimir region outside Moscow while on a training flight.
    The commission writes that manoeuvres by Gagarin or Seryogin led the jet into a "supercritical flight regime and to its stalling in complex meteorological conditions."
    Over the years the death of the first man in space has been blamed variously on a rapid change in height to avoid an object, interference from another craft, or oxygen deprivation in the cabin.
    There has also been speculation of sabotage by conspiracy theorists although this has never been backed up by evidence.
    As part of the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, the Moscow Museum of cosmonautics unveiled a new exhibition called "They were the first".
    Former deputy chief space designer Boris Cherkov officially opened the exhibition which gathered a team of Russian space designers and active and former cosmonauts.
    "Our work will always be associated with risk. Had we set a task of launching Gagarin when there would be no risk there would not have been a flight by the time we celebrate its 50th anniversary," said former cosmonaut and space designer Georgy Grechko.
    Gagarin was 27 when he made his flight into space on board Vostok space craft on April 12, 1961. His space capsule travelled at a speed of 27.400 km per hour, and orbited the earth in 108 minutes. On landing, he became the most famous man on earth.
    "Gagarin became the face of our country, and it was a remarkable face," Grechko said.
    The Moscow museum of Cosmonautics exhibits rare models of first Soviet spacecraft and other space research equipment, photographs, Soviet-time posters and documents related to the Soviet and Russian space research program.
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