Death of Yuri Gagarin demystified 40 years on | Hacker News Reader

Death of Yuri Gagarin demystified 40 years on

rt.com

135 pointseplanit31 comments

For what it's worth, I first learned of Gagarin's death in mid-80s from my grandmother who told me, plain and simple, that his plane was caught in a jet wash of another plane. Perhaps it's good to have the cause formally declassified, but it was already a common knowledge back in Soviet times.

Some version of the jet-wash explanation seems to have been made public in 1988. Here's a contemporary New York Times summary of some February 1988 Pravda articles: http://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/07/us/soviet-lifting-veil-on-...

That report, which Leonov was a co-author of, identified the other plane as a MiG-21, not a Su-15, but otherwise seems pretty similar to this account.

I'm not sure why RT here is reporting Leonov's updated version of events as if it were just now made public, either. He published this version (involving the low-flying Su-15 passing within 10-20 meters) at least as early as 2004, since it appears in English in his co-written book Two Sides of the Moon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312308663/ref=as_li_ss_tl?... ; Chapter 8).

It's RT's M.O. to gin up controversy, isn't it?

Leonov held a press conference and his claim is that he's had access to additional documents that back his theory. Unfortunately the documents themselves haven't been released so this mostly amounts to Leonov re-iterating his position.

The story itself is covered widely by Russian media so while you're right about RT in general, in this particular case, the RT thing is incidental.

I don't find it all that different from the BBC or US network news in that respect. TV news substitutes drama for actual journalism most of the time.

I wish RT would broadcast more stuff about Russia - it's an interesting and under-reported country.

Every time I turn it on, though, they seem to either be slating the United States or peddling conspiracy theories off the internet. It's strange. I'd watch it if they talked about their own country.

Yup, an account of this incident was also published in "Starman" by Jamie Doran and Piers Bizony, published in 1998 -- a biography of Yuri Gagarin. Only they pointed the finger at a low-flying Su-11, based on reports that surfaced in public in 1995 ...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Starman-Truth-Behind-Legend-Gagarin/...

I am glad to hear that more is coming out about his death. I think, slowly, Yuri Gagarin's place in American history is being solidified. It would be interesting to find out the process that Gagarin was chosen as the first man. The politics and technical requirements must have been intense. And obviously he had to distinguish himself.

I'm interested in your comment about his place in American history being solidified. Could you expand? Is he not taught about in schools when space is being taught?

He is. It's pretty much left at that, though. It's a pity he's not further discussed in at least higher-level World History education as Yuri's story is quite interesting (even up to why he decided to go on that flight that he did), and my understanding is that he was looked up to even by U.S. astronauts.

On one of the Apollo missions (11), a medal commemorating Yuri's first flight was placed on the moon by the NASA astronauts. The medal was commissioned by the British government and contained inscriptions in both English and Russian languages. It was among other items commemorating fallen astronauts/cosmonauts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin#Tributes)

I'm aware of this because my grandfather hand engraved the medal.

As a young American, I can say that I have no recollection of his name. I've never been particularly interested in space exploration, but living in Florida, we visited the Space Center, watched launches, etc. The names I know are all American: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, etc. The "programs" I know are too: Apollo, Challenger, etc.

We were taught that the Russians made it to space before we did, and I think that's about it before we moved on to American achievements. Perhaps I had a nationalistic teacher.

Funny. Here in Germany, everybody knows Gagarin and Armstrong, but nobody knows the names of the other Apollo 11 crewmembers.

I assume it varies by school/textbook, but while I agree the American space program was covered with much more emphasis, in my class we did learn about Gagarin. The bits of Soviet space program we learned were basically: Sputnik, first dog in space, Gagarin, Mir.

Do you mean German space program?

We also learned about the role played by German-Americans in the program, yes! Von Braun is pretty much a household name.

What about the Mercury Seven: Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper, and Deke Slayton?

FWIW here in the UK in the mid to late 70s we learned about Sputnik, Laika and Gagarin as well as Armstrong, Aldrin et al.

Really? We covered the Soviet space program in 3rd grade in NYC public schools in the 80's. Maybe the teachers were playing up space stuff because of the Challenger disaster, but I'm shocked that you never heard of him!

Just one data point: I taught in an aerospace museum in the US from about 2005-2009. In our rocket history programs, we covered the ancient Chinese, Goddard, the V-2 program and Von Braun, and the competition between the Soviet and American space programs -- Sputnik, Laika, Ham, Gagarin, Tereshkova (and the 20 year lead she had on Sally Ride), and Armstrong (with Aldrin and Collins). I'd usually give the audience a chance to contribute the names. Almost everyone got Neil and Buzz, quite a few knew Gagarin, and the rest of the names were pretty hit-and-miss.

The one personal note I liked to add: I got to meet half a dozen astronauts and cosmonauts (picking them up from the airport and bringing them to our museum for a conference). Every single one of them emphasized that, even as the two sides were competing and treating each other as mortal enemies, those who were actually going to space viewed one another as friends or even brothers.

Yuri Gagarin's place in American history is being solidified.

A lot of people have commented about this remark of yours. I'm old enough (barely) to remember Gagarin's first venture into space (I distinctly remember live TV coverage of the launch of John Glenn's first American orbital space launch) and I have never forgotten about Gagarin, nor about Valentina Tereshkova,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentina_Tereshkova

whose flight into space, the first by a woman by a large number of years, was just in the news on its fiftieth anniversary. A sufficiently old American grew up in the Space Age, and remembers the names of all the space pioneers.

If younger readers of Hacker News would like to move their minds back in time to learn more about (the American phase of) the early age of manned space flight, I recommend the documentary movie In the Shadow of the Moon,

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0925248/

which I watched with my children just yesterday evening. There is, alas, little mention of the Soviet space program in the film, because the focus is on manned missions to the moon, but the interviews with surviving astronauts are fascinating, and the film-maker does a good job of setting the historical context.

Wtf? Every school girl and boy knows who he is and what he did.

I worked in the city of Gagarin (his place of birth) and saw the memorial made after him. I find quite a dark secret about this memorial that can only be noticed from the certain angle at a certain distance. I should of made a picture of it.

Would you care to elaborate?

Useless triva here: there is a 'statue' of Yuri in Moscow. I always called it the Rocketboy.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Yuri_Gaga...

Everybody seem to call it "batman".

yuri gagarin's life is the subject of the book "Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin", it's pretty fascinating to watch him through his life and ultimately become a tool of the state for propaganda purposes. his death was largely caused by him ceasing his flying so much, a skill that dulls unless used constantly.

http://www.amazon.com/Starman-Truth-Behind-Legend-Gagarin/dp...

Also looking forward to the new Russian biopic coming out soon, trailer looks good (or at least expensive): http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum9/HTML/002381.html (could find a better link, but I'm on my phone, sorry).

I wonder when we'll be able to buy it on DVD. I have a feeling I'm going to end up having to get one of my relatives to ship it to me from Russia.

Oh don't worry it'll be on torrent trackers and usenet with full subtitles a week or two before theatrical release. Full dubs a month or two after, if they think it will be popular in Europe (which it might well be).

How come this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5880557

was ignored whereas the current one didn't? The same title, the same link...?!!

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