I've also read about the phantom cosmonauts before. These stories send a chill down my spine. There are rumors that Vladimir Ilyushin, son of the airplane desi

I've also read about the phantom cosmonauts before. These stories send a chill down my spine. There are rumors that Vladimir Ilyushin, son of the airplane designer Ilyushin, was actually the first person to survive a space flight, but something went wrong in the landing (some say he landed in China which caused a political controversy). Some even go as far as saying that Yuri Gagarin knew of this and was killed because he knew too much. Go and figure. The truth will probably never be uncovered. If the soviets had archives of what really happened, they might be lost and/or destroyed. Wikipedia is pretty good starting point if you want to read about this. Put David Bowie's "Space Oddity" on the background with repeat.