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Death of Yuri Gagarin demystified 40 years on
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- jnazario 13y agoyuri 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/0802779506 http://www.amazon.com/Starman-Truth-Behind-Legend-Gagarin/dp...
- lobster_johnson 13y agoAlso 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 http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum9/HTML/002381.html (could find a better link, but I'm on my phone, sorry).
- pavel_lishin 13y agoI 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.
- akiselev 13y agoOh 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).
- huhtenberg 13y agoFor 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.
- mjn 13y agoSome 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-death-of-astronaut.html 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?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0312308663&linkCode=as2&tag=kmjn-20 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312308663/ref=as_li_ss_tl?... ; Chapter 8).
- tptacek 13y agoIt's RT's M.O. to gin up controversy, isn't it?
- glurgh 13y agoLeonov 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.
- anigbrowl 13y agoI 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.
- scottshea 13y agoI 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.
- k-mcgrady 13y agoI'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?
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- mpyne 13y agoHe 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.
- simonholroyd 13y agoOn 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 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin#Tributes) I'm aware of this because my grandfather hand engraved the medal.
- sejje 13y agoAs 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.
- gesman 13y agoI 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.
- rangibaby 13y agoWould you care to elaborate?
- pravda 13y agoUseless 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_Gagarin_Monument.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Yuri_Gaga...
- guard-of-terra 13y agoEverybody seem to call it "batman".
- userulluipeste 13y agoHow come this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5880557 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5880557 was ignored whereas the current one didn't? The same title, the same link...?!!