Yuri Gagarin



Поехали! Yuri Gagarin (Russian: Юрий Гагарин) was a Soviet cosmonaut, the first human to fly in space and orbit the Earth. His flight was the second major achievement in a row for the Soviet space program, after the launch of the first satellite two years earlier. Thus, it was a huge publicity coup for the Soviet Union, both at home and abroad. Gagarin himself was nearly deified by Soviet propaganda, which got even worse after his sudden demise. Both his flight and his death became fodder for conspiracy theories and other fringe claims.

Gagarin, like all good Soviets, was a vocal atheist, although some doubt that he really was, and have even painted him as a kind of Russian saint. Gagarin's feat was also the subject of at least one piece of Socialist Realist, anti-religious art. The Orthodox Church continues a policy of claiming him as their own, and some have disputed that he ever made the widely quoted statement, "I see no God" on reaching orbit. Such statements rely on second-hand testimony and rumor as well.

Gagarin was a charismatic figure, often smiling, and accommodating to his fans and audiences across the world. For example, when visiting Manchester in England, he was asked if he would put the roof back on his limousine, during his parade. He replied, "If all those people are getting wet to welcome me, surely the least I can do is get wet too!"

Aliens!
A certain breed of people have claimed, through second- or third-hand sources, that Gagarin didn't see God up there, but aliens, and others claim that he was abducted by them. There are also claims that his flight record was falsified.

Death
Gagarin died in a MiG-15UTI together with flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin. The cause of the crash isn't entirely certain, and for many years the Soviet government said nothing about it; documents weren't declassified until 2003(!!). It's not that strange that various rumors surrounding Gagarin's death were widespread. They're often called "conspiracy theories", and technically some are, but when you're living in the USSR in the 1960s with such fun perks as the KGB, and the official accounts say pretty much nothing at all, it's not entirely fair to just dismiss them as crank nonsense similar to 9/11 truthers, JFK assassination theories, reptoids, etc.

Common rumors were that the pilots were drunk, that the plane was hit by birds, and other mundane causes. More outlandish rumors were that Gagarin staged his death and had plastic surgery, that jealous Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev purposely crashed the plane to kill Gagarin, or that Gagarin committed suicide.

The real cause of his death according to the KGB investigation declassified in 2003 is a combination of bad weather information and either a bird strike or possibly a sudden move to avoid a second aircraft (a witness saw a Su-15 very close). There's also been speculation about an air vent that was left open, leading to possible oxygen deprivation.

It's a hoax!
The US has moon landing hoax theories, so Soviet Russia can't be behind! It's just got to have Yuri Gagarin space flight hoax theories!