Yuri Gagarin was the first man in outer space, when he orbited the earth in the first manned space flight exactly fifty years ago.
Gagarin was for a brief time the most famous man on earth and hailed as a hero by millions around the world.
However, the cosmonaut did not get to enjoy his celebrity – he died just seven years later in a mysterious plane crash that has generated a mountain of conspiracy theories.
Gagarin died on Mar. 27, 1968 when the MiG fighter plane that carried him and instructor Vladimir Seryogin crashed in the Vladimir region just outside Moscow.
Gagarin had become deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre near Moscow. Gagarin was only 34 years old.
Just last week, in advance of the 50th anniversary of Gagarin’s monumental achievement, the Russian government said it had declassified documents related to his death.
Other causes of death speculated over the years included theories that Gagarin suffered from oxygen deprivation or that perhaps he crashed into another airplane. More ominous theories involve a murderous sabotage, although this has never had much credence or evidence.
Other wild rumors were that Gagarin was drunk while piloting the aircraft; or that Brezhnev somehow staged the crash because he was jealous of Gagarin’s immense popularity.
Vitaly Davydov, the deputy chief of Roskosmos, The Russian space agency, emphasizes that Russia has nothing to hide about Gagarin’s death,
Read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/132996/20110411/ussr-gagarin-death-brezhnev.htm#ixzz1JO0eTIv8
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he waS A GREAT MAN
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