The First Man in the Space..

[katy]

I wonder, how did world media as well as ordinary people react to Gagarin's flight at that time and was there any mention of Iliushin - a pilot, the son of well known designer??

[Dr_Woland]

It's an interesting question - who was the first man in Space?

I would not want to detract for a second from the bravery of Yuri Gagarin. If he was the first man in space, he was incredibly brave. If he was the third man in space, then he has braver still, for he would have known the mysterious lost pilot of the first mission as a friend, and he certainly knew Vladimir Ilyushin. And if it is true what is said of those two other men, then Gagarin must have known that death or disability were strong chances for him.

The extremely controversial italian website (version in English at http://www.lostcosmonauts.com/) makes several claims, as a result of "intercepted transmissions" claimed by two italian radio-hams of the 50's and 60's.

1) It claims that the first manned soviet space flight ended in tragedy. The unknown pilot became unconscious after the 18th orbit, and was unable to operate the commands to return him to earth. Almost certainly the craft burnt-up on re-entry.

2) It also claims that Ilyushin was the first man to return successfully from orbit, and that the full extent of the injuries he suffered were never revealed - but being the son of the famous aircraft-designer, he could not be hushed-up like the first victim. Gagarin was the back-up pilot, and was launched in an emergency, to cover-over the disaster of the Ilyushin flight (in which it seemed at that point that Ilyushin would certainly be killed) with a triumph.

3) It also claims that Tereshkova was not the first female cosmonaut - and presents - if it is genuine? - a nightmarish sound-clip (you need RealPlayer to hear it) of the last moments of the previous female cosmonaut, desperately trying to extinguish a fire on board

All of the material presented on their site has been hotly contested by both the Soviet Space Program, and by leading USA experts on the Soviet Space Program.

Judge for yourself.

For a science-fiction version by acclaimed Russian novelist Victor Pelevin, read "Omon-Ra" (available in English too)

Dr W.
(in Moscow, I live off Ul Kosmonavta Volkova - I drive past the memorial to the dead cosmonaut most mornings).

[katy]

Thanks, Dr. Woland, for the detailed answer.
I've also heard that there were 7 dead cosmonauts before Ilyushin and Gagarin. How likely could that be? Have you only Italian source?

K.

[Traper]

Try to achive hungarian book (written by Ivory) "Has Gagarin ever been in space?" where author tries to proof that he hasn't.

[RussianBanner]

Originally posted by Traper
Try to achive hungarian book (written by Ivory) "Has Gagarin ever been in space?" where author tries to proof that he hasn't.

The title if this book is an insult for any Russian person. What does a hungarian know about space travel? I do not think any hungarian was in space ever .

Regards,

RB

[katy]

Thank you all for your information.

But it is interesting for me to know what did ordinary people in Europe and America think about it. And I know that at that time one Bulgarian newspaper mentioned the name of Iliyshin as first man in space.

Katya

[Dr_Woland]

In Britain we are always taught that Gagarin was the first man in space.

Dr W.