Yuri Gagarin

[[File:Yuri Gagarin with awards.jpg|right|thumb|165px|I bet Neil Armstrong never got that many medals.]]
{{conspiracy}}
{{cquote|Поехали!|||Gagarin on take-off<ref group=note>Translated to English: ''Let's go!'', or ''Here we go!''</ref>}}
'''Yuri Gagarin''' (Russian: Юрий Гагарин) {{lived|1934|1968}} 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, [[No True Scotsman|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]].<ref>[http://russianhistoryblog.org/2011/11/gagarin-as-christ/ Gagarin as Christ]</ref> Gagarin's feat was also the subject of at least one piece of Socialist Realist, anti-religious art.<ref>[http://russianhistoryblog.org/2011/10/a-priest-contemplates-gagarins-feat/ A Priest Contemplates Gagarin's Feat]</ref> The [[Eastern Orthodox Church|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.<ref>[http://www.oodegr.com/english/epistimi/gagarin1.htm  Yuri Gagarin: the first Orthodox in Space by  Rev. Metropolitan of Nafpaktos Hierotheos Vlachos]</ref> 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!==
[[Crank|A certain breed of people]] have claimed, through second- or third-hand sources, that Gagarin didn't see God up there, but [[Extraterrestrial|aliens]],<ref>[http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message1442575/pg1 UFO enthusiasts peddling rumors about Gagarin]</ref> and others claim that he was [[Alien abduction|abducted]] by them.{{fact}} 

==Spaceflight definitional controversy==
There are also claims that his flight record was falsified.<ref>[http://news.discovery.com/space/history-of-space/the-technicality-that-nearly-cost-gagarin-the-first-spaceflight-record-120412.htm Gagarin's Falsified Flight Record]</ref> Under the nitpicky rules of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), specifically Section 8, paragraph 2.15, item b, a flight doesn't count as "completed" if any crew member bails out of the spacecraft mid-flight. By this hyper-technical standard, Yuri Gagarin's historic 1961 jaunt into space—while undeniably the first human spaceflight—didn't qualify as a "completed flight" because he parachuted out before landing, as does all later Vostok missions.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Williams |first1=Matthew S. |title=Ad Astra: The past, present, and future of spacecraft |url=https://interestingengineering.com/ad-astra-the-past-present-and-future-of-spacecraft |website=interestingengineering.com |access-date=5 August 2022 |date=28 April 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Vostok/Mercury |url=http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/space/lectures/lec08.html |website=abyss.uoregon.edu |access-date=5 August 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=FAI Sporting Code Section 8 – Astronautics (2009 Edition) |url=https://www.fai.org/sites/default/files/documents/sporting_code_section_8_edition_2009.pdf |website=Fédération Aéronautique Internationale |publisher=Fédération Aéronautique Internationale |access-date=2 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241004160651/https://www.fai.org/sites/default/files/documents/sporting_code_section_8_edition_2009.pdf |archive-date=4 October 2024}}</ref> Some space enthusiasts, clinging to this legalistic hairsplitting, argue that John Glenn's 1962 Friendship 7 mission, where he stayed cozy in his capsule all the way down, deserves the crown for the first to actually complete an orbit around Earth.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Burgess |first1=Colin |title=The first Soviet cosmonaut team : their lives, legacy, and historical impact |date=2009 |publisher=Springer |location=Berlin |isbn=978-0387848235 |page=xxiii}}</ref> A 2019 Dorling Kindersley encyclopedia, Spaceflight: The Complete Story, even goes so far as to claim the U.S. was "actually ahead" in the Space Race after Alan Shepard’s Freedom 7 flight, since Shepard returned in his spacecraft—ignoring the inconvenient fact that Shepard’s suborbital hop didn’t even orbit.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sparrow |first1=Giles |title=Spaceflight : the complete story, from Sputnik to Curiosity |date=2019 |publisher=Dorling Kindersley Ltd. |location=New York |isbn=978-1465479655 |page=82 |edition=Second [American]}}</ref>

But let’s not get lost in bureaucratic rulebooks. The FAI, perhaps realizing their criteria were a bit pedantic, later shifted focus to the actual achievement: launching a human into orbit and getting them back alive, regardless of whether they landed in their capsule or parachuted like a badass. Gagarin’s records, including 108 minutes in orbit, the highest altitude in a solo spacecraft (still unbroken as of August 2022), and the heaviest mass lifted into orbit, stand unchallenged.<ref>{{cite web |title=Yuri Alexeevitch Gagarine (URS) (9327) {{!}} World Air Sports Federation |url=https://www.fai.org/record/9327 |website=www.fai.org |access-date=26 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220826190002/https://www.fai.org/record/9327 |archive-date=26 August 2022 |language=en |date=10 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Space Marks Accorded To Gagarin and Shepard |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1961/07/23/118919502.html?pageNumber=35 |website=The New York Times |page=35 |date=23 July 1961}}</ref> The FAI even created the Gagarin Medal to honor major milestones in human spaceflight, which kind of says it all. Globally, Gagarin is recognised as the first human to fly into space and orbit Earth—technicalities be damned.<ref name="airandspace">{{cite web |title=Why Yuri Gagarin Remains the First Man in Space, Even Though He Did Not Land Inside His Spacecraft |url=https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/why-yuri-gagarin-remains-first-man-space-even-though-he-did-not-land-inside-his |website=airandspace.si.edu |access-date=5 August 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Tillman |first1=Nola Taylor |title=Yuri Gagarin: First Man in Space |url=https://www.space.com/16159-first-man-in-space.html |website=Space.com |access-date=5 August 2022 |language=en |date=12 October 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title='Let's go!' – FAI celebrates 60th Anniversary of Gagarin's space flight {{!}} World Air Sports Federation |url=https://www.fai.org/news/60th-anniversary-gagarin-space-flight |website=www.fai.org |access-date=5 August 2022 |language=en |date=22 March 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Yuri Gagarin: Who was the first person in space? - BBC Newsround |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/56718196 |access-date=5 August 2022}}</ref>

==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]], [[John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theory|JFK assassination theories]], [[reptoids]], etc.

Common rumors were that the pilots were drunk,{{nofact}} 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.<ref>Dmtry Sudakov,[http://english.pravda.ru/society/stories/28-03-2013/124178-gagarin_death-0 "Gagarin's death: Obvious mystery"], ''Pravda'', 28 March 2013/</ref><ref>http://io9.com/5791437/what-really-happened-to-cosmonaut-vladimir-komarov-who-died-crashing-to-earth-in-1967</ref>

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).<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/1425937/KGB-held-ground-staff-to-blame-for-Gagarins-death.html KGB held ground staff to blame for Gagarin's death]</ref><ref>[https://www.rt.com/news/gagarin-death-truth-revealed-674/ Death of Yuri Gagarin demystified 40 years on]</ref> There's also been speculation about an air vent that was left open, leading to possible oxygen deprivation.<ref>[http://www.scotsman.com/news/world/inquiry-promises-to-solve-gagarin-death-riddle-1-1389001 Inquiry promises to solve Gagarin death riddle]</ref>

==It's a hoax!==
{{Expand section}}
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!<ref name="clueless">[http://cluesforum.info/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=1264 (Russians What?) The Yuri Gagarin Hoax]</ref><ref name="bible">[http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/gagarin.htm Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was never in Space]</ref><ref name="flatshit">[http://www.theflatearthsociety.org/forum/index.php?topic=56041.0 Yuri Gagarin, A Cosmic Lie], on the Flat Earth Society website</ref>

==External links==
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjhMvkReILY Did aliens snatch Yury Gagarin?], a [[RT]] segment discussing his death (the usual warnings about RT's standards of journalism apply)
*Siddiqi, Asif A., [http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4408pt1.pdf ''Challenge to Apollo: The Soviet Union and the Space Race, 1945-1974'']. NASA SP-2000-4408, 2000. (Part 1; free PDF of the book provided by NASA; [http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4408pt2.pdf part 2] is also available)
*[http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/space-flight/twenty-myths-about-gagarins-spaceflight Twenty Myths About Gagarin's Spaceflight]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gagarin, Yuri}}
[[Category:Ruskies]]
[[Category:Astronauts]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theories]]

Categories: Ruskies, Astronauts, Conspiracy theories