1st man in space was
SERGEI VLADIMIR ILYUSHIN
and not Yuri Gagarin. I just saw a great documentary about the american and russian space programs during 60s. Some of you might have heard it before, but personally I didn't know most of the following (which i found also at the web):
Vladimir Ilyshin was the 1st man in space and this happened on April 7th, 1961, five days before Gagarin's successful flight. After three orbits Ilyushin lost contact with the mission control engineers on the ground. During the reentry, when he was supposed to eject from the capsule and parachute to safety, Ilyushin was unable to eject and made a "hard landing" in the capsule. Ilyushin survived, but was injured.
Although the USSR did not publicize the flight, Western reporters caught wind of the flight and the condition of Ilyushin, and reported the event all around the world. But, since the flight had been so unsuccessful, the Soviet leaders did not see Ilyushin as a good way to promote their space program. They refused to respond to Western stories about Ilyushin's flight. They even claimed that the pilot was in the hospital in Moscow as the result of a car accident and not a failed flight. Later, they shipped Ilyushin off to China where he stayed in a rehabilitation hospital for over a year.
Five days after Ilyushin's flight, Gagarin was launched, and only after his safe return did the Soviets release film footage of the event. While Sergei Ilyushin was in the hospital, the government was sending Gagarin out into the world as the first man in space.
The next years, Ilyushin became the director of the russian space program. A real genious that Swedish Nobel academy tried to give him the Nobel prize and USSR denied it!
Gagarin became alchoholic through time and with all this glory he didn't 100% deserve he started doing crazy things in public and telling parts of the real stories.....
Gagarin is supposed to got killed in a jet accident, but the only part of his body that was found was one of his fingers......
Few years ago, the US production that did the documentary talked with Ilyushin for an exclusive interview and he promised them he we'll tell them the whole story, but when the reporters arrived Ilyushin had decided not to talk.....probably altough so many years have passed, he still receives threats.
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