Chinks in the Armour?

Developments in 2001 The space race record is now beginning to develop what appear to be a number of chinks in its armour. A report from Russia stated that Yuri Gagarin was NOT after all the first man into space. Pravda on !hursda" 12 April 2001 chose #osmonaut Da" in Russia $and the anniversar" of the Gagarin flight% for the release of this news. As it was also the &aster weekend break in both Russia and the west this "ear this announcement was perhaps guaranteed less attention than would otherwise have been the case. 'owever this article is not (uite as frank in its confession as it might first appear.

GAGARIN WAS NOT THE FIRST COSMONAUT

As )0 "ears have passed since Gagarin*s flight new sensational details of this event were disclosed+ Gagarin was not the first man to fl" to space. !hree ,oviet pilots died in attempts to con(uer space before Gagarin-s famous space flight .ikhail Rudenko senior engineer/e0perimenter with &0perimental Design 1ffice )23 $located in 4himki in the .oscow region% said on !hursda". According to Rudenko spacecraft with pilots at the controls were launched from the 4apustin Yar cosmodrome $in the Astrakhan region% in 1526 1527 and 1525. 8All three pilots died during the flights and their names were never officiall" published 8 Rudenko said. 'e e0plained that all these pilots took part in so/called sub/orbital flights i.e. their goal was not to orbit around the &arth which Gagarin later did but make a parabola/shaped flight. 8!he cosmonauts were to reach space heights in the highest point of such an orbit and then return to the &arth 8 Rudenko said.

PRAVDA !"#$"$

9aura :hitlock of ;A,A*s ,tar #hild <ro=ect $a ;A,A web site intended for children% has stated that her own research concurs with the claim that these three test pilots were indeed those named b" Pravda and albeit spelling their names slightl" differentl" she adds more detail regarding dates and for 9edovsk">the ma0imum height achieved in orbit. Ale0is 9edovsk" late 1526 reached a height of 200 miles. ,erent"i ,hiborin flight attempt ?ebruar" 1527. Andrei .itkov flight attempt @anuar" 1525. Given that space starts at around 30 miles from the &arth*s surface this additional data suggests that these flights were actuall" planned to reach space well before the ma0imum height. Another interesting point is that 4apustin Yar is ver" near the !urkish border. 1ne of the three prime reasons for moving the cosmodrome and space centre to Aaikonur was because 4apustin Yar was allegedl" too near to the American listening posts. ,o one wonders when the Americans obtained this information. Bt would appear that more information is available to the west than the Russian sources are inclined to release. !hen again Pravda did not see fit to mention another event that is alleged to have taken place in 1531 and onl" five da"s before the Gagarin effort. 1rthodo0 &aster and &aster in the west do not alwa"s coincide>but in 2001 it did =ust that. At

11pm on Good ?rida" a !C documentar" Cosmonaut Cover-Up was transmitted on the D4 'oriEons channel. Bt was shown again at midnight on &aster ,unda">neither slots are prime time viewing it must be saidF Yet although this documentar" stated that the first man in space was not Yuri Gagarin there was no mention of the three test pilots named b" Pravda>instead this documentar" ma=ored on Cladimir Bl"ushin son of ,ergei the ,oviet Dnion*s chief aircraft designer. Cosmonaut Cover-Up claimed that on 6 April 1531 five da"s before the Gagarin flight Cladimir Bl"ushin left for space got into trouble during the first orbit and eventuall" crash/landed in #hina during orbit number three. 'e was returned to the ,oviet Dnion a "ear later. !he ,oviets hushed up the Bl"ushin flight and sent Gagarin into space on 12 April 1531. Cosmonaut Cover-Up asserts that 4ruschev was on holida" at the time of the Gagarin flight and was recalled to .oscow when the flight turned out to be a success. ;A,A*s 9aura :hitlock gives a date of 5 April 1531 for this event. :h" this disparit" regarding datesG

Easter Sun%a&
Bnterestingl" in 1531 &aster ,unda" in the ,oviet Dnion fell on 5 April $a week later than the west that "ear% so Good ?rida" was on 6 April and whatever the prevailing official stance regarding religious festivals in practice man" of the thoughts and emotions of the people $including those who were working within the space program% would have been privatel" focused upon this occasion. Bndeed apart from the .oscow rumour machine most of the countr" was unaware of an imminent flight into space. &ither wa" the first man into space $post the testers of the 1520s% seemingl" went ver" (uietl"H so (uietl" that onl" now are the rumours being substantiated. Dennis 1gden $then .oscow correspondent for the Aritish newspaper The Daily Worker% should feel vindicated as should the late 9ord Aruce/Gard"ne of the Aritish Daily Telegraph. 1r at least partiall" so. ;otwithstanding the dates there is still some degree of muddle around these events. Documentar" filmmakers if showing a reconstruction of an event generall" make it clear that the viewer is watching a reconstruction and not actual footage of the event. ,o we can assume that all the film footage in Cosmonaut Cover-Up was the real thing as viewers were not told otherwise. <erhaps for artistic purposes however much of this production was not actual historical footage. :e were shown images of a remarkabl" unscathed and conscious man l"ing on a stretcher being carried awa" b" I#hinese peasants*>in direct contrast to the soundtrack which informed us that Bl"ushin was badl" in=ured. Dnless the descent was announced to the #hinese in time for them to get their crews and film cameras on site this se(uence must be a reconstruction>"et viewers were not informed of this. And if that was not the case then the stor" about the #hinese is certainl" not complete. Audiences were also shown images of a plane crashing ver" low over an airfield runwa" impl"ing that there was a camera at the location while the narration tells of Gagarin*s death. Bt was not felt necessar" to state that there were no recorded images of this crash which actuall" happened man" miles from an airfield. ;or was it felt necessar" to state that there were no witnesses to this death. :ithin the ,oviet Dnion there were man" doubts and a number of theories concerning Gagarin*s surprising demise and even if the producers of this documentar" were intent on making a Irealistic* film to get their points across and reveal the truth of the situation perhaps inadvertentl" the" have sown the seeds of more disinformation. :hile it seems that the mist is lifting ver" slowl" from around these monolithic events regretfull" it also appears that Gagarin Bl"ushin $and all those within the planetar" space program who have had to live with variations on the theme of truth% have not "et received the recognition that is rightfull" theirs.

<erhaps some more mist will have to clear before we can discern the real reasons behind the s"nchronous release of these two stories. &ach part">namel" the Dnited ,tates and the ,oviet Dnion>offering different accounts but both emanating from Iopposite* poles of the 1530s phase in the program.

Corrections to the recor%

!he authors of Dark Moon are inclined to the view that even this Ifirst cosmonaut* stor" is b" no means the complete picture and the fact that Pravda seemingl" making a clean breast of matters avoided an" mention of Bl"ushin tends to reinforce this conclusion. !his is not the first occasion that corrections to previous statements have been released graduall". 1n 25 @anuar" 157J an article apparentl" written b" the cosmonaut concerned appeared in the ,oviet newspaper Krasnaya Zve da and set out the details of the 2 April 1562 ,o"uE 17 space shot. Bn 1553 amendments to this stor" were published>after nineteen "earsF Bt has taken fort" "ears for details behind the Gagarin stor" to come to light. Gradual disclosure from a number of sources reveals that an"thing from se'en throu(h to e)e'en ,oviet cosmonauts have died in attempts to get a man into space and orbit the &arth. Aut such an admission is hardl" surprising. ;othing in the realm of human endeavour is ever achieved without great sacrifice. Bn April 1531 General ;ikolai 4amanin second in command of the cosmonauts apparentl" confided in his diar" that it was as hard deciding Iwhich of them should be sent to die* as it was deciding Iwhich of these two decent men should be made world famous*. !he construction of his sentence indicates that the choice was wider than is immediatel" apparent to the casual reader. 4amanin*s choice of words suggests that he is wondering which one to be selected from all the cosmonaut candidates should be sent to die and which one of two should be made into a public figure. !he choice of two was between !itov and Gagarin. !hus 4amanin unwittingl" discloses to those who would later read his diaries that it was known to the authorities that people would die> *ecause %eaths ha% a)rea%& occurre%. !his diar" entr" also implies that over and above the tried/ and/tested method of withholding information regarding their failures there was a discreet Ian"thing can happen* acceptance running behind the official Isuccessful* space program. 'ow man" Americans have died in the various attempts to put a man on the .oon is not a (uestion that ;A,A would ever wish to have asked>let alone have to answer. ;A,A re(uired a continuous suppl" of funds to get the =ob done. .oreover it would be logical to conclude that ;A,A and the D, government needed a Ispace race* to provide Ia competition*. !his situation would generate a sense of urgenc" mi0ed with national pride and secure continuit" of funding from #ongress. 'ave these s"nchronous revelations concerning events of 1531 in the then ,oviet Dnion been released now in an attempt to take some of the heat awa" from ;A,A still suffering from the fallout following the ?1K !C airing of the Apollo hoa0 theoriesG Bn an" event irrespective of nationalit" or pro=ect name the time has surel" come for all o! us to break out from our protective shells of naivet". Bt is now time to face the realit" that has governed the program to date and no longer be surprised at an" new findings concerning the authenticit" of the record of activities in space. ,urel" it would be reasonable to sa" to those who are planning our space pro=ects that the ma=orit" of us desire to travel to .ars with integrit">not surrounded b" cover/ups and the pretence that we can ade(uatel" protect our astronauts on the =ourne". !ime is on our side and the will is there to venture into space. Bt is mankind*s destin" to e0plore with pride not as a response to fear greed and the desire for power.