Claims Now Surface That Say the Soviets Left Astronauts in Space to Die

American space exploration has two names attached to it: Alan Shepard and Neil Armstrong. These men were pioneers in the field and accomplished many amazing things. However, there were trailblazers found in the Soviet Union, too. Did you know that Yuri Gagarin was the first human to go into orbit?

Though it was widely publicized, some people don’t believe he was the first Russian to make it into space. Most people think there was a dark start to space exploration and sending humans up there. In fact, conspiracy theories claim that an early astronaut suffered a horrible fate, and the USSR covered it up.

Gaining the Edge

Gagarin was the USSR role model after seeing the stars up close, and his achievement was definitely excellent. The 27-year-old cosmonaut went into orbit and gave the Soviets an edge during the Space Race period.

Hearsay and Rumors

In the beginning, and even now, people weren’t convinced he was the first man to orbit Earth. Rumors claimed that another man had achieved that goal. While healthy initially, he was now doing poorly.

Paranoid Times

Suspicion and rumor greeted these Space Race stories, and that’s no surprise since the USSR and America were in a Cold War. Plus, the Soviets preferred to keep everything a secret, so it’s conceivable that such a situation was suppressed from the media.

Big Questions

Through the decades, people created conspiracy theories about the space program. Some thought the Soviets sent others to space and let them die. Could that have happened before Gagarin was successful?!

Ready to Go

The Soviet space program had significant turns and twists attached to it, so it could be possible. Everything goes back to the ending of WWII. As the Soviets got ready for a Cold War against the US, both sides were focused on rocket technology.

The Race Starts

Germany was the top performer in the space program, but when it lost the war, its information was split between the countries. The former allies didn’t want to share, so it became a race against time to get into space first.

Flying High

Animals were important for those first trips into space. The US and USSR experimented with different species. Though bacteria were present on the rockets, the first live things to go into orbit were fruit flies. Americans wanted to see how the radiation might affect insects.

Monkey Business

Even more complex creatures went into space. In 1949, the US sent a rhesus macaque up there. His name was Albert II, and he was the very first mammal to leave Earth’s atmosphere. He survived through the launch but died coming home.

Pioneering Pups

The Soviets chose to use dogs for their space experiments. Dezik and Tsygan were the unfortunate ones who got forced into space in 1951. However, the spacecraft never left Earth’s atmosphere, and they stayed alive on the return trip.

Sputnik 1

In 1957, the Space Race had intensified significantly, and the USSR was pulling ahead. In October of that year, Sputnik 1 went to space. It was incredible, and everyone was shocked to learn a man-made satellite had gone into orbit.

Laika the Space Dog

The Soviets then built upon that achievement and created Sputnik 2, which launched only a single month after the first one. It held Laika. With this pup on board, she was the first-ever creature to go to orbit, but she died during the mission.

Laying the Groundwork

Overall, the Soviets knew Laika wouldn’t live through the trip. While it was grim, they sent another two dogs in 1960. They came back alive, which was a giant step forward in the space program for the USSR. This laid the groundwork for all humans.

Gagarin’s Launch

Yuri Gagarin was inside the Vostok 1 spacecraft when it left the Baikonur Cosmodrome in April of 1961. He was about to become a legend. People were calling him the first human being to orbit Earth.

The Shaky Landing

The mission went well, but he had a challenging landing. There was a malfunction with the spacecraft, so it rattled excessively when it came to Earth. Gagarin had to eject himself from it but lived through the ordeal.

Shepard’s Turn

Gagarin was famous because of that journey, and the Soviet Union gave him many honors. Even the Americans heard of his feat, but they weren’t happy. This meant that the Soviets were winning. Alan Shepard then went into orbit just a month later.

Pulling Ahead

The Soviets continued pulling ahead in various areas. For example, Valentina Tereshkova went up in 1963, and Alexei Leonov did a spacewalk for the first time a few years later. Overall, it looked like the USSR would get to the moon first, as well, but things took a sour turn.

Vladimir Komarov

Though the Soviets wanted their men on the moon first, mechanical issues caused problems. There were even some tragedies. A horrible malfunction caused Vladimir Komarov to die in 1967, and now the USSR had a black mark on its record.

One Small Step

Currently, the Americans were making up for lost time, which didn’t help the Soviets. They sent Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the moon, and that date was July 20, 1969. They won the Space Race contest, so it didn’t matter if the Soviets had the lead before.

The Grapevine

Since there was a Cold War in place when the Space Race occurred, secrecy was rampant. Rumors quickly spread, and some were so persuasive that they’re around now. The primary one is that the Soviets sent people to space to die.

Lost Cosmonauts

People often whispered about the lost Soviet cosmonauts during the beginning of the Space Race. Stories came out about those who had died or had mental breakdowns after the expeditions. Likewise, cosmonauts were reportedly abandoned in space.

Secret Pioneer

Gossip was spreading whenever Yuri Gagarin prepared to go into space. People often believed that he wasn’t the first one in orbit. Someone else in that country had done it just a week prior, but there was little news about it.

The First Man in Space

The Daily Walker was a British communist newspaper that reported this mission. Dennis Ogden wrote that the cosmonaut in question was the test pilot’s son. Though he lived, he was in poor health.

Wild with Joy

This report generated a buzz, but the USSR claimed it wasn’t true. Then, Gagarin went to space a few days later, and everyone forgot Ogden’s story. In fact, he reported on that one, so no one knows what really happened.

Another Report

Did Ogden just make a mistake about the Space Race? Was he now compensating and hiding his shame by reporting on this trip with Gagarin? In fact, someone else wrote the article about the unconfirmed mission, calling the cosmonaut Vladimir Ilyushin.

Father-Son Team

Ilyushin was a famed test pilot who had been through many things. In fact, his father created the aircraft used in WWII. Therefore, when the elder moved to government, his son was seen as the top choice for space travel.

Badly Injured

The conspiracy theory claims that Ilyushin Jr. went into orbit with no problems, but things went wrong as he returned to Earth. His spacecraft veered off the route, which caused him to get injured. Some believed he was comatose.

Anonymous Source

It was reported that this situation occurred on April 12, 1961, and people read about it in the Spokesman-Review. The newspaper wrote that the vessel had been recovered, but Ilyushin was unconscious and mentally unbalanced now. The data came from a dependable and anonymous source.

Claims and Counterclaims

Ilyushin was in the hospital during that time, so there could be credibility to that story. However, everyone said it was because of a traffic accident and not an orbit into space gone wrong. Were the Soviets telling the truth here?

Swept Under the Rug

The Soviet Union could have lied about why Ilyushin was in the hospital, and secrecy was prevalent during this time. However, why? Clearly, the USSR wanted to win the Space Race, sweeping that story under the rug to hide another failed mission.

Mysterious Photo

That might convince some people that the conspiracy was true, but was there evidence? No. Ogden claimed to have seen a photo with Ilyushin in cosmonaut clothing around the flight time, but it was never recovered. He died in 2010, never confirming the story.

Held in China

Though there was no proof, the conspiracy persisted. Elliott Haimoff was a filmmaker who released documentaries about this subject. He suggested that the Chinese captured Ilyushin after the space landing failed, holding him until things died down in 1962.

Disturbing Recordings

There’s even more evidence to suggest the conspiracy is true. Radio operators from Italy claimed to have recorded audio segments from spacecraft, and one of them was around the time Ilyushin supposedly went into orbit.

Suspect Claims

While the tapes would be great to hear and might even prove that the Soviet Union lied, there’s no evidence suggesting that it’s real. No one can back up those claims, and there are no methods for verification, either.

More Lost Cosmonauts

In most cases, the conspiracy theories involve other lost cosmonauts. Mikhail Rudenko worked as a scientist for the Soviets, claiming that they held secret flights to space in ’57, ’58, and ’59. Everything came out to the public in 2011, but no names were released.

Skulls on Mars

Rudenko’s information seems plausible and believable, though the publication itself is sketchy. Pravda is known worldwide for making pretentious claims that aren’t true. Therefore, it’s generally best not to listen to those stories.

Reason for Skepticism

You can’t use logic to prove the conspiracy theories, which is one reason to be skeptical. The USSR claimed that Gagarin was in space while it was happening. If they didn’t want anyone to know bad news, they wouldn’t publicly acknowledge the mission until it had ended.

Declassified Info

Official information was finally released about the Soviet space program. Most of the data revealed secrecy and chaos around the project. However, no proof backed up the conspiracy of having lost cosmonauts in space.

Genuine Horror

Clearly, people lost their lives during the Space Race, and the Soviets weren’t the only ones. However, in the USSR, a launchpad blew up and killed 100 people in 1960. One person learning to become a cosmonaut died while trying.

Dismissing the Theories

No one can deny those dark incidents, but it’s still possible to dismiss the theories. Bad things happened while the USSR tried to get to the moon first. Still, there’s no evidence to support the conspiracy claims as true.

No Neat Conclusion

We will probably never get a neat conclusion to the conspiracy theories surrounding the Soviet Union and its lies about the space program. Someone had to win the Space Race, and we do know that it was the Americans.