Announcing the cause of Gagarin's death

The first astronaut to fly into space died when his plane dived to avoid a hot air balloon in 1968, documents recently declassified by the Russian government.

April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin and the Oriental ship flew to orbit the earth, becoming the first person to fly into space. Seven years later, on March 27, 1968, he died in a flight flight when a MiG-15 fighter plane drove him and flight trainer Vladimir Seryogin to the ground.

Since former Soviet officials have never published specific information about the cause of Gagarin's death, many rumors have spread in public opinion . It is believed that the aircraft carrying Gagarin fell due to sudden drop in altitude to avoid obstacles, lack of oxygen in the cockpit or impact from other aircraft.

Astronaut Yuri Gagarin is about to fly into space with Phuong Dong ship on April 12, 1961. Photo: RIA Novosti .

50 years after Gagarin flew into space, on April 8, the Russian government announced more than 700 pages of documents about Yuri Gagarin in the form of a book. In the book there are pages about his death.

The book says the weather conditions on March 27, 1968 are very complex and the dive movement that Gagarin or Seryogin has done has put the plane in a very dangerous situation .

Alexander Stepanov, director of the Russian Federal Archive , announced that Gagarin's death investigation commission concluded that the most likely cause of the accident was that his plane was too dive to avoid a shadow. is not.

However, according to Stepanov, the investigating committee also left the other cause, potentially less likely, of the accident. It was the plane that fell when dive to avoid a cloud above.

Stepanov said he hoped the announcement of Gagarin's cause of death would quell rumors of his death.

Soviet officials formed a commission to investigate Gagarin's death shortly after the crash. The declassified documents show that the conclusions of the investigating committee are stated in an ordinance of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Council of Soviet Ministers on November 28, 1968. The ordinance is stamped with 'absolute secret'. Mr. Leonid Brezhnev, Chairman of the Supreme Soviet Presidency at that time, signed the conclusion document of the investigation committee.