Documents / FOIA release
This is a Joint Publications Research Service translation, report JPRS-USP-91-002, of a KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA article from 22 September 1990 by correspondent Ye. Chernykh in Prague. It takes up a Hungarian book by I. Nemere that claims Yuriy Gagarin did not make the 12 April 1961 flight. It quotes the Czechoslovak space writer Karel Patsner, who rejects the rumors of hidden cosmonaut deaths, citing James Oberg, Charles Sheldon's congressional report and CIA archive documents. UFOs come up only in passing, as an outdated sensation.
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## Concatenated JPRS Reports, 1991 Document 3 of 10 Page 1 Classification: UNCLASSIFIED Status: [STAT] Document Date: 22 Sep 90 Category: [CAT] Report Type: JPRS Report Report Date: Report Number: JPRS-USP-91-002 UDC Number: Author(s): KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA staff correspondent Ye. Chernykh, Prague: ''Was Gagarin Really in Space?: Cosmonaut No. 1 Flew Around the Planet One Time. But This Fairly Shabby 'Canard' Is Making Its Umpteenth Orbit''] Headline: Allegations Concerning Cosmonaut Losses, Gagarin's Role Refuted Source Line: 90700167 Moscow KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA in Russian 22 Sep 90 p 3 Subslug: [Article by KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA staff correspondent Ye. Chernykh, Prague: 'Was Gagarin Really in Space?: Cosmonaut No. 1 Flew Around the Planet One Time. But This Fairly Shabby 'Canard' Is Making Its Umpteenth Orbit''] FULL TEXT OF ARTICLE: 1. [Article by KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA staff correspondent Ye. Chernykh, Prague: 'Was Gagarin Really in Space?: Cosmonaut No. 1 Flew Around the Planet One Time. But This Fairly Shabby 'Canard' Is Making Its Umpteenth Orbit'] 2. [Text] The book "'Gagarin--kosmicheskiy lozh?" [Gagarin--a Space Lie?] came out recently in Hungary. The author, I. Nemere, alleges that Gagarin did not fly around our planet on 12 April 1961. The Vostok craft had gone into space several days earlier. In it was the son of the famous aircraft designer, Ilyushin. But after a difficult landing, he looked more like a human wreck than a Soviet "'hero.'" Someone like that couldn't be shown to the world. Just the opposite, he would have to be kept out of sight for a long time, or better yet, for ever. In that same year, Ilyushin was in a serious traffic accident. 3. An attractive fellow with an optimistic smile and excellent biographical particulars was quickly found from among the workers. He also played the role of the representative of the grandiose success of Soviet science and especially of Soviet policy. It is clear that a person with such a terrible secret could not live long. 4. I. Nemere, a social and political affairs writer, spent many years in Moscow, where he met 'with knowledgeable people.' He concealed his authorship right up to the publication of the book, fearing that, even in Hungary, there would be people who would be
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 5 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.