The death of Yuri Gagarin, world's first man in space, was an outcome of the panicked reaction after learning that an air vent in his ****pit was open, says a new report. Igor Kuznetsov, a retired Soviet air force Colonel, who was investigating the 1968 crash, said Gagarin threw his MiG-15 fighter jet into such a steep dive that he blacked out and crashed into a forest below killing himself and his co-pilot. Read more
Putin regrets that space exploration history is often falsified
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has expressed regret over the fact that space exploration history is often distorted and falsified.
"Some facts are distorted deliberately and some are hushed up" - Vladimir Putin, at the opening meeting of the committee tasked to organise events to mark the 50th anniversary of Yury Gagarins first ever human space flight in 2011.
One of Scotland's most famous Neolithic sites - Skara Brae in Orkney - has commemorated a defining moment in the space race. The pathway to the prehistoric village is lined with carved stones that form a time trail of major events in history. A new stone was unveiled on Saturday, marking the anniversary of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbiting the Earth on 12 April, 1961.
The daughters of the first cosmonaut Yury Gagarin are suing Moscow-based film company Central Partnership, distributor of the tragi-comic feature film "Gagarin's Grandson," for allegedly misusing Gagarin's name and misrepresenting his life. The film deals only tangentially with Gagarin, who died in 1968 and has had near saint-like status in Russia since his 1961 space flight.