Soviet Space Propaganda: Doctored Cosmonaut Photos

[Chris_]

Soviet Space Propaganda: Doctored Cosmonaut Photos

Lies and half-truths have a way of catching up to you, largely because nobody has a good enough memory to be a successful liar for long. The Soviet side of the 1960s space race is a particularly graphic example of this.

Author James Oberg, a former scientist at NASA Mission Control in Houston, has been a space nut since before Sputnik and Vostok. As a private sleuth of Soviet-era space secrets, he has written many books and magazine articles on various space mysteries and true histories, including the erased cosmonauts in this gallery, which he discovered in the early 1970s and first publicized. The Soviet Union's string of space triumphs over the United States was tarnished by a series of falsifications that surfaced and cast doubt on all their accomplishments, even the genuine ones. Today on the 50th anniversary of the Yuri Gagarin's first spaceflight, the greatest of the Soviet space triumphs, there are still plenty of unresolved doubts and suspicions.

Those doubts are encouraged by a series of photographs of the cosmonaut team, released in the 1970s, in which some individuals have been airbrushed out of scenes. The photo-doctoring was discovered because Soviet news managers lost track of which versions of photos had already been published, and re-released them after alteration.

These group shots of cosmonauts at work and on vacation included some as-yet unflown men. Apparently the subsequent bad behavior — or possibly victimization — of some of them rendered them unfit role models for Soviet youth, and they were erased (as shown above). These men would have been total strangers to the public, the fact that they never later appeared on space missions would seem to suggest that something bad had happened, something that had to be kept secret.

Wired

I remember a thread franksolich started here on the Soviet's practice of "erasing" people from history that had run afoul of the party leadership, but I can't seem to find it.  It's worth looking up and reading if you have the time.

[ExGeeEye]

I have recently been made aware of the belief held by some that  Gagarin was only the first man to survive and return from space flight.  Supposedly, there were a few others, before and after, who

--died on re-entry,

--failed to reenter and died in orbit,

--accelerated a little too hard and went into interplanetary space without the means to return.

Given the Soviet penchant for secrecy-- Gagarin's flight wasn't made public until it was over, IIRC-- I shouldn't be surprised.

All this to say that perhaps the cosmonauts in the OP were possibly "removed" for other than ideological reasons-- perhaps to avoid questions like "who is that guy, did he fly, why hasn't he been seen since 1962" etc.

[DumbAss Tanker]

I have recently been made aware of the belief held by some that  Gagarin was only the first man to survive and return from space flight.  Supposedly, there were a few others, before and after, who

--died on re-entry,

--failed to reenter and died in orbit,

--accelerated a little too hard and went into interplanetary space without the means to return.

Given the Soviet penchant for secrecy-- Gagarin's flight wasn't made public until it was over, IIRC-- I shouldn't be surprised.

All this to say that perhaps the cosmonauts in the OP were possibly "removed" for other than ideological reasons-- perhaps to avoid questions like "who is that guy, did he fly, why hasn't he been seen since 1962" etc.

Very likely true, except the part about interplanetary space as I don't think their booster could have accomplished that back in the day.  I do remember reading years ago that telemetry gave some reason to believe that really did happen, but the source wasn't especially reliable.

In addition to misconduct, political disfavor, and possible undocumented losses in the space flights , remember that Gagarin himself died in a military aircraft crash right out of 'The Great Santini.'  Any of the cosmonauts who died in such routine operational circumstances before their flights would have been no doubt scrubbed as well, since it would not have enhanced the world perception of Soviet technological infallibility to let on that they had died when the engine in their MiG decided to disassemble itself in flight.

Those were the days we were flying Century-series fighters, and it was damned near as likely to kill you just flying them at all over a career as to fly them in combat for a tour.  Their planes were even more dangerous.   

[RightCoast]

Wired

I remember a thread franksolich started here on the Soviet's practice of "erasing" people from history that had run afoul of the party leadership, but I can't seem to find it.  It's worth looking up and reading if you have the time.

Maybe it was erased by The Politburo

[DefiantSix]

Maybe it was erased by The Politburo

The Politburo has a 7-day waiting period to use the memory hole these days:  Big Brotha and his crew have been busy.

[BlueStateSaint]

I have recently been made aware of the belief held by some that  Gagarin was only the first man to survive and return from space flight.  Supposedly, there were a few others, before and after, who

--died on re-entry,

--failed to reenter and died in orbit,

--accelerated a little too hard and went into interplanetary space without the means to return.

Given the Soviet penchant for secrecy-- Gagarin's flight wasn't made public until it was over, IIRC-- I shouldn't be surprised.

All this to say that perhaps the cosmonauts in the OP were possibly "removed" for other than ideological reasons-- perhaps to avoid questions like "who is that guy, did he fly, why hasn't he been seen since 1962" etc.

I've got one of Oberg's books.  He mentions one cosmonaut whose re-entry angle wasn't as steep as was necessary, and the capsule skipped off the upper edges of the atmosphere and went into deep space.  Not a good way to go.

[CG6468]

Unless a capsule crashed into or was captured in to orbit something in our solar system, interplanetary space is where it would go. It wouldn't need the power to visit another planet somewhere else; once underway, it would be gone.

[namvet]

Ivan did not like doing his dirty laundry in public

[DumbAss Tanker]

There's a pretty big distance between 'Orbital velocity' and what it takes to get out into interplanetary space, kids.  Skipping off the atmosphere will change orbital mechanics, but also lose velocity, and while you wouldn't likely live to see it, re-entry is still going to happen in the near future.  It's an entirely different dynamic than coming in form interplanetary space to 'Slingshot' around a planet's gravitational field for a speed boost to the outer Solar system.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Wired

I remember a thread franksolich started here on the Soviet's practice of "erasing" people from history that had run afoul of the party leadership, but I can't seem to find it.  It's worth looking up and reading if you have the time.

Yes, they did.  The most famous examples occured as a result of the stalin's purges.