Interception of negotiations, a burned-out astronaut and classified data – what are the rumors surrounding the first space flights and why
The progress of science and technology does not exclude the conspiracy picture of the world. On the contrary, the more complex the world becomes, the higher the demand for simplified models of its explanation. The theme of space is no exception. Much of what has to do with it is shrouded in rumors, speculation and myths.
We have selected the most tempting conspiracy theories about space since its exploration. They work on the same principles as any other conspiracy theory – they exploit the imperfections of human thinking. How exactly this happens, we briefly analyze for each of the theories. Read also:
- How do stories of contact with aliens appear.
- Why do many people not believe in the landing of Americans on the moon.
- Who and why believes in a flat earth.
Gagarin and Tereshkova were not the first
Spoiler: Yuri Gagarin was the first cosmonaut
The late 1950s and 1960s became the era of the struggle between the USSR and the USA for leadership in space exploration. The USSR made a breakthrough step by launching the first artificial Earth satellite in 1957. April 12, 1961 is another significant date: Yuri Gagarin became the first man to go into space. However, there were those who claimed that other Soviet cosmonauts had been there before Gagarin but never returned.
The Judica-Cordilla brothers, radio amateurs from Italy, even before Gagarin’s flight, claimed that they were able to intercept messages from Soviet spacecraft several times. In May 1960 – a message from the crew about a deviation from the course; in November 1960 – an SOS signal from a ship leaving earth orbit; and finally, in February 1961, the heartbeat and other sounds of an allegedly choking astronaut, who was slowly dying, drifting in outer space.
Later they reported another sensational recording. It is allegedly dated mid-May 1961 and today circulates on the Internet under the name “Cosmonaut Lyudmila”. According to the brothers, they intercepted the conversations of a Soviet female cosmonaut from the ship, which was gradually burning up in the dense layers of the atmosphere. The recording itself sounded even more heartbreaking than the previous ones. A female voice (though for some reason with a strong Italian accent) reported a fire on board and repeated “I’m hot!” Many times. It turned out that the first female cosmonaut died two years before the flight of Valentina Tereshkova.
Of course, such versions were denied in the USSR. Of course, they did not believe the denials, because hiding such incidents looked quite logical and quite in the spirit of Soviet policy – the country’s reputation as a leader in space exploration was at stake.
Later, during Perestroika, when the archives became available, it turned out that in the USSR, for example, the death of cosmonaut Valentin Bondarenko was concealed. True, he died at the stage of preparation for flights. They also concealed the catastrophe at Baikonur in 1960, one of the largest rocket launches in history. According to various sources, from 74 to 126 people died in it. The manned lunar program “H-1” was also completely classified. All these facts became officially known in 1989, although there were rumors before.
However, there were no rumors or documents about “Lyudmila” and the rest of the “phantom cosmonauts”. There were no engineers working on these failed missions, no family members of the supposedly dead astronauts, and no official or unofficial statements of any kind.
James Oberg, one of the leading specialists in the history of cosmonautics in the USSR and our country, even published a detailed analysis of the arguments of the Judik-Cordilla brothers, where he explained why neither he nor any other professional space historian believes them. They had technical questions: their equipment was hardly enough to catch and record signals from spacecraft. There were also factual questions. For example, heartbeat, breathing and other biometrics in Soviet ships were never transmitted over voice channels. Nevertheless, the version about “phantom astronauts” is still alive, like one of the brothers.
Why do they believe it
The story about “phantom astronauts” was popular mainly in Western countries. Geoffrey Scott, an aerospace engineer and editor-in-chief of aerospaceweb.org, attributed this to two reasons: the secrecy of Soviet space programs and jealousy over the success of Soviet cosmonautics in the West.
Any failures of the American space program were on the front pages of newspapers. In the USSR, the lack of a free press allowed the already non-public space program to hide most of its shortcomings. Rocketry and spaceflight were some of the most advanced technologies. Therefore, in the West there was a feeling that the same failures as NASA had happened in the Soviet program, but they were simply not reported. As Scott wrote, today we know that early Soviet missiles failed even more often than American ones.
As a result, distrust of the policy of secrecy, which reported only successes and hushed up failures, became fertile ground for stories about the first Soviet cosmonauts who did not return.
How conspiracy theory works
The conspiracy theory, also known as a conspiracy theory, presents the events in the world as the result of the action of certain forces, usually mysterious and very influential. Conspiracies explain both simply resonant events, such as terrorist attacks, and global processes such as managing the world. In the conspiracy picture of the world, everything is filled with intent (usually unkind) and there is a certain puppeteer who pulls the strings for his own benefit. Why this happens, we analyzed in detail in the material “Why do people believe in conspiracy theories.”
Conspiracy theorists are increasingly calling themselves not conspiracy theorists, but skeptics. Their philosophy is to doubt everything. In everything except their own mental attitudes.