Yuri Gagarin: The legacy and death of the first human in space

Yuri Gagarin, the first human to orbit the Earth, died in a plane crash on March 27, 1968. After his historic Vostok 1 mission on April 12, 1961, Soviet leaders prohibited him from participating in further space missions due to safety concerns regarding his status as a national hero.

Gagarin continued his career as a military pilot. During a routine training flight at Chkalovsky Air Base near Moscow, Gagarin and pilot Vladimir Seryogin took off in a MiG-15 fighter jet. Shortly after takeoff, radio contact was lost. Search teams discovered wreckage in a forest 65 km from the airport, and Gagarin's body was recovered the following day.

The event led to the first national day of mourning in Soviet history for a non-head of state. Despite the establishment of a state investigation committee, the circumstances surrounding the crash remained a subject of speculation and conspiracy theories.