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Vladimir Ilyushin (Russian:
Владимир
Илыусхин) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who is alleged by some to actually
have been the first man in space on April 7, 1961, an honor generally attributed to Yuri Gagarin on April 12.
The theories surrounding this alleged orbital flight are that a failure aboard the
spacecraft caused controllers to bring the descent capsule down several orbits
earlier than intended, which resulted in its landing in the People's Republic of China whereupon the pilot was held by Chinese authorities for a year before
being returned to the Soviet Union. The international embarrassment that
would have resulted from having their pilot held is cited as the Soviets' reason for not publicizing this flight and instead
focusing their adulation on the subsequent successful flight of Yuri Gagarin.
However, there are reasons to disbelieve this allegation, notably that although both were communist governments, relations between the Soviets and Chinese were strained, and the propaganda value to the Chinese of a Soviet pilot captured flying over their territory would have given little
reason for Chinese complicity in a coverup.
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