This year marks fifty years since the death of the first cosmonaut of the Earth Yu. A. Gagarin. Since then, the debate has not abated whether Gagarin could survive or not? To answer this question, it is necessary to reconstruct the course of his last flight on March 27, 1968.
The plane was serviceable
Immediately after the tragedy, an authoritative commission was created to investigate the crash of the plane with the first cosmonaut on board. Its members found that the tested UTI MIG-15 fighter was checked by technicians before departure and was in excellent condition. Moreover, he checked the plane, including the class 1 test pilot who crashed, together with Yu. A. Gagarin - V. S. Seregin. There is no need to talk about the excellent preparation for the flight of Gagarin, he could make much more complex flights. At the same time, the country's public was most worried about why Gagarin was not banned from flying at all after the flight into space. After all, every flight is a risk, to which it was unacceptable to expose the first cosmonaut of the Earth.
Interrupted holidays
In this regard, it is interesting to note the fact that Gagarin himself was not going to rise into the sky until May 1, 1968. Flight interfered with study. The cosmonaut had to prepare for the defense of his diploma. In this regard, on December 2, 1967, he submitted a report with a request to release him from his duties as deputy chief for flight and space training until May 1, 1968. The petition was granted. If Yu. A. Gagarin, as a conscientious student, would have spent his vacation entirely, he would have stayed to live. But, unfortunately, the defense of the thesis took place on February 17, 1968, after which Gagarin, having received an engineer diploma with honors, decided to return to flying ahead of schedule. After the vacation, he took off for the first time on March 13, and died on March 27.
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Fatal flight
It was assumed that after the fatal flight, Yu. A. Gagarin will be able to independently fly the MIG-17. For the first cosmonaut, a MIG-17 aircraft with tail number 19 was even allocated. Several days before the fatal flight, Gagarin underwent a medical examination, during which it was noted that he was completely healthy. After the pre-flight preparation, the flight list was approved and signed by Gagarin by Seregin. Everything went on as usual. After the mechanic's report on the readiness of the car for flight, the pilots climbed into the cockpit. Gagarin is located in its front part, and Seryogin in the back. At 10 hours 19 minutes on March 27, 1968, the plane under the control of Gagarin took off. After 11 minutes, Yuri Alekseevich reported to the ground on the completion of the necessary exercises and asked for permission to return, which was received. However, a minute later the plane crashed into the ground.
At the same time, the commission investigating the tragedy found that the aircraft's power plants were working properly before hitting the ground. Consequently, it was not a malfunction of the aircraft. These commissions were collected in 30 weighty volumes, but no malfunction was found on the plane. The tragedy was attributed to high clouds. The bottom layer of clouds was only 500-600 meters from the ground, and pilots, in conditions of limited visibility, could simply be mistaken. At the same time, the experts of the commission noted that the flight of Gagarin with Seregin took place at a low speed for this aircraft of about 500 km / h, and this car always got out of a spin without any problems. Surprising was the fact that both of them before hitting the ground were completely calm and confidently flying the plane. The drunken flight version was not confirmed. Sabotage was also ruled out. There was only one conclusion left. Turning the plane around in the absence of horizon visibility, Gagarin made a mistake, and the plane left in a dive.
Dmitry Sokolov