There was hardly a single instance where we contacted an interviewee without using intermediaries, or obtained documentary material directly from its source. Business relations in Russia are multi-layered and complex. Certain procedures have to be observed. Discovering the secrets of Gagarin’s life and death came down to much more than simply picking up the phone and calling his old colleagues for a chat.
From our Western perspective, Russia is unimaginably vast. How could we possibly find the long-retired engineers who built Gagarin’s spaceship, especially bearing in mind that their real names were kept secret throughout their careers? How could we identify and locate the humble farmworkers in deep rural locations (with no telephones in their homes), who saw Gagarin come home from space and land in a field? How could we even learn the names and addresses of the KGB escorts, long-retired and never identified at the time, who advised Gagarin during his global publicity tours in the mid-1960s? How to persuade the cosmonauts who vied with Gagarin for position in the space hierarchy to talk openly about things that simply are not supposed to be mentioned?
Once again, our Moscow researchers were indispensable to us in locating many of our witnesses and persuading them to speak. Some advisors within the modern, but still daunting, remnants of the KGB also helped us. They do not wish to reveal their names, but they know how grateful we are for their help in locating certain people.
But we owe our greatest debt to the interviewees themselves. As I hope this book will demonstrate, we have managed to speak to most of the surviving key figures in Gagarin’s life. With considerable candour, occasionally at some risk, and almost always with a special Russian humour and emotion that brings their stories to life, the following people have entrusted us with their memories.
Gagarin’s brother Valentin and sister Zoya told us about Yuri’s early childhood and upbringing, as well as the impact of his famous space flight on the lives of those closest to him. They also narrated their family’s terrifying experiences during the Nazi invasion of their homeland. These events shaped their brother’s character. Yelena Alexandrovna, a retired schoolteacher, recalled Yuri as a bright, mischievous pupil, a merciless prankster, who also showed a deeper and more responsible side to his nature, remarkable for one so young.
Journalist Yaroslav Golovanov, who at one time actually trained for space flight himself, knew Gagarin and the other cosmonauts well. With his help we heard from Georgi Shonin and other Air Force pilots who were recruited into the space programme alongside Gagarin. Golovanov filled in the basic details of Gagarin’s career, drawing on his encyclopaedic memory and his many books on the subject. Nevertheless, we know we have uncovered some important events that Golovanov himself may find surprising.
Sergei Belotserkovsky, a crucial figure in the academic training of all the early cosmonauts, knew Gagarin very well and provided us with valuable personal anecdotes and fascinating documentary evidence surrounding the investigation into Gagarin’s tragically early death.
The diaries of the late Nikolai Kamanin, Chief of Cosmonaut Training, provided a close and unique insight into the character of the First Cosmonaut. Almost on a daily basis, Kamanin outlined the strengths and weaknesses of Gagarin and his great rival in the race to become the world’s first spaceman, Gherman Titov. Through Kamanin’s highly spontaneous scribbles, we saw just how close Gagarin came to being second. We are grateful to Kamanin’s executors for permission to reproduce some extracts from a very colourful and outspoken journal.
For his part, Titov spoke frankly of the immense pain brought about by his role as Gagarin’s back-up, or ‘understudy’, for the historic first space flight, while Alexei Leonov put many other aspects of a cosmonaut’s life into perspective. These two men were very close to Gagarin, and they shared his experiences of flying into space and seeing the earth from orbit. They both had dramatic tales to tell.
Oleg Ivanovsky, Vladimir Yazdovsky and Yuri Mazzhorin – three of the most significant technical administrators in the Soviet space programme – revealed extraordinary details about their work, and of the spacecraft that Gagarin flew. They also revealed aspects of the deep humanity within the character of Sergei Korolev, the legendary ‘Chief Designer’ of Soviet rockets and spacecraft.
Sergei Nefyodov and Yevgeny Kiryushin, forgotten contributors to the space effort, recounted their secret work as ‘testers’, enduring great physical discomfort and risking death as part of the medical and physiological research programme that surrounded the early manned rocket programme.
Farm worker Yakov Lysenko, a very old man now, still gets a gleam in his eye as he recalls Gagarin landing in a field after his flight and greeting him; while Tamara Kuchalayeva and Tatiana Makaricheva recalled how, as schoolgirls, they ran across a gentle meadow to see where the world’s first spaceship came to rest after its epic journey.
Anna Rumanseyeva recalled nursing Gagarin after a minor but embarrassing accident that nearly cost him his career. This was the first time that she, or anyone else, had told the truth about this significant and very human incident.
Sergei Yegupov, an archivist at the space training complex just outside Moscow, gave us access to some remarkable letters addressed to Gagarin from ordinary citizens, and illuminated for us some of the more difficult political aspects of Gagarin’s career.
State security expert Nikolai Rubkin helped us analyse important details of Gagarin’s fatal accident in a MiG training jet, and the flawed, compromised investigation that followed. Vyacheslav Bykovsky, an air-traffic controller, spoke to us about the day of the crash, even though this particular subject must have been very difficult for him. He had kept his silence for thirty years.
KGB veteran Venyamin Russayev came forward, after lengthy and delicate negotiations, to tell us an incredible and shattering story about Gagarin’s efforts to save the life of Vladimir Komarov, the first man ever to die during a space flight. Russayev’s evidence, revealed in our book for the very first time, is truly shocking and moving, and lays a trail all the way to the Kremlin.
Gagarin’s wife, Valentina Gagarina, does not speak to journalists, but she was responsible for persuading Russayev to come forward to tell an important story that even now it is dangerous to reveal. We are deeply grateful for her blessing. Certain aspects of her husband’s story must be difficult for her to dwell on. Conscious of this, we hope we have honoured Yuri Gagarin’s memory and character, as well as telling the truth about his eventful and complex life.
We are indebted to Gagarin’s personal driver Fyodor Dyemchuk for his memories, while Igor Khoklov, his favourite hairdresser, told us many fascinating tales. Khrushchev’s speechwriter and senior aide Fyodor Burlatsky put Gagarin’s intimate and difficult relationship with the Kremlin into perspective from close personal knowledge.
Of course this book is as much about the early Soviet manned space programme as it is about Gagarin himself, for the two stories – personal and technological – are intimately connected. Several Western experts in space history advised us about the engineering and administrative aspects of our narrative. Phillip Clark, Rex Hall, Brian Harvey and Gordon Hooper were endlessly patient with our questions. Douglas Millard at the National Museum of Science and Technology (London) provided many books and documents, while James Oberg and James Harford gave us advice on key issues and David Baker provided some excellent photographs. Andy Aldrin, John Logsdon and Peter Almquist outlined a particularly important aspect – the shocked American reaction to the first Soviet space triumphs. It is sobering to be reminded just how many exceptionally brilliant scientists and engineers were trained and employed within the Soviet regime.