1968 Death of Yuri Gagarin

50 years ago, on March 27, 1968, a plane crash occurred near the village of Novoselovo in the Vladimir region, in which the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin died. He performed a training flight on a MiG-15UTI aircraft under the guidance of instructor Vladimir Seregin.

The most likely cause of the plane's crash, according to the official investigation, was a sudden evasive maneuver to avoid the balloon or, less likely, to prevent entry into the cloud top. According to the unofficial version, Gagarin and Seregin evaded another plane and got into its wake.