Denny Hooten

On April 12th, 1961, the Soviet Union reports the successful launch, orbit and reentry of the first man in space, Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin pushing the cold war into a space duel. With the collapse of communism and the rise of freedom in the Russian Federation, recent access to documents in the Kremlin archives reveal a story intended to remain buried forever. Yuri Gagarin, the icon of triumphant communism known world over, was not the first man in space. He was preceded by Vladimir Ilyushin, an unsung hero and the man at the center of this decades old conspiracy....

On April 12th, 1961, the Soviet Union reports the successful launch, orbit and reentry of the first man in space, Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin pushing the cold war into a space duel. With the collapse of communism and the rise of freedom in the Russian Federation, recent access to documents in the Kremlin archives reveal a story intended to remain buried forever. Yuri Gagarin, the icon of triumphant communism known world over, was not the first man in space. He was preceded by Vladimir Ilyushin, an unsung hero and the man at the center of this decades old conspiracy....