Yuri Gagarin: Original 1968 Russian Newspapers Reporting on His Death (Three) [and] Soviet Sports Commissar Ivan G. Borisenko...
Description
Yuri Gagarin: Original 1968 Russian Newspapers Reporting on His Death (Three) [and] Soviet Sports Commissar Ivan G. Borisenko's Ticket to His State Funeral at Red Square. Cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, the first human to travel into space, and Colonel Vladimir Sergeyevich Seryogin, a decorated Hero of the Soviet Union and test pilot, were both killed on March 27, 1968, when their MiG-15UTI jet crashed near Kirzhach, northeast of Moscow, during a routine training flight. Their tragic deaths stunned the Soviet Union, prompting a state funeral on March 30, 1968, where both men were honored with full military rites and interred in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis beside the nation's most revered figures. Quite rare, very displayable. Generally fine. Items as follows.Moskovskiy Komsomolets, March 29, 1968, announces the tragic death of Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, the first human to travel into space, in a MiG-15 training flight on March 27, 1968. The front page carries the official government obituary issued jointly by the Central Committee of the Communist Party, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, and the Council of Ministers of the USSR.
Pravda, March 31, 1968, front-page coverage under the headline "ИМЕНА ГЕРОЕВ ЖИВУТ ВЕЧНО" ("The Names of Heroes Live Forever") reports the funeral procession on Red Square, with photographs of the honor guard and Kremlin Wall burial. The text details the massive state ceremony attended by Party and military leadership. (Two sections, complete.)
Komsomolskaya Pravda, March 31, 1968, devoted to the funeral and commemoration of Gagarin and his flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin, headlined "ПОДВИГ ГЕРОЕВ БЕССМЕРТЕН!" ("The Deed of the Heroes Is Immortal!"). Includes detailed narrative and photographs of the Red Square interment.
Funeral Pass (#001752), issued to Comrade I. G. Borisenko for entry to Red Square on March 30, 1968, at 2 PM to attend the joint funerals of Colonel Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin (the world's first cosmonaut) and Engineer-Colonel Vladimir Sergeevich Seryogin. Header reads: "Proletarians of all countries, unite!"
Together, these newspapers represent the full state-controlled chronology of the Soviet Union's public mourning, from the first official announcement of Gagarin's death to the funeral honors conducted in Red Square and his burial in the Kremlin Wall necropolis. As the first human being to travel into space, Gagarin was the embodiment of Soviet triumph and Cold War pride; his sudden death at age 34 shocked the nation. From an important collection of Soviet-era Space history
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