How real, how delusional, is the theory of “lost cosmonauts in space”?

In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made history as the first person to leave Earth and go into space. However, according to the two Italian brothers who claimed to have started watching Soviet Space program broadcasts from 1957, there were others who went before him, but they were unable to return alive and this was hidden from the public. That’s why they say the plaque commemorating the astronauts and cosmonauts who lost their lives on the Moon (pictured above) should be much taller.

Like the US space program, the Soviet space program experienced its own disasters. Not surprisingly, sending humans into space was incredibly difficult and risky, less than a century after what was thought to be a revolutionary period of seconds-long flights to Earth. In 1960, a rocket killed about 160 people near the launch pad in the Soviet Union. In 1971, three cosmonauts died on Soyuz 11 after a malfunctioning valve caused sudden decompression. But there could be much more…

Given the Soviet reputation (how well-deserved is arguable) for covering up embarrassing and undue risky events, the Judica-Cordiglia sisters are the ones responsible for the Soviet Union’s alleged crewed missions. It’s not hard to see why people take the idea when they claim to have recorded it. The brothers claim that the Soviets recorded several non-public missions, including an SOS signal from a spacecraft that appears to be moving away from Earth’s orbit.

One of his most famous recordings, said to have been recorded in November 1963, claims to have caught one of the “lost cosmonauts” re-entering the atmosphere and died before returning to Earth.

The brothers say that because they do not know Russian, they need to get in touch with translators to learn what they are recording. The brothers have not given up on their claims that the recordings are real.

Could the Lost Cosmonauts claim be true?

However, the “missing cosmonauts” theory may also be just a conspiracy theory. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the disasters of the space program have come to light, such as the death of cosmonaut Valentin Bondarenko during training and the ensuing cover-ups. However, no details have been found about these missing cosmonauts or anything to confirm these records or other stories.

Some believe that the Judica-Cordiglia sisters completely fabricated the records. Space journalist and historian James Oberg points out that there is no evidence to corroborate these claims, and lists a few other issues with the brothers’ claims that may raise doubts about their authenticity. These include claims that the brothers were able to eavesdrop on the Mercury 6 spacecraft.

Oberg wrote that “there is no verifiable evidence that direct signals were received by the brothers from the Mercury-6 (John Glenn) spacecraft in February 1962, especially since the orbit of the spacecraft is always well outside Italy’s range”. He added: “The claim that they determined the latent radio frequency from a photograph of an antenna is not credible because the antenna they were referring to was not turned on or activated until a post-landing rescue beacon or even the capsule entered the water.”

The brothers’ claims that they heard signals from Yuri Gagarin’s spacecraft are also skeptical by Oberg: “Especially since the orbit of the spacecraft is always out of range of Italy and during the minutes of closest approach, it returns to Earth, vehicle was suffering deceleration and plasma blocking of the radio.”

Oberg wrote in a lengthy article refuting the “missing cosmonaut” theory, “No evidence of supposed deaths of cosmonauts on these early space missions can withstand serious scrutiny today”. “Soviet news managers can be cited as the reason for its spread and development. Their promotional policies of avoidance, boasting, distortion and outright lies created an atmosphere of mystery and secrecy, from which all kinds of sensational and ugly stories were born.”