New details have been revealed about the air crash that killed Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, specifics of crash could have been covered up because it was so close to Moscow.
Alexey Leonov, a peer of Gagarin's, told the BBC that an "unauthorized" plane flew too close to Gagarin's fighter jet which sent him into a spin. Leonov had been flying a helicopter in the area during at the time of the crash and heard "two loud booms in the distance."
"My guess would be that one of the reasons for covering up the truth was to hide the fact that there was such a lapse so close to Moscow," he said.
Gagarin became the first man in space on April 12, 1961, when he orbited the Earth in a spacecraft. His plane crashed by the Russian town of Novoselovo, near Moscow. There has been much speculation about Gagarin's death, a government investigation had claimed Gagarin had swerved to avoid an object such as a flock of geese.
"That conclusion is believable to a civilian - not to a professional," Leonov said.
Other theories about the crash include an air vent being left open by a previous pilot, causing oxygen deprivation to the crew. Leonov, who was the first man to walk in space, said that he had access to a declassified report showing an aircraft did disrupt Gagarin's flight.
"We knew that a Su-15 was scheduled to be tested that day, but it was supposed to be flying at the altitude of 10,000 meters or higher, not 450-500 meters. It was a violation of the flight procedure," he told Russia Today.
Leonov said the plane went into a spin at 750 km. He declined to give the name of the pilot who caused the crash.
"My guess would be that one of the reasons for covering up the truth was to hide the fact that there was such a lapse so close to Moscow," he said.
Leonov had already written in is 2004 book "Two Sides of the Moon" that a plane may have been flying lower than the allowed altitude.
