Fallen Idol: The Yuri Gagarin Conspiracy

Filmmakers Sam Oldham and Denny Hooten uncover evidence that cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was not the first man in space and that the Soviet government covered up the fact that Vladimir Ilyushin beat him into orbit. Seven years after reentering the Earth's atmosphere and being celebrated as a hero, Gagarin was said to have perished in a jet crash. But is the truth something far more ominous' In this documentary, directors Oldham and Hooten explore the possibility that the Soviets were willing to resort to murder in order to hide the fact that while Gagarin was in orbit, another cosmonaut was reentering the Earth's atmosphere. According to conspiracy theorists, the CIA and the U.S. Air Force were compliant in a KGB plot to keep Ilyushin's mission a tightly sealed secret. Was Gagarin's alcoholism and erratic, post-flight behavior evidence that he was aware of Ilyushin's mission and sworn to silence'