Quoting that post: On this day, 51 years ago, it was said that Yuri Gagarin, was killed in a mysterious plane crash, just seven years after his historic flight. Gagarin and his instructor were killed. The circumstances were unclear and the accident was hushed up for days. Documents declassified 50 years later say the most likely cause was a sharp manoeuvre to avoid a weather balloon. Many many questions remain, nonetheless.
Well I guess we will never really know the truth, and even if we do, that can never bring back someone to the living. Gagarin lived for a very short while unfortunately, but he will always be remembered and cherished!
Just this past weekend I did a short trip to Sofia, Bulgaria's capital and paid a visit to the philately store :D And among else, got myself this issue from 12th April 2011, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Yuri's flight into space.
It also features the launch of the first spacecraft to Venus (Venera 1), which was launched by the Soviet Union on February 12, 1961 and flew past Venus (some 100.000 km from it), but I guess that is considered a success too for those times, esp. since unlike the previous attempt, when its sister ship even failed to leave the orbit of Earth.
