Soviet Space Propaganda: Doctored Cosmonaut Photos!

Lies and half-truths have a way of catching up to you, largely because nobody has a good enough memory to be a successful liar for long. The Soviet side of the 1960s space race is a particularly graphic example of this.

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The Soviet Union's string of space triumphs over the United States was tarnished by a series of falsifications that surfaced and cast doubt on all their accomplishments, even the genuine ones. Today on the 50th anniversary of the Yuri Gagarin's first spaceflight, the greatest of the Soviet space triumphs, there are still plenty of unresolved doubts and suspicions.

Those doubts are encouraged by a series of photographs of the cosmonaut team, released in the 1970s, in which some individuals have been airbrushed out of scenes. The photo-doctoring was discovered because Soviet news managers lost track of which versions of photos had already been published, and re-released them after alteration.

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These group shots of cosmonauts at work and on vacation included some as-yet unflown men. Apparently the subsequent bad behavior — or possibly victimization — of some of them rendered them unfit role models for Soviet youth, and they were erased (as shown above). These men would have been total strangers to the public, the fact that they never later appeared on space missions would seem to suggest that something bad had happened, something that had to be kept secret.

Western space enthusiasts, including me, eventually found both versions of some of these photographs, and in some cases, three or four different versions. Side-by-side publication of the forgeries sparked widespread mockery of the clumsiness of the Soviet lies. This led to a series of awkward attempts to explain the photos, that let slip even more information. Finally, under Gorbachev's glasnost in the final years of the Soviet regime, the USSR's own devoted space journalists and historians were able to track down and share the names and fates of the men who had been deleted by clumsy censors

The lies illustrated by these images fueled Western suspicions that a number of cosmonauts had died in secret space disasters, but it turns out this wasn't true. The erased men had either misbehaved and been expelled, or even more innocently, had simply developed disqualifying medical conditions.

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In another version of the same photograph (above) a man directly behind Gagarin and Korolyov has been removed. Only a shadow remains.

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In the version of the same photo above, the same man is missing, but has been replaced by a bush.

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In this version, the missing cosmonaut is replaced by a reconstruction of the stairs to the porch.

Source: www.wired.com...#

Man, I had fun with this one. There are several more examples at the main article. I put this one up to show to what extend the photo manipulation can go. I am sure this is just the minor stuff these touched up. I can't even begin to imagin what they did with the ones from outer space!

Fun, on the 50th years anniversary of their greatest astronaut that there is so much coming out that total discredits the Russia Space Program.

The problem is, they went on to actually win the Space Race and now control who can ride up with them cause we, the USA, won't be doing it-via shuttles.

Anyway, have fun reviewing the photos. Very interesting.




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reply to post by anon72


I was going to say that Jim Oberg did quite a good article on this some time ago but this is it.

Quite interesting really, I wonder why they decided to remove people from photos.

Seem a very odd thing to do.

It makes you wonder how much more is cropped out or smudged in astronomical related photos from these national space agencies. The guy who was cropped out has a story behind it, I just can't remember at the moment, I think he was a defector or agent, some kind of dishonoring story behind him I think.
I really don't understand why there is so much deception and occult information pertaining to space, unless that information is empowering to the people in some way.

The unknown missing man from the photo (left) was later identified by a Soviet journalist as Grigoriy Nelyubov, one of the top cosmonauts. He had been expelled from the program for misbehavior and later killed himself.

the miss behavior was getting drunk & starting a fight with some soldiers ...so I had read somewhere

I'm sorry ... I just can't believe a thing from either USA or Soviet space program ...

when stuff like this surfaces makes you wonder what else is missing from the "True Story"

why haven't we gone back to the moon again....

reply to post by anon72


Good post. This didn't stop at the space program, the soviets were famous for airbrushing out people once they fell out of favor. i know I watched a documentary that went into a few cases showing someone with, I think Stalin, who was later airbrushed out of the photos.

but of course, history is written by the victors and our western governments wouldn't do anything of the sort

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also have to comment of the quality of the work. Obviously it's hard to tell with old scans like these, but these guys were masters, some of their work would still be tough today with all the digital tools available. Fascinating if you are into graphics.

Awesome. Thanks for posting anon.

Just for an instance, if we could move to another dimension where the governments of the world were honest to their people (which they already should be by their respective constitutions),
where people celebrated humanity's success and we are a force forging forward in all aspects - technologically, spiritually, ethically, etc.

Sigh, just a wish it will remain on this lifetime!

Thanks again anon.
thoroughly enjoyed the read

reply to post by letmeDANz

Just for an instance, if we could move to another dimension where the governments of the world were honest to their people (which they already should be by their respective constitutions),

I hear you. Like the founding fathers and drafters of the Constititution inteneded it to be. How did we let our govt's get like this???!!!!

We need the Average Joes and Marys to get into the world and bring sense to things. Common Sense-not Washington Beltway crap.

You know.... like Sarah Palin. If you know her story about here rise through the political world.. 'nough said.

Originally posted by Chadwickus
I was going to say that Jim Oberg did quite a good article on this some time ago but this is it.

Quite interesting really, I wonder why they decided to remove people from photos.

Seem a very odd thing to do.

I thought the same thing and I don't know when he wrote that article but I'm pretty sure I've seen most if not all of that before.

I suppose they didn't want the less successful people sharing the limelight with the successful people was one reason. The last edit in the article was to remove military presence from a shot of Gagarin. I guess they didn't want their space effort to be seen as military in nature?

reply to post by Arbitrageur


I looked for Mr. Oberg's thread and didn't see anything.

Do you have a link to what you are referring to?

thanks.

Very interesting, definitely gonna look through these. The U.S. isn't exactly innocent.

The Soviets were well known for their purges and touched-up photos under Stalin (and to a smaller degree Kruschev), obliterating persona-non-gratas from the historical records was de rigueur.

Censorship of images in the Soviet Union

Probably the most famous to get the airbrush treatment was Trotsky. Can't see why it would be any different for cosmonauts whose mission failed or who tainted the wholesome image of the communist party...