Yes! That was an eye-opener for me, too. It's so moving. And the fact Gagarin apparently tried to force his way in the morning of launch to take Kamarov's place... It's just heartbreaking that the politics of the time put these brave souls (and the science they were pioneering) in such no-win situations.

I'm glad more information about them is slowly but surely coming to light.

Yes! So have I.

Chilling is a good word for it. *shivers with you* The photos in which the Soviet government essentially "erased" certain cosmonauts, as if they'd never existed at all, are haunting.

For it to have almost been ordained, makes it even worse.

Yes! That's just heartbreaking.

Knowing that he would die, but going up anyway to save his friend, the man was truly brave and extraordinary.

I agree. That's the best of the human spirit, right there.

Reading this article (thanks for the great link!) makes me wonder anew how we ever got off this planet in the first place. It's hard for me to wrap my brain around the insanity.

I second the "greatest bromance in Soviet aeronautic history" distinction. What an incredible story! We need an epic movie about this. And then we need a box of tissues.

So true! It's doubly heartbreaking because it was so pointless; it was the politics that killed him rather than the science, really. Such a useless waste of such a talented and brave life.