A Soviet Space Mystery

In his book, “Strange World,” researcher and author Frank Edwards wrote an article based on true events titled, “First Woman in Space.” According to the account, On February 17, 1961, a large Soviet booster launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome (Russian spaceport). According to Edwards, it was believed that the Soviets may have attempted a manned orbit of the Moon. However, their capsule-spaceship named “Luna” never reached enough velocity to break away from the Earth’s gravity forces. Tracking stations of that period picked up and taped the conversations of the two cosmonauts (one male and one female) that were in the capsule. The pair were in space for seven days and could be heard transmitting updates to the Soviet Union. The cosmonauts were saying regularly that all was fine, even though it was apparent that it was not. The scenario came to an end on February 24, 1961. Right after the cosmonauts radioed that all was well, things took a turn for the worse. In what would be the last transmission from the cosmonauts, as recorded by tracking stations at Uppsala, Bochum, Turin, and Meudon, one could hear a frightening conversation where the male cosmonaut was commenting about not being able to understand certain signals, and how they couldn’t view anything. Afterward, the female cosmonaut could be heard anxiously using phrases such as “maintaining equilibrium” and holding on to something “tight.” She was yelling to her partner to “look out of the peephole!” The male voice then yelled back that if they didn’t get out, “the world will never hear about it.” Just after that final statement, things went silent. No word was ever heard from them again. In his book, “Strange World” Edwards, states, “What happened, will probably never be known, for it is highly probable that the Soviets themselves do not know. We can only hope that whatever fate befell them was merciful and swift.” We can only wonder what it was they saw while out there.

Source: The Encyclopedia of Moon Mysteries, Constance Victoria Briggs