Over the years the Western press named a number of cosmonauts that were never acknowledged by the Soviet Union. Most were said to have died in space. One allegedly was the first man in orbit and survived. What is the truth of these stories of 'phantom cosmonauts'?

During the lifetime of the Soviet Union the details of their space program were kept completely secret. The real identities of their rocket and spacecraft engineers were never revealed in their lifetimes. The fact that a pilot was training for space flight was kept secret even from his wife until after they had actually been launched into space. The enormous project to land a Russian on the moon was kept utterly secret until after the fall of the Soviet Union. In the absence of hard information the Western media naturally had to rely on the rumour mill and perhaps their own inventiveness.

Manned flights were normally claimed to be completely successful, even when it was obvious that the planned objectives were not met. There were exceptions to this. Manned launches were announced after they had achieved orbit, not after they had successfully landed. This meant that the deaths of cosmonauts in space had to be acknowledged and became the subject of national mourning (e.g. Soyuz 1 and Soyuz 11). Manned launch aborts were also acknowledged, though with some delay (e.g. Soyuz 18-1 and Soyuz T-10-1).

A Bolshevik practice since Lenin's time was to erase from photographs and history persons who had fallen out of favour. In the most infamous example a photograph of Lenin speaking in on May 5, 1920 was slowly depopulated over the years as one trusted comrade after the other turned out to be an enemy of the state. The Soviets helped along the rumours of cosmonaut deaths through imperfect censorship. Since the identities of unflown cosmonauts were secret, they would be airbrushed out of group photos of cosmonauts. Several versions of the same picture might appear, with or without these 'phantoms'.

In the earliest years of the space race it was claimed by the Western press that a number of Russian cosmonauts died in space flights that were never announced by the Soviet Union. Coming from a very few original 'unidentified sources' these were embellished and elaborated by other writers over the years. Sensational allegations by the Italian amateur radio intercept analysts added some substance to the allegations (for the claims of the Judica-Cordiglia brothers see Lost Cosmonauts. For the a technical critique of their claims see Sven Grahn's critique at Notes on the space tracking activities and sensational claims made by the Judica-Cordiglia brothers).

After the fall of the Soviet Union the curtain of secrecy was lifted. The diaries and memoirs of Soviet managers, cosmonauts, and engineers at the centre of the space program were published. Personal and official documents, diaries, and contemporary notes from the time were sold at auction and purchased by Western museums and institutes. The Soviet Union's greatest secrets - the failed moon landing program, the Nedelin disaster, the horrible radiological and biological warheads developed for their missiles - came spilling out. Several cosmonauts who had died in training accidents were indeed identified. But there was not a shred of confirmation of the original phantom cosmonaut stories in any of this new information.

In recent years the Internet has spread further stories of phantom cosmonauts and astronauts. These were derived from modern art projects, garbled versions of books and television programs, and circulation of Muscovite urban legends.

Herewith is a list of known Phantom Cosmonauts (and a few astronauts), the origin of their stories, and what truth might lay behind it. In particular the truth behind the alleged first man in space - Vladimir Ilyushin is examined in some detail. And revealed here for the first time - some phantoms actually did fly on Soviet manned spacecraft into earth orbit and around the moon - but they weren't human!

Many thanks to Dietrich Haeseler, Jens Kieffer-Olsen, Dr. Elliott H. Haimoff, Larry Klaes, James Oberg, Sven Grahn, Colin Burgess, and Dwayne Allen Day for their assistance and suggestions.

	Belokonyov	Alexis Belokonyov. Phantom cosmonaut. . Died 15 May 1962.
	Boris Chimp 504	Boris Chimp 504. Rocket engineer. . Died 20 July 1969.
	Chen Long	Chen Long. Phantom cosmonaut. .
	Claggett	Randy Claggett. Phantom cosmonaut. . Died May 1973.
	Dolgov	Piotr Dolgov. Phantom cosmonaut. . Died 11 October 1960.
	Fedrov	Igor Fedrov. Phantom cosmonaut. . Died December 1991.
	FM-2	FM-2. Phantom cosmonaut. .
	Frisbee	Walter Frisbee. Ficticious astronaut. .
	Grachev	Grachev. Phantom cosmonaut. . Died 1960 or 1961.
	Graciov	Alexis Graciov. Phantom cosmonaut. . Died 28 November 1960.
	Gromova	Mirya Gromova. Phantom cosmonaut. . Died 1959.
	Healey	Roger Healey. Test pilot. .
	Ilyushin	Vladimir Sergeyevich Ilyushin. Test pilot. .
	Istochnikov	Ivan Istochnikov. Phantom cosmonaut. . Died 25 October 1968.
	Ivanovich	Ivan Ivanovich. Phantom cosmonaut. .
	Kachur	Ivan Kachur. Phantom cosmonaut. . Died 27 September 1960.
	KGB Dwarf	KGB Dwarf. Phantom cosmonaut. . Died October 1971.
	Ledovskiy	Aleksei Ledovskiy. Phantom cosmonaut. . Died November 1957.
	Ludmila	Ludmila. Phantom cosmonaut. . Died 23 May 1961.
	Mechanical Astronaut	Mercury Mechanical Astronaut Simulator. Phantom cosmonaut. .
	Mikhailov	Gennady Mikhailov. Phantom cosmonaut. . Died 4 February 1961.
	Mikoyan Andrei	Andrei Mikoyan. Phantom cosmonaut. . Died Early 1969.
	Mitkov	Andrei Mitkov. Phantom cosmonaut. . Died January 1959.
	Nelson Anthony	Anthony (Tony) Nelson. Ficticious astronaut. .
	Shiborin	Serenti Shiborin. Phantom cosmonaut. . Died February 1958.
	Yebenov	Profiri Yebenov. Phantom cosmonaut. . Died 21 July 1969.
	Zavadovski	V Zavadovskiy. Phantom cosmonaut. . Died 1960 or 1961.