Vladimir Ilyushin

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Vladimir Sergeyevich Ilyushin (Russian: Владимир Серге́евич Ильюшин; 31 March 1927 – 1 March 2010) was a Russian military officer and a test pilot in the former Soviet space program. Ilyushin was a son of the famous aviation designer Sergey Ilyushin, and whose career was mostly as a test pilot for the Sukhoi OKB (a rival of Ilyushin OKB). After retiring from the space program, Ilyushin became a sports administrator and was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame (then known as the IRB Hall of Fame) in 2013. In 1961, Ilyushin was the subject of a conspiracy theory that he, rather than Yuri Gagarin, was the first cosmonaut in space. There is no evidence and no support for the theory.

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