Funeral of Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Seryogin

Plaques of Gagarin (left) and Seryogin on the Kremlin Wall Necropolis in Moscow

The funeral of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and test-pilot Vladimir Seryogin took place on 29–30 March 1968.

Gagarin, the first human in space, died in a training flight with his instructor Vladimir Seryogin on 27 March 1968. Both had received numerous recognitions, including the Hero of the Soviet Union, during their lifetimes.

A period of national mourning was declared for the first time in Soviet history for a person who was not a national leader and for of a person who died while performing work for the state.

The funeral consisted of a joint ceremony, a funeral procession and the burial of their funerary urns in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis in Moscow. Funeral wreaths were sent by all Soviet republics and a number of foreign countries. During the funeral procession, the urns were carried by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and senior Communist Party members – Alexei Kosygin and Nikolai Podgorny.

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