Re:A bit harsh on the Russians. (Score 2, Informative)

"As of the mid-70's... the Russians weren't admitting anything other than successful missions".

While true of their general policy, definitely not true of the two instances when they lost a crew (Soyuz 1 in 1967 and Soyuz 11 in 1971) on a mission. In both instances, there was a big state funeral (US astronaut Tom Stafford was even a pallbearer at the second) and their human spaceflight programme was brought to a halt. The Soyuz 1 and Soyuz 11 tragedies were well-known about in the West. No need to trouble the CIA. You could, for example, have picked up Time magazine May 5, 1967 or July 12, 1971.

Or maybe just the local paper. Here's an eBay auction (not mine) for a regional American newspaper reporting the Soyuz 1 crash as front-page news on the day after it happened, giving Soviet news agency Tass as the source.