Jump to content

Yuri Gagarin

Edit links
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Yury Gagarin)
"Gagarin" redirects here. For other uses, see Gagarin (disambiguation). For the band, see Yuri Gagarin (band).
"First man in space" redirects here. For the 1959 film, see First Man into Space. For the 1999 song, see 1st Man in Space.

Yuri Gagarin
Юрий Гагарин
Gagarin in 1963
Born(1934-03-09)9 March 1934
Klushino, Western Oblast currently in Smolensk Oblast, Russia
Died27 March 1968(1968-03-27) (aged 34)
Novosyolovo, Vladimir Oblast, Soviet Union
Cause of deathMiG-15 jet crash
Resting placeKremlin Wall Necropolis, Moscow, Russia
Occupations
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1957)​
Children2; including Yelena
Awards
Space career
M.O.M. cosmonaut
Time in space
1 hour, 48 minutes
SelectionAir Forces Group 1 (1960)
MissionsVostok 1
Military career
AllegianceSoviet Union
Service / branchSoviet Air Forces
Years of service1957–1968
RankPolkovnik (Colonel)
Signature
Part of a series of articles on the
Soviet space program
Human spaceflight programs
Space probes
Expendable launch vehicles
Notable figures
Cosmonauts

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin[a][b] (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who, aboard the first successful crewed spaceflight, became the first person to journey into outer space. Travelling on Vostok 1, Gagarin completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961, with his flight taking 108 minutes. By achieving this major milestone for the Soviet Union amidst the Space Race, he became an international celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles, including his nation's highest distinction: Hero of the Soviet Union.

Hailing from the village of Klushino in the Russian SFSR, Gagarin was a foundryman at a steel plant in Lyubertsy in his youth. He later joined the Soviet Air Forces as a pilot and was stationed at the Luostari Air Base, near the Norway–Soviet Union border, before his selection for the Soviet space programme alongside five other cosmonauts. Following his spaceflight, Gagarin became the deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre, which was later named after him. He was also elected as a deputy of the Soviet of the Union in 1962 and then to the Soviet of Nationalities, respectively the lower and upper chambers of the Supreme Soviet.

Vostok 1 was Gagarin's only spaceflight, but he served as the backup crew to Soyuz 1, which ended in a fatal crash, killing his friend and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. Fearful that a high-level national hero might be killed, Soviet officials banned Gagarin from participating in further spaceflights. After completing training at the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy in February 1968, he was again allowed to fly regular aircraft. However, Gagarin died five weeks later, when the MiG-15 that he was piloting with flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin crashed near the town of Kirzhach.

Early life

[edit]
Gagarin family home in Klushino

Gagarin was born 9 March 1934 in the village of Klushino,[1] in the Smolensk Oblast of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, near Gzhatsk (renamed Gagarin in 1968 after his death).[2] His parents worked on a sovkhoz[3]—Aleksey Ivanovich Gagarin as a carpenter and Anna Timofeyevna Gagarina as a dairy farmer.[4][c] Yuri was the third of four children. His older brother Valentin was born in 1924, and by the time Yuri was born he was already helping with the cattle on the farm. His sister Zoya, born in 1927, helped take care of "Yura" and their youngest brother Boris, born in 1936.[6][7]

Like millions of Soviet citizens, his family suffered during the German occupation during World War II.[8] During the German advance on Moscow, retreating Red Army soldiers seized the collective farm's livestock.[9] The Nazis captured Klushino on 18 October 1941. On their first day in the village, they burned down the school, ending Yuri's first year of education.[10] The Germans also burned down 27 houses in the village and forced the residents including the Gagarins to work the farms to feed the occupying soldiers. Those who refused were beaten or sent to the concentration camp set up at Gzhatsk.[10]

A Nazi officer took over the Gagarin residence. On the land behind their house, the family was allowed to build a mud hut measuring approximately 3 by 3 metres (10 by 10 ft), where they spent 21 months until the end of the occupation.[8] During this period, Yuri became a saboteur, especially after one of the German soldiers, called "the Devil" by the children, tried to hang his younger brother Boris on an apple tree using the boy's scarf. In retaliation, Yuri sabotaged the soldier's work; he poured soil into the tank batteries gathered to be recharged and randomly mixed the different chemical supplies intended for the task.[11] In early 1943, his two older siblings were deported by the Germans to Poland for slave labour. They escaped and were found by Soviet soldiers who conscripted them into helping with the war effort. They did not return home until after the war, in 1945.[12][13]

The rest of the Gagarin family believed the two older children were dead, and Yuri became ill with "grief and hunger";[14] he was also beaten for refusing to work for the German forces and spent the remainder of the war at a hospital as a patient and later as an orderly. His mother was hospitalized during the same period, after a German soldier gashed her leg with a scythe. When the Germans were routed out of Klushino on 9 March 1944, Yuri helped the Red Army find mines buried in the roads by the fleeing German army.[14]

Education and early career

[edit]

In 1946, the family moved to Gzhatsk, where Gagarin continued his education.[8] Yuri and Boris were enrolled at a crude school built in the town and run by a young woman who volunteered to be the teacher. They learned to read using a discarded Soviet military manual. A former Soviet airman later joined the school to teach maths and science,[15] Yuri's favourite subjects. Yuri was also part of a group of children that built model aeroplanes. He was fascinated with aircraft from a young age and his interest in aeroplanes was energized after a Yakovlev fighter plane crash landed in Klushino during the war.[16]

Gagarin as an air cadet in the Saratov flying club c. 1954

In 1950, aged 16, Gagarin began an apprenticeship as a foundryman at a steel plant in Lyubertsy, near Moscow,[12][13] and enrolled at a local "young workers" school for seventh-grade evening classes. After graduating in 1951 from both the seventh grade and the vocational school with honours in mouldmaking and foundry work,[17] he was selected for further training at the Industrial Technical School in Saratov, where he studied tractors.[12][13][18] While in Saratov, Gagarin volunteered at a local flying club for weekend training as a Soviet air cadet, where he trained to fly a biplane, and later a Yakovlev Yak-18.[13][18] He earned extra money as a part-time dock labourer on the Volga River.[8]

Soviet Air Force service

[edit]

In 1955, Gagarin was accepted to the First Chkalov Higher Air Force Pilots School in Orenburg.[19][20] He initially began training on the Yak-18 already familiar to him and later graduated to training on the MiG-15 in February 1956.[19] Gagarin twice struggled to land the two-seater trainer aircraft, and risked dismissal from pilot training. However, the commander of the regiment decided to give him another chance at landing. Gagarin's flight instructor gave him a cushion to sit on, which improved his view from the cockpit, and he landed successfully. Having completed his evaluation in a trainer aircraft,[21] Gagarin began flying solo in 1957.[12]

On 5 November 1957, Gagarin was commissioned a lieutenant in the Soviet Air Forces, having accumulated 166 hours and 47 minutes of flight time. He graduated from flight school the next day and was posted to the Luostari Air Base, close to the Norwegian border in Murmansk Oblast, for a two-year assignment with the Northern Fleet.[22] He was assigned to the 769th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 122nd Fighter Aviation Division flying Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15bis aircraft.[23] By October 1959, he had flown a total of 265 hours.[24]

On 7 July 1959, he was rated Military Pilot 3rd Class.[24] After expressing interest in space exploration following the launch of Luna 3 on 6 October 1959, his recommendation to the Soviet space programme was endorsed and forward by Lieutenant Colonel Babushkin.[22][25] By this point, he had accumulated 265 hours of flight time.[22] Gagarin was promoted to the rank of senior lieutenant on 6 November 1959,[24] three weeks after he was interviewed by a medical commission for qualification to the space programme.[22]

Soviet space programme

[edit]

Selection and training

[edit]
See also: Vostok programme
Gagarin's Vostok 3KA capsule and an effigy of him on display at the RKK Energiya museum in 2010
Gagarin's Vostok 1 spacesuit

Gagarin's selection for the Vostok programme was overseen by the Central Flight Medical Commission led by Major General Konstantin Fyodorovich Borodin of the Soviet Army Medical Service. He underwent physical and psychological testing conducted at Central Aviation Scientific-Research Hospital, in Moscow, commanded by Colonel A.S. Usanov, a member of the commission. The commission also included Colonel Yevgeniy Anatoliyevich Karpov, who later commanded the training centre, Colonel Vladimir Ivanovich Yazdovskiy, the head physician for Gagarin's flight, and Major-General Aleksandr Nikolayevich Babiychuk, a physician flag officer on the Soviet Air Force General Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Air Force.[26] The commission limited their selection to pilots between 25 and 30 years old. The chief engineer of the programme Sergei Korolev also specified that candidates, to fit in the limited space in the Vostok capsule, should weigh less than 72 kg (159 lb) and be no taller than 1.70 metres (5 ft 7 in);[27][28] Gagarin was 1.57 metres (5 ft 2 in) tall.[29]

From a pool of 154 qualified pilots short-listed by their Air Force units, the military physicians chose 29 cosmonaut candidates, of whom 20 were approved by the Credential Committee of the Soviet government. The first twelve, including Gagarin, were approved on 7 March 1960 and eight more were added in a series of subsequent orders issued until June.[26][d]

Gagarin began training at the Khodynka Airfield in central Moscow on 15 March 1960. The training regimen involved vigorous and repetitive physical exercises which Alexei Leonov, a member of the initial group of twelve, described as akin to training for the Olympic Games.[30] In April 1960, they began parachute training in Saratov Oblast and each man completed about 40 to 50 jumps from both low and high altitude, over both land and water.[31]

Gagarin was a candidate favoured by his peers; when they were asked to vote anonymously for a candidate besides themselves they would like to be the first to fly, all but three chose Gagarin.[32] One of these candidates, Yevgeny Khrunov, believed that Gagarin was very focused and was demanding of himself and others when necessary.[33] On 30 May 1960, Gagarin was further selected for an accelerated training group, known as the Vanguard Six or Sochi Six,[34][e] from which the first cosmonauts of the Vostok programme would be chosen. The other members of the group were Anatoly Kartashov, Andriyan Nikolayev, Pavel Popovich, Gherman Titov, and Valentin Varlamov. However, Kartashov and Varlamov were injured and replaced by Khrunov and Grigory Nelyubov.[36]

As several of the candidates selected for the programme including Gagarin did not have higher education degrees, they were enrolled in a correspondence course programme at the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. Gagarin enrolled in September 1960 and did not earn his specialist diploma until early 1968.[37][38] Gagarin was also subjected to experiments that were designed to test physical and psychological endurance, including oxygen starvation tests in which the cosmonauts were locked in an isolation chamber and the air slowly pumped out. He also trained for the upcoming flight by experiencing g-forces in a centrifuge.[36][39] Psychological tests included placing the candidates in an anechoic chamber in complete isolation; Gagarin was in the chamber from 26 July to 5 August.[40][31] In August 1960, a Soviet Air Force doctor evaluated his personality as follows:

Modest; embarrasses when his humour gets a little too racy; high degree of intellectual development evident in Yuriy; fantastic memory; distinguishes himself from his colleagues by his sharp and far-ranging sense of attention to his surroundings; a well-developed imagination; quick reactions; persevering, prepares himself painstakingly for his activities and training exercises, handles celestial mechanics and mathematical formulae with ease as well as excels in higher mathematics; does not feel constrained when he has to defend his point of view if he considers himself right; appears that he understands life better than a lot of his friends.[32]

The Vanguard Six were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961[36] and underwent a two-day examination conducted by a special interdepartmental commission led by Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kamanin, the overseer of the Vostok programme. The commission was tasked with ranking the candidates based on their mission readiness for the first human Vostok mission. On 17 January, they were tested in a simulator at the M. M. Gromov Flight-Research Institute on a full-size mockup of the Vostok capsule. Gagarin, Nikolayev, Popovich, and Titov all received excellent marks on the first day of testing, in which they were required to describe the various phases of the mission followed by questions from the commission.[33] On the second day, they were given a written examination, following which the special commission ranked Gagarin as the best candidate. He and the next two highest-ranked cosmonauts, Titov and Nelyubov, were sent to Tyuratam for final preparations.[33] Gagarin and Titov were selected to train in the flight-ready spacecraft on 7 April. Historian Asif Azam Siddiqi writes of the final selection:[41]

In the end, at the State Commission meeting on April 8, Kamanin stood up and formally nominated Gagarin as the primary pilot and Titov as his backup. Without much discussion, the commission approved the proposal and moved on to other last-minute logistical issues. It was assumed that in the event Gagarin developed health problems prior to liftoff, Titov would take his place, with Nelyubov acting as his backup.

Vostok 1

[edit]
Main article: Vostok 1
Poyekhali!
Gagarin's voice
Problems playing this file? See media help.

On 12 April 1961, at 6:07 am UTC, the Vostok 3KA-3 (Vostok 1) spacecraft was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome. Aboard was Gagarin, the first human to travel into space, using the call sign Kedr (Кедр, Siberian pine or cedar).[42] The radio communication between the launch control room and Gagarin included the following dialogue at the moment of rocket launch:

Korolev: Preliminary stage ... intermediate... main... LIFT-OFF! We wish you a good flight. Everything's all right.
Gagarin: Off we go! Goodbye, until [we meet] soon, dear friends.[43][44]

Gagarin's farewell to Korolev using the informal phrase Poyekhali! (Поехали!, 'Off we go!')[f] later became a popular expression in the Eastern Bloc that was used to refer to the beginning of the Space Age.[47][48] The five first-stage engines fired until the first separation event, when the four side-boosters fell away, leaving the core engine. The core stage then separated while the rocket was in a suborbital trajectory, and the upper stage carried it to orbit. Once the upper stage finished firing, it separated from the spacecraft, which orbited for 108 minutes before returning to Earth in Kazakhstan.[49] Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth.[50]

An April 1961 newsreel of Gagarin arriving in Moscow to be greeted by First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev

"The feeling of weightlessness was somewhat unfamiliar compared with Earth conditions. Here, you feel as if you were hanging in a horizontal position in straps. You feel as if you are suspended", Gagarin wrote in his post-flight report.[51] He also wrote in his autobiography released the same year that he sang the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows" ("Родина слышит, Родина знает") during re-entry.[52] Gagarin was recognised as a qualified Military Pilot 1st Class and promoted to the rank of major in a special order given during his flight.[24][52]

At about 7,000 metres (23,000 ft), Gagarin ejected from the descending capsule as planned and landed using a parachute.[53] There were concerns Gagarin's orbital spaceflight records for duration, altitude and lifted mass would not be recognized by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the world governing body for setting standards and keeping records in the field, which at the time required that the pilot land with the craft.[54] Gagarin and Soviet officials initially refused to admit that he had not landed with his spacecraft,[55] an omission which became apparent after Titov's flight on Vostok 2 four months later. Gagarin's spaceflight records were nonetheless certified and reaffirmed by the FAI, which revised its rules, and acknowledged that the crucial steps of the safe launch, orbit, and return of the pilot had been accomplished.[56] Gagarin is internationally recognised as the first human in space and first to orbit the Earth.[57]

After the Vostok 1 flight

[edit]
Gagarin in Warsaw, 1961
Yuri_Gagarin_and_Gamal_Abdel_Nasser_in_Cairo_Egypt_01-02-1962
Gagarin with Egypt's president Gamal Abdel Nasser and Parliament Speaker Anwar Sadat in a speech at Cairo Stadium, 1961

Gagarin's flight was a triumph for the Soviet space programme and he became a national hero of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc, as well as a worldwide celebrity. Newspapers around the globe published his biography and details of his flight. He was escorted in a long motorcade of high-ranking officials through the streets of Moscow to the Kremlin where, in a lavish ceremony, Nikita Khrushchev awarded him the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Other cities in the Soviet Union also held mass demonstrations, the scale of which were second only to the World War II Victory Parades.[58]

Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova (seated to his right) signing autographs at a youth forum in 1964

Gagarin gained a reputation as an adept public figure and was noted for his charismatic smile.[59][60][61] On 15 April 1961, accompanied by officials from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, he answered questions at a press conference in Moscow reportedly attended by 1,000 reporters.[62] Gagarin visited the United Kingdom three months after the Vostok 1 mission, going to London and Manchester.[59][63] While in Manchester, despite heavy rain, he refused an umbrella, insisted that the roof of the convertible car he was riding in remain open, and stood so the cheering crowds could see him.[59][64] Gagarin toured widely abroad, accepting the invitation of about 30 countries in the years following his flight.[65] In just the first four months, he also went to Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, and Iceland.[66] Because of his popularity, US president John F. Kennedy barred Gagarin from visiting the United States.[46]

In 1962, Gagarin began serving as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union,[67] and was elected to the Central Committee of the Young Communist League. He later returned to Star City, the cosmonaut facility, where he spent several years working on designs for a reusable spacecraft. He became a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Forces on 12 June 1962, and received the rank of colonel on 6 November 1963.[24] On 20 December, Gagarin became Deputy Training Director of the cosmonaut training facility.[68] Soviet officials, including Kamanin, tried to keep Gagarin away from any flights, being worried about losing their hero in an accident noting that he was "too dear to mankind to risk his life for the sake of an ordinary space flight".[69] Kamanin was also concerned by Gagarin's drinking and believed the sudden rise to fame had taken its toll on the cosmonaut. While acquaintances say Gagarin had been a "sensible drinker", his touring schedule placed him in social situations in which he was increasingly expected to drink alcohol.[12][18]

Gagarin with U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey, French Prime Minister Georges Pompidou and Gemini 4 astronauts Jim McDivitt and Ed White at the 1965 Paris Air Show

Two years later, he was re-elected as a deputy of the Soviet Union but this time to the Soviet of Nationalities, the upper chamber of the legislature.[67] The following year, he began to re-qualify as a fighter pilot[70] and was backup pilot for his friend Vladimir Komarov on the Soyuz 1 flight after five years without piloting duty. Kamanin had opposed Gagarin's reassignment to cosmonaut training; he had gained weight and his flying skills had deteriorated. Despite this, he remained a strong contender for Soyuz 1 until he was replaced by Komarov in April 1966 and reassigned to Soyuz 3.[71]

The Soyuz 1 launch was rushed due to implicit political pressures[72] and despite Gagarin's protests that additional safety precautions were necessary.[73] Gagarin accompanied Komarov to the rocket before launch and relayed instructions to Komarov from ground control following multiple system failures aboard the spacecraft.[74] Despite their best efforts, Soyuz 1 crash landed after its parachutes failed to open, killing Komarov instantly.[75] After the Soyuz 1 crash, Gagarin was permanently banned from training for and participating in further spaceflights.[76] He was also grounded from flying aircraft solo, a demotion he worked hard to lift. He was temporarily relieved of duties to focus on academics with the promise that he would be able to resume flight training.[77] On 17 February 1968, Gagarin successfully defended his aerospace engineering thesis on the subject of spaceplane aerodynamic configuration and graduated cum laude from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.[38][77][78]

Personal life

[edit]
Gagarin and Göran Sedvall at the 1964 Swedish bandy final
Gagarin and his wife Valentina clapping at a concert in Moscow in 1964.
Gagarin and his wife Valentina at a concert in Moscow in 1964

In 1957, while a cadet in flight school, Gagarin met Valentina Goryacheva at the May Day celebrations at the Red Square in Moscow.[79] She was a medical technician who had graduated from Orenburg Medical School.[13][18][80] They were married on 7 November of the same year,[13] the same day Gagarin graduated from his flight school. Valentina and Yuri had two daughters.[81][82] Yelena Yurievna Gagarina, born 1959,[82] is an art historian who has worked as the director general of the Moscow Kremlin Museums since 2001;[83][84] and Galina Yurievna Gagarina, born 1961,[82] is a professor of economics and the department chair at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow.[83][85] Following his rise to fame, at a Black Sea resort in September 1961, he was reportedly caught by his wife during a liaison with a nurse who had aided him after a boating incident. He attempted to escape through a window and jumped off a second floor balcony. The resulting injury left a permanent scar above his left eyebrow.[12][18]

In his youth Gagarin was a keen sportsman and played ice hockey as a goalkeeper.[86] He was also a basketball fan and coached the Saratov Industrial Technical School team, as well as being a referee.[87]

Some Soviet sources have said that Gagarin commented during his space flight, "I don't see any god up here.", though no such words appear in the verbatim record of his conversations with Earth stations during the spaceflight.[88] In a 2006 interview, Gagarin's friend Colonel Valentin Petrov stated that Gagarin never said these words and that the quote originated from Khrushchev's speech at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU about the state's anti-religion campaign, saying "Gagarin flew into space, but didn't see any god there".[89] Petrov also said Gagarin had been baptised into the Russian Orthodox Church as a child, and a 2011 Foma magazine article quoted the rector of the Orthodox Church in Star City saying, "Gagarin baptized his elder daughter Yelena shortly before his space flight; and his family used to celebrate Christmas and Easter and keep icons in the house".[90] Nevertheless, Gagarin's officially sanctioned autobiography, released by the USSR's state publishing house in 1961, includes a passage that upholds the official Soviet position on religious belief: "The manned space flight was a crushing blow to the churchmen. In the streams of letters that addressed to me, I was pleased to read confessions in which believers, impressed by the achievements of science, renounced God, agreed that there is no god and everything connected with his name is fiction and nonsense".[91]

Death

[edit]
Main articles: Death of Yuri Gagarin and Funeral of Yuri Gagarin and Vladimir Seryogin
Plaque on a brick wall with inscription: Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин, 1934-03-09–1968-03-27
Plaque indicating Gagarin's interment in the Kremlin Wall

On 27 March 1968, while on a routine training flight from Chkalovsky air base, Gagarin and flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin died when their MiG-15UTI crashed near the town of Kirzhach. The bodies of Gagarin and Seryogin were cremated and their ashes interred in the walls of the Kremlin.[92] Wrapped in secrecy, the cause of the crash that killed Gagarin is uncertain and became the subject of speculation, including several conspiracy theories.[93][94] At least three investigations into the crash were conducted separately by the Air Force, official government commissions, and the KGB.[95][96] According to a biography of Gagarin by Jamie Doran and Piers Bizony, Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin, the KGB worked "not just alongside the Air Force and the official commission members but against them."[95]

The KGB's report, declassified in March 2003, claimed that the actions of airbase personnel contributed to the crash. The report states that an air-traffic controller provided Gagarin with outdated weather information and that by the time of his flight, conditions had deteriorated significantly. Ground crew also left external fuel tanks attached to the aircraft. Gagarin's planned flight activities needed clear weather and no outboard tanks. The investigation concluded Gagarin's aircraft entered a spin, either due to a bird strike or because of a sudden move to avoid another aircraft. Because of the out-of-date weather report, the crew believed their altitude was higher than it was and could not react properly to bring the MiG-15 out of its spin.[96] Another theory, advanced in 2005 by the original crash investigator, hypothesizes that a cabin air vent was accidentally left open by the crew or the previous pilot, leading to oxygen deprivation and leaving the crew incapable of controlling the aircraft.[93] A similar theory, published in Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine, is that the crew detected the open vent and followed procedure by executing a rapid dive to a lower altitude. This dive caused them to lose consciousness and crash.[94]

On 12 April 2007, the Kremlin vetoed a new investigation into the death of Gagarin. Government officials said they saw no reason to begin a new investigation.[97] In April 2011, documents from a 1968 commission set up by the Central Committee of the Communist Party to investigate the accident were declassified. The documents revealed that the commission's original conclusion was that Gagarin or Seryogin had manoeuvred sharply, either to avoid a weather balloon or to avoid "entry into the upper limit of the first layer of cloud cover", leading the jet into a "super-critical flight regime and to its stalling in complex meteorological conditions".[98]

A MiG-15UTI, the same type as Gagarin was flying when he was killed

Alexei Leonov, who was also a member of a state commission established to investigate Gagarin's death, was conducting parachute training sessions that day and heard "two loud booms in the distance". He believes that a Sukhoi Su-15 was flying below its minimum altitude and, "without realizing it because of the terrible weather conditions, he passed within 10 or 20 meters (33 or 66 ft) of Yuri and Seregin's plane while breaking the sound barrier". The resulting turbulence would have sent the MiG-15UTI into an uncontrolled spin. Leonov said the first boom he heard was that of the jet breaking the sound barrier and the second was Gagarin's plane crashing.[99]

Awards and honours

[edit]

Medals and orders of merit

[edit]

On 14 April 1961, Gagarin was honoured with a 12-mile (19 km) parade attended by millions of people that concluded at the Red Square. After a short speech, he was bestowed the Hero of the Soviet Union,[100][101] Order of Lenin,[100] Merited Master of Sports of the Soviet Union[102] and the first Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.[101] On 15 April, the Soviet Academy of Sciences awarded him with the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal, named after the Russian pioneer of space aeronautics.[103] Gagarin had also been awarded four Soviet commemorative medals over the course of his career.[24]

He was honoured as a Hero of Socialist Labour from Czechoslovakia on 29 April 1961,[104][105] and Hero of Socialist Labour (Bulgaria, including the Order of Georgi Dimitrov) the same year.[24] On the eighth anniversary of the beginning of the Cuban Revolution (26 July), President Osvaldo Dorticos of Cuba presented him with the first Order of Playa Girón, a newly created medal.[106]

Gagarin was also awarded the 1960 Gold Air Medal and the 1961 De la Vaulx Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Switzerland.[107] He received numerous awards from other nations that year, including the Star of the Republic of Indonesia (2nd Class), the Order of the Cross of Grunwald (1st Degree) in Poland,[24] the Order of the Flag of the People's Republic of Hungary (1st Class with diamonds),[108] the Hero of Labour award from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam,[24] the Italian Columbus Day Medal,[109] and a Gold Medal from the British Interplanetary Society.[110][111] President Jânio Quadros of Brazil decorated Gagarin on 2 August 1961 with the Order of Aeronautical Merit, Commander grade.[112] During a tour of Egypt in late January 1962, Gagarin received the Order of the Nile[113] and the golden keys to the gates of Cairo.[65] On 22 October 1963, Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova were honoured with the Order of Karl Marx from the German Democratic Republic.[114]

Tributes

[edit]

The date of Gagarin's space flight, 12 April, has been commemorated. Since 1962, it has been celebrated first in the USSR and since 1991 in Russia and some other former Soviet republics as Cosmonautics Day.[115][116] Since 2000, Yuri's Night, an international celebration, is held annually to commemorate milestones in space exploration.[117] In 2011, it was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight by the United Nations.[118]

Yuri Gagarin statue at the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London, England

A number of buildings and locations have been named for Gagarin, mostly in Russia but also in other Soviet republics. The Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City was named on 30 April 1968.[119] The launch pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome from which Sputnik 1 and Vostok 1 were launched is now known as Gagarin's Start. Gagarin Raion in Sevastopol was named after him during the period of the Soviet Union. The Russian Air Force Academy was renamed the Gagarin Air Force Academy in 1968.[120] The town of Gzhatsk where he lived in Smolensk Oblast was renamed Gagarin after his death in 1968, and has since become home to numerous museums and monuments to him.[121] A street in Warsaw, Poland, is called Yuri Gagarin Street.[122] The town of Gagarin, Armenia was renamed in his honour in 1961.[123]

Gagarin has been honoured on the Moon by astronauts and astronomers. During the American space programme's Apollo 11 mission in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left a memorial satchel containing medals commemorating Gagarin and Komarov on the Moon's surface.[124][125] In 1971, Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin left the small Fallen Astronaut sculpture at their landing site as a memorial to the American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts who died in the Space Race; the names on its plaque included Yuri Gagarin and 14 others.[126][127] In 1970, a 262 km (163-mile) wide crater on the far side was named after him.[128] Gagarin was inducted as a member of the 1976 inaugural class of the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico.[129]

Gagarin is memorialised in music; a cycle of Soviet patriotic songs titled The Constellation Gagarin (Созвездье Гагарина, Sozvezdie Gagarina) was written by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov in 1970–1971.[130] The most famous of these songs refers to Gagarin's poyekhali!: in the lyrics, "He said 'let's go!' He waved his hand".[47][130] He was the inspiration for the pieces "Hey Gagarin" by Jean-Michel Jarre on Métamorphoses, "Gagarin" by Public Service Broadcasting, and "Gagarin, I loved you" by Undervud.[131]

Russian ten-rouble coin commemorating Gagarin in 2001

Vessels have been named for Gagarin; Soviet tracking ship Kosmonavt Yuriy Gagarin was built in 1971[132] and the Armenian airline Armavia named their first Sukhoi Superjet 100 in his honour in 2011.[133]

Two commemorative coins were issued in the Soviet Union to honour the 20th and 30th anniversaries of his flight: a one-rouble coin in copper-nickel (1981) and a three-rouble coin in silver (1991). In 2001, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, a series of four coins bearing his likeness was issued in Russia; it consisted of a two-rouble coin in copper-nickel, a three-rouble coin in silver, a ten-rouble coin in brass-copper and nickel, and a 100-rouble coin in silver.[134] In 2011, Russia issued a 1,000-rouble coin in gold and a three-rouble coin in silver to mark the 50th anniversary of his flight.[135]

In 2008, the Russia-based Kontinental Hockey League named their championship trophy the Gagarin Cup.[136] In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Gagarin was ranked as the sixth-most-popular space hero, tied with the fictional character James T. Kirk from Star Trek.[137] A Russian docudrama titled Gagarin: First in Space was released in 2013. Previous attempts at portraying Gagarin were disallowed; his family took legal action over his portrayal in a fictional drama and vetoed a musical.[138]

Statues, monuments and murals

[edit]
Bust of Gagarin at Birla Planetarium in Kolkata, India
Mural of Gagarin by Jorit in Odintsovo, Russia

There are statues of Gagarin and monuments to him located in the town named after him as well as in Orenburg, Cheboksary, Irkutsk, Izhevsk, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, and Yoshkar-Ola in Russia, as well as in Nicosia, Cyprus, Druzhkivka, Ukraine, Karaganda, Kazakhstan, and Tiraspol, Moldova. On 4 June 1980, Monument to Yuri Gagarin in Gagarin Square, Leninsky Avenue, Moscow, was opened.[139] The monument is mounted to a 38 m (125 ft) tall pedestal and is constructed of titanium. Beside the column is a replica of the descent module used during his spaceflight.[140]

In 2011, a statue of Gagarin was unveiled at Admiralty Arch in The Mall in London, opposite the permanent sculpture of James Cook. It is a copy of the statue outside Gagarin's former school in Lyubertsy.[141] In 2013, the statue was moved to a permanent location outside the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.[142]

In 2012, a statue was unveiled at the site of NASA's original spaceflight headquarters on South Wayside Drive in Houston. The sculpture was completed in 2011 by Leonov, who is also an artist, and was a gift to Houston commissioned by various Russian organisations. Houston Mayor Annise Parker, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were present for the dedication.[143][144] The Russian Federation presented a bust of Gagarin to several cities in India including one that was unveiled at the Birla Planetarium in Kolkata in February 2012.[145]

In April 2018, a bust of Gagarin erected on the street in Belgrade, Serbia, that bears his name was removed, after less than a week. A new work was commissioned following the outcry over the disproportionately small size of its head which locals said was an "insult" to Gagarin.[146][147] Belgrade City Manager Goran Vesic stated that neither the city, the Serbian Ministry of Culture, nor the foundation that financed it had prior knowledge of the design.[148]

In August 2019, the Italian artist Jorit painted Gagarin's face on the facade of a twenty-story building in the district of Odintsovo, Russia.[149][150] The mural is the largest portrait of Gagarin in the world.[151]

In March 2021, a statue of Gagarin was unveiled at Mataram Park (Taman Mataram) in Jakarta, Indonesia in celebration of the 70th anniversary of Indonesia–Russia diplomatic relations as well as the 60th anniversary of the first human space flight. The statue, sculpted by Russian artist A.D. Leonov and presented by Russian embassy in Jakarta, is considered as "a sign of strengthening relations" between Moscow and Jakarta, which have been sister cities since 2006.[152][153]

50th anniversary

[edit]
50th anniversary stamp of Ukraine, 2011

The 50th anniversary of Gagarin's journey into space was marked in 2011 by tributes around the world. A documentary film titled First Orbit was shot from the International Space Station, combining sound recordings from the original flight with footage of the route taken by Gagarin.[154] The Russian, American, and Italian crew of Expedition 27 aboard the ISS sent a special video message to wish the people of the world a "Happy Yuri's Night", wearing shirts with an image of Gagarin.[155]

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation released gold and silver coins to commemorate the anniversary.[135] The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft was named Gagarin with the launch in April 2011 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of his mission.[156][157]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Russian: Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин, IPA: [ˈjʉrʲɪj ɐlʲɪkˈsʲejɪvʲɪdʑ‿ɡɐˈɡarʲɪn]; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as Yuriy, Youri, or Yury.
  2. ^ In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Alekseyevich and the family name is Gagarin.
  3. ^ Alexey and Anna's names are sometimes transliterated as Aleksei Ivanovich and Anna Timofeevna, respectively.[5]
  4. ^ The first twelve announced on 7 March 1960 were Lieutenant Alexei Leonov, Senior Lieutenants Ivan Anikeyev, Valery Bykovsky, Yuri Gagarin, Viktor Gorbatko, Grigori Nelyubov, Andriyan Nikolayev, German Titov, Boris Volynov, and Georgy Shonin, Captain Pavel Popovich and Engineer Captain Vladimir Komarov. On 9 March 1960, Senior Lieutenant Yevgeny Khrunov was added. Senior Lieutenants Dmitri Zaikin and Valentin Filatyev joined the group on 25 March. They were followed by Major Pavel Belyayev and Senior Lieutenants Valentin Bondarenko, Valentin Varlamov and Mars Rafikov, who joined on 28 April 1960. Captain Anatoly Kartashov was the last to join in June 1960.[26]
  5. ^ The group was also nicknamed the "Lilies" by their fellow cosmonauts, a reference to "Lilies of the Valley", a song by composer Oscar Feltsman.[35][36]
  6. ^ Some sources translate this phrase as "Let's go!"[45][46]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Hall, Shayler & Vis 2007, p. 332
  2. ^ French 2010, p. 270
  3. ^ Tito, Dennis (13 November 2006). "Yuri Gagarin". Time Europe. Archived from the original on 26 March 2008.
  4. ^ Burgess & Hall 2009, pp. 41–42
  5. ^ Jenks 2012a, pp. 140–41
  6. ^ Doran & Bizony 2011, pp. 11–12
  7. ^ Burgess & Hall 2009, p. 42
  8. ^ a b c d Moskvitch, Katia (3 April 2011). "Yuri Gagarin's Klushino: forgotten home of space legend". BBC News. Archived from the original on 4 April 2011. Retrieved 4 April 2011.
  9. ^ Jenks 2013, p. 35.
  10. ^ a b Jenks 2013, p. 36.
  11. ^ Doran & Bizony 2011, pp. 14–15.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Rodgers, Paul (3 April 2011). "Yuri Gagarin: the man who fell to Earth". The Independent. Archived from the original on 4 April 2011.
  13. ^ a b c d e f Bizony, Piers (14 March 2011). "First man of Space – the flight and plight of Yuri Gagarin". Engineering & Technology. 6 (3). Archived from the original on 25 March 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
  14. ^ a b Doran & Bizony 2011, p. 17.
  15. ^ Doran & Bizony 2011, p. 18.
  16. ^ Doran & Bizony 2011, pp. 18–20.
  17. ^ "Birth of Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, Cosmonaut Pilot, the First Human to journey into Outer Space, Hero of the Soviet Union". Presidential Library. Archived from the original on 4 November 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  18. ^ a b c d e Rincon, Paul & Moskvitch, Katia (4 April 2011). "Profile: Yuri Gagarin". BBC News. Archived from the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  19. ^ a b Burgess & Hall 2009, p. 43
  20. ^ Burgess & Hall 2009, p. 352
  21. ^ Burgess & Hall 2009, pp. 43–44
  22. ^ a b c d Burgess & Hall 2009, p. 45
  23. ^ Olga Vorobyova (12 April 2011). "North in the fate of a pioneer". Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star). Archived from the original on 17 August 2018. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  24. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин" [Gagarin Yuri Alekseevich]. Astronaut.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 22 June 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  25. ^ Lindsay 2013, p. 42
  26. ^ a b c Hall, Shayler & Vis 2007, p. 120
  27. ^ Siddiqi 2000, p. 244
  28. ^ Norberg 2013, p. 16
  29. ^ Impey 2015, p. 51
  30. ^ Hall, Shayler & Vis 2007, p. 121
  31. ^ a b Siddiqi 2000, p. 248
  32. ^ a b Siddiqi 2000, p. 262
  33. ^ a b c Siddiqi 2000, p. 261
  34. ^ Cavallaro 2018, p. 96
  35. ^ Belyayev, Pavel & Leonov, Alexei (14 May 1965). "How bright it is – how incredibly beautiful!". Life. p. 124. Archived from the original on 11 March 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  36. ^ a b c d Hall, Shayler & Vis 2007, p. 122
  37. ^ Hall, Shayler & Vis 2007, p. 135
  38. ^ a b Lebedev, Vitaliy (August 2011). "Диплом гагарина" [Gagarin's diploma] (PDF). New Defence Order Strategy (in Russian). 16 (4): 117–18. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 January 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  39. ^ Doran & Bizony 2011, pp. 34–38
  40. ^ Hall, Shayler & Vis 2007, p. 77
  41. ^ Siddiqi 2000, pp. 271–72
  42. ^ Siddiqi 2000, p. 283
  43. ^ Hall & Shayler 2001, p. 150
  44. ^ French & Burgess 2009, p. 20
  45. ^ Evans 2010, p. 18
  46. ^ a b Orange, Richard (12 April 2011). "Yuri Gagarin: 50th anniversary of the first man in space". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 4 July 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  47. ^ a b Dushenko 2019, p. 1097
  48. ^ Pervushin 2011, Chapter 6.2
  49. ^ Sheldon 2013, p. 219
  50. ^ Siddiqi 2000, p. 275
  51. ^ Siddiqi 2000, p. 278
  52. ^ a b Gagarin, Denisova & Borzenko 1961
  53. ^ Siddiqi 2000, p. 281
  54. ^ "'Let's go!' – FAI celebrates 60th Anniversary of Gagarin's space flight". Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. 22 March 2021. Archived from the original on 3 October 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2022. Due to Gagarin not being able to land with his aircraft as usual during aeronautical feats, there were initial concerns that the FAI would not be able to recognise his achievements. However, the FAI duly amended the rules to encompass this new form of aviation and so the awards were ratified.
  55. ^ Jenks 2011, p. 112
  56. ^ Lewis, Cathleen (12 April 2010). "Why Yuri Gagarin remains the first man in space, even though he did not land inside his spacecraft". National Air and Space Museum. Archived from the original on 18 June 2019. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  57. ^ "Yuri Gagarin: Who was the first person in space?". BBC. Archived from the original on 8 October 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  58. ^ Pervushin 2011, Chapter 7.1
  59. ^ a b c French, Francis (July 1998). "Yuri Gagarin's visit to manchester". Spaceflight. 40 (7). British Interplanetary Society: 261–62. Archived from the original on 14 March 2011. Retrieved 7 March 2011 – via YuriGagarin50.org.
  60. ^ Williams, Huw (7 March 2011). "Memories sought of Yuri Gagarin's way into space". BBC News. Archived from the original on 11 March 2011. Retrieved 11 April 2011.
  61. ^ McKie, Robin (13 March 2011). "Sergei Korolev: the rocket genius behind Yuri Gagarin". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 11 April 2011.
  62. ^ "Astronaut meets press at Moscow". The Times Record. UPI. 15 April 1961. p. 1. Retrieved 15 June 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  63. ^ Callow, John (17 January 2009). "Yuri Gagarin in Manchester". Working Class Movement Library. Archived from the original on 2 July 2010. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
  64. ^ Gerovitch 2015, p. 175
  65. ^ a b Belyakov, Vladimir (2011). "На орбите дружбы" [In orbit of friendship]. МК в Египте [MK in Egypt] (in Russian). 07 (37) (published 7 May 2011). Archived from the original on 15 June 2019. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  66. ^ Gerovitch 2011, p. 92
  67. ^ a b Gafutulin, Nail (12 April 2011). "Космонавт и депутат" [Astronaut and deputy]. Krasnaya Zvezda (in Russian). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  68. ^ "Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин" [Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin]. Astronaut.ru (in Russian). 2 June 2013. Archived from the original on 26 June 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  69. ^ Siddiqi 2000, p. 568
  70. ^ "Gagarin". www.astronautix.com. Archived from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  71. ^ Siddiqi 2000, pp. 568, 622
  72. ^ Siddiqi 2000, p. 590
  73. ^ Krulwich, Robert (18 March 2011). "Cosmonaut crashed into Earth 'crying in rage'". Krulwich Wonders. NPR. Archived from the original on 7 April 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
  74. ^ Siddiqi 2000, pp. 581–84
  75. ^ Siddiqi 2000, pp. 588–89
  76. ^ Siddiqi 2000, p. 622
  77. ^ a b Siddiqi 2000, p. 627
  78. ^ Lebedev, Vitaliy (October 2011). "Диплом Гагарина" [Gagarin's Diploma] (PDF). New Defence Order Strategy (in Russian). 17 (5): 68–69. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 January 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  79. ^ Burgess & Hall 2009, p. 44
  80. ^ Jenks 2013, p. 75
  81. ^ Rosenberg, Jennifer (15 May 2019). "Biography of Yuri Gagarin, first man in space". ThoughtCo. Archived from the original on 11 June 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  82. ^ a b c The First Man in Space. New York: Crosscurrents Press. 1961. p. 79. OCLC 220499322. Archived from the original on 11 June 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  83. ^ a b Abel, Allen (May 2011). "The family he left behind". Air & Space. Archived from the original on 12 May 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
  84. ^ "Gagarin in his daughter's words". Euronews.net. 12 April 2011. Archived from the original on 15 April 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  85. ^ "8 – 9 апреля заведующая кафедрой национальной и региональной экономики, проф. Г.Ю. Гагарина посетила г. Самару, где проходили праздничные мероприятия, посвященные 50-летию полета Ю.А. Гагарина в космос" [8–9 April, Head of the Department of National and Regional Economics, Prof. G. Yu. Gagarin visited the city of Samara, where festive events dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the flight of Yu. A. Gagarin in space]. Plekhanov Russian University of Economics (in Russian). 11 April 2011. Archived from the original on 17 April 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  86. ^ Gavrilin 1973, pp. 26–27
  87. ^ Louis & Louis 1980, p. 43
  88. ^ "Полная стенограмма переговоров Юрия Гагарина с Землей с момента его посадки в корабль (за два часа до старта) до выхода корабля "Востока-1" из зоны радиоприема" [The complete transcript from the radio reception area of the communications of Yuri Gagarin with the Earth from the moment of his entering on the ship (two hours before the launch) until he exited the Vostok 1 ship.]. Cosmoworld.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 20 March 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2008.
  89. ^ "I am proud to be accused of having introduced Yury Gagarin to Orthodoxy". Interfax-religion.com. 12 April 2006. Archived from the original on 9 August 2007. Retrieved 30 March 2008.
  90. ^ "Gagarin's family celebrated Easter and Christmas, Korolev used to pray and confess". Interfax-religion.com. 11 April 2011. Archived from the original on 15 April 2011. Retrieved 11 April 2011.
  91. ^ Гагарин, Юрий Алексеевич (1961). Дорога в Космос: записки летчика-космонавта СССР (in Russian). Правда. p. 218.
  92. ^ Cavallaro 2018, p. 248
  93. ^ a b Holt, Ed (3 April 2005). "Inquiry promises to solve Gagarin death riddle". Scotland on Sunday. Archived from the original on 15 April 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2008.
  94. ^ a b Osborn, Andrew (September 2010). "What made Yuri fall?". Air & Space. Archived from the original on 19 September 2010. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
  95. ^ a b Doran & Bizony 2011, p. 221
  96. ^ a b Aris, Ben (28 March 2008). "KGB held ground staff to blame for Gagarin's death". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 20 December 2008. Retrieved 1 August 2008.
  97. ^ Osborn, Andrew (12 April 2007). "Kremlin vetoes new inquiry into mystery death of Yuri Gagarin". The Belfast Telegraph. Archived from the original on 30 April 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2008.
  98. ^ Malpas, Anna (8 April 2011). "Russia sheds light on Gagarin death mystery". Agence France-Presse. Archived from the original on 14 April 2011. Retrieved 8 April 2011.
  99. ^ Leonov & Scott 2004, p. 218
  100. ^ a b Shapiro, Henry (14 April 1961). "Soviets give Yuri hero's welcome". The Press Democrat. Santa Rosa, California. UPI. p. 3. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  101. ^ a b "Moscow goes wild about spaceman". The Courier-News. Bridgewater, New Jersey. Associated Press. 14 April 1961. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  102. ^ "Gagarin's honors piling up fast". The Springfield News-Leader. Springfield, Missouri. Associated Press. 15 April 1961. p. 1. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  103. ^ "Astronaut meets press at Moscow (continued from page 1)". The Times Record. Troy, New York. UPI. 15 April 1961. p. 22. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  104. ^ "Czechs honor Yuri". Daily News. New York. Reuters. 30 April 1961. p. 35. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  105. ^ "Čestný titul Hrdina socialistické práce s právem nosit zlatou hvězdu Hrdiny socialistické práce" [Honorary title, Hero of socialist work with the right to wear golden star, Heroes of Socialist Labor] (PDF). Archiv Kanceláře Prezidenta Republiky (in Czech). Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  106. ^ Ryan, William L. (27 July 1961). "Castro to unify his gains". The Morning News. Wilmington, Delaware. Associated Press. p. 3. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  107. ^ "FAI Awards". Fédération Aéronautique Internationale. 10 October 2017. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  108. ^ "Külkapcsolat - Jurij Gagarin a világ első űrhajósa Budapesten". MTVA Archívum (in Hungarian). Archived from the original on 11 June 2023. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
  109. ^ "Cosmonaut Gagarin ill in hospital". The Austin American. Austin, Texas. Associated Press. 13 October 1961. p. 31. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  110. ^ "British queen rolls out red carpet for Yuri". Deadwood Pioneer-Times. Deadwood, South Dakota. UPI. 11 July 1961. p. 6. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  111. ^ "Honours and Awards". Weather. 10 (4): 133. 1955. Bibcode:1955Wthr...10..133.. doi:10.1002/j.1477-8696.1955.tb00173.x. Archived from the original on 9 August 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  112. ^ "Brazilian President pins medal on Yuri, praises space flight". Tampa Bay Times. St. Petersburg, Florida. Associated Press. 3 August 1961. p. 7. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  113. ^ "Gagarin honored". Lincoln Journal Star. Lincoln, NE. UPI. 1 February 1962. p. 20. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  114. ^ "Rednauts Get Top Marx". Daily News. New York. 22 October 1963. p. 210. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  115. ^ Russia marks Cosmonautics Day Archived 25 January 2015 at archive.today. Russian Radio, 12 April 2014
  116. ^ "Międzynarodowy Dzień Lotnictwa i Kosmonautyki". Elbląska Gazeta Internetowa. 12 April 2008. Archived from the original on 25 April 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  117. ^ "Darwin's Day to Yuri's Night: Some science dates to remember". The Guardian. 20 September 2014. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  118. ^ "Celebrating the beginning of the space era for mankind". International Day of Human Space Flight: 12 April. United Nations. 7 April 2011. Archived from the original on 21 January 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  119. ^ "Stages of the GCTC development". Yu.A. Gagarin Research & Test Cosmonaut Center. Archived from the original on 10 June 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
  120. ^ "Создана Военно-воздушная академия им. Ю. А. Гагарина" [Established Air Force Academy. Yu. A. Gagarin]. Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library. Archived from the original on 22 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  121. ^ "The Russian Town That's Now a Shrine to Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin". Wired. Archived from the original on 11 June 2022. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  122. ^ "Ulica Jurija Gagarina – Ulice" [Yuri Gagarin Street]. Downtown of the Capital City of Warsaw. Archived from the original on 18 June 2018. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  123. ^ Kiesling, Brady (June 2000). Rediscovering Armenia: An Archaeological / Touristic Gazetteer and Map Set for the Historical Monuments of Armenia (PDF). Embassy of the United States, Yerevan. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 June 2008.
  124. ^ "U.S. taking Russian medal to the Moon". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, IL. 18 July 1969. p. 4. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  125. ^ Aldrin & McConnell 1989, p. 227
  126. ^ Pocock 2012, pp. 335–36
  127. ^ Powell, Corey S. & Shapiro, Laurie Gwen (16 December 2013). "The sculpture on the Moon". Slate. Archived from the original on 5 March 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2014.
  128. ^ "Gagarin". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Science Center. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  129. ^ Locke, Robert (6 October 1976). "Space Pioneers Enshrined". Las Vegas Optic. Las Vegas, New Mexico. Associated Press. p. 6. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  130. ^ a b Созвездье Гагарина Archived 22 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Alexandra Pakhmutova's website
  131. ^ Matveyeva, Ksenia (10 February 2015). "В роке, джазе и ска-панке. 9 песен, посвященных Юрию Гагарину" [In rock, jazz and ska-punk. 9 songs dedicated to Yuri Gagarin]. Аргументы и факты [Arguments and Facts]. Archived from the original on 18 June 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  132. ^ Polmar & Breyer 1984, p. 309
  133. ^ Kaminski-Morrow, David (15 January 2011). "Picture: first Armavia Superjet awaits delivery". FlightGlobal.com. Archived from the original on 19 January 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
  134. ^ "База данных по памятным и инвестиционным монетам" [Database of commemorative and investment coins]. CBR.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 19 December 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2008.
  135. ^ a b Alexander, Michael (14 April 2011). "Yuri Gagarin Featured on Russian Gold and Silver Coins". Coin Update. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  136. ^ Fraser, Adam (19 May 2010). "UFA Sports to market Kontinental Hockey League". SportsPro Media. Archived from the original on 15 December 2010. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
  137. ^ "Space Foundation Survey Reveals Broad Range of Space Heroes". Space Foundation. 27 October 2010. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
  138. ^ Chilton, Martin (19 June 2013). "Yuri Gagarin movie attracts criticism". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  139. ^ "Cosmonaut honored". Daily Press. Newport News, Virginia. UPI. 6 July 1980. p. 19. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  140. ^ Englund, Will (11 April 2011). "A half-century on, Russian space flight pioneer Yuri Gagarin stands tall". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  141. ^ Parfitt, Tom (6 April 2011). "How Yuri Gagarin's historic flight was nearly grounded". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 30 September 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2011.
  142. ^ "Yuri Gagarin Statue". Royal Museums Greenwich. Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  143. ^ "Houston mayor, NASA administrator & Russian ambassador dedicate gifts of artworks honoring Russian and US space pioneers". City of Houston. 15 October 2012. Archived from the original on 13 August 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  144. ^ Aristov, Mikhail (24 October 2012). "Houston unveils monument to first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin". Russia Beyond. Archived from the original on 21 May 2021. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  145. ^ TNN (17 February 2012). "Gagarin bust unveiled at planetarium". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 21 May 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  146. ^ "Tiny head Gagarin tribute is removed". BBC News. 12 April 2018. Archived from the original on 7 July 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  147. ^ "Tiny head Gagarin statue causes dismay". BBC News. 9 April 2018. Archived from the original on 25 January 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  148. ^ "Controversial Gagarin monument to be removed, new one built". B92. 10 April 2018. Archived from the original on 13 April 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
  149. ^ "Jorit, il Bansky italiano approda in Russia: a Mosca un suo murales gigante dedicato a Gagarin". it.rbth.com. 30 August 2019. Archived from the original on 1 September 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  150. ^ "La nuova opera di Jorit è in Russia: un murale dedicato a Yuri Gagarin". bonculture.it. 20 August 2019. Archived from the original on 1 September 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  151. ^ "Russia's Street Art Festival Unveils Sky-High Spray-Painting". The Moscow Times. Archived from the original on 5 December 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  152. ^ "Opening of Yury Gagarin's monument in Jakarta – News". Embassy of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Indonesia. 2021. Archived from the original on 1 May 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  153. ^ Adilah, Rifa Yusya (15 March 2021). "Anies Resmikan Patung Yuri Gagarin, Tandai 70 Tahun Hubungan RI-Rusia". Merdeka.com (in Indonesian). Archived from the original on 21 May 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  154. ^ Riley, Christopher (11 April 2011). "What Yuri Gagarin saw: First Orbit film to reveal the view from Vostok 1". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
  155. ^ "Yuri's Night 2011 International Space Station crew: 50th anniversary of human spaceflight". YouTube. 11 April 2011. Archived from the original on 27 July 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  156. ^ Anikeev, Alexander (29 April 2011). "Spacecraft "Soyuz-TMA21"". Manned Aeronautics. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
  157. ^ "Soyuz TMA-21 Gagarin launch". Cité de l'Espace. 4 April 2011. Archived from the original on 11 June 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.

Sources

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to Yuri Gagarin.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yuri Gagarin.
External images
Memorial to Gagarin and Seregin at crash location
image icon Memorial obelisk photo
image icon Memorial obelisk closeup photo
image icon Coordinates 56°02′48″N 39°01′35″E / 56.04664°N 39.0265°E / 56.04664; 39.0265
Multimedia
Preceded by Human altitude record
1961–1964 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yuri_Gagarin&oldid=1264011881"