   #copyright

Yuri Gagarin

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Historical figures; Space
transport

   CAPTION: Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin

   Yuri Gagarin
                  Cosmonaut
      Nationality   Soviet
         Born       March 9, 1934
                    Klushino, USSR
         Died       March 27, 1968
                    Kirzhach, USSR
     Occupation^1   Pilot
         Rank       Soviet Air Force Colonel
      Space time    1 hour, 48 minutes
       Selection    Air Force Group 1
      Mission(s)    Vostok 1
   Mission insignia
    ^1 previous or current

   Colonel Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (Russian: Ю́рий Алексе́евич Гага́рин,
   Jurij Alekseevič Gagarin; March 9, 1934 – March 27, 1968), was a Soviet
   cosmonaut who in 1961 became the first human in space and the first
   human to orbit the Earth.

Early life

   Yuri Gagarin was born in Klushino near Gzhatsk, a region west of
   Moscow, Russia, on March 9, 1934. The town would be renamed Gagarin in
   1968 to honour Yuri. His parents worked on a collective farm. While
   manual labourers are described in official reports as "peasants," this
   may be an oversimplification if applied to his parents - his mother was
   reportedly a voracious reader, and his father a skilled carpenter. Yuri
   was the third of four children, and his elder sister helped raise him
   while his parents worked. Like millions of people in the Soviet Union,
   the Gagarin family suffered great hardship in World War II. His two
   elder siblings were "taken away" to Germany, apparently as conscripts,
   in 1943, and did not return until after the war. His teachers described
   Gagarin as intelligent and hard-working, if occasionally mischievous.
   His mathematics teacher flew in the Red Army Air Force during the war,
   which presumably made some substantial impression on young Gagarin.

   After starting an apprenticeship in a metalworks as a foundryman,
   Gagarin was selected for further training at a high technical school in
   Saratov. While there, he joined the "AeroClub," and learned to fly a
   light aircraft, a hobby that would take up an increasing proportion of
   his time. Through dint of effort, rather than brilliance, he reportedly
   mastered both; in 1955, after completing his technical schooling, he
   entered military flight training at the Orenburg Pilot's School. While
   there he met Valentina Goryacheva, whom he married in 1957, after
   gaining his pilot's wings in a MiG-15. Post-graduation, he was assigned
   to an airbase in the Murmansk region, near the Norwegian border, where
   terrible weather made flying risky. As a full-grown man, Gagarin was 5
   feet 2 inches (approx. 157.5cm) tall.

Career in Soviet space program

Selection and training

   In 1960, an extensive search and selection process saw Yuri Gagarin, as
   one of 20 cosmonauts, selected for the Soviet space program. Along with
   the other prospective cosmonauts, he had been subjected to a punishing
   series of experiments designed to test his physical and psychological
   endurance, as well as training related to the upcoming flight. Out of
   the 20 selected, the eventual choices for the first launch were Gagarin
   and Gherman Titov, because of their excellent performance in training,
   as well as their physical characteristics - space was at a premium in
   the small Vostok cockpit. Gagarin's last-minute assignment, approved at
   the highest levels of the CPSU, to take the historic flight, may have
   been due to Gagarin's modest upbringing and genial, outgoing
   personality, as opposed to the middle-class and somewhat aloof demeanor
   of Titov. Soviet officials weighed other factors as well in selecting
   Yuri: his appearance, his capacity to handle media attention, his
   Russian heritage and even the name "Gagarin" which was also a family
   name associated with Tsarist aristocracy.

Space flight

   On April 12, 1961, Gagarin became the first human to travel into space
   in Vostok 3KA-2 ( Vostok 1). His call sign in this flight was Cedar
   (Russian: Кедр). According to international media, from orbit Gagarin
   made the comment, "I don't see any God up here." There are, however, no
   such words in the full verbatim record of Gagarin's conversations with
   the Earth during the spaceflight .

   He is also known in Russian history as "The Columbus of the Cosmos."

   While in orbit Gagarin was promoted "in the field" from the lowly rank
   of Senior Lieutenant to Major - and this was the rank at which TASS
   announced him in its triumphant statement during the flight. At the
   time the Soviet authorities thought it was more likely he would perish
   during his descent than survive.

   During his flight, Gagarin famously whistled the tune "The Motherland
   Hears, The Motherland Knows" (Russian: "Родина слышит, Родина знает").
   The first two lines of the song are: "The Motherland hears, the
   Motherland knows/Where her son flies in the sky". This patriotic song
   was written by Dmitri Shostakovich in 1951 (opus 86), with words by
   Dolmatovsky.

   Safely returned, Nikita Khrushchev rushed to his side and Gagarin
   issued a statement praising the Communist Party of the Soviet Union as
   the "organiser of all our victories." Khrushchev saw Gagarin's
   achievement as a vindication of his policy of strengthening the Soviet
   Union's missile forces at the expense of conventional arms. This policy
   antagonized the Soviet military establishment and contributed to
   Khrushchev's eventual downfall.

   After the flight, Gagarin became an instant, worldwide celebrity,
   touring widely with appearances in Italy, Germany, Canada, and Japan to
   promote the Soviet achievement.

   From 1962 he served as a deputy to the Supreme Soviet, but later
   returned to " Star City", the cosmonaut facility, where he worked on
   designs for a reusable spacecraft.

Death and legacy

   40-meter monument to Yuri Gagarin in Moscow, made of titanium. It was
   erected in the USSR in July 1980.
   Enlarge
   40-meter monument to Yuri Gagarin in Moscow, made of titanium. It was
   erected in the USSR in July 1980.
   Yuri Gagarin Memorial Plaque - presented to the USSR on January 21,
   1971. Accepting the plaque at the Moscow ceremony was Soviet Gen.
   Kuznetsov, commander of the USSR's Star City space base, where
   cosmonauts have been training since 1960. Gagarin, who made history
   with his 1 hour and 48 minute flight, lost his life in a training
   accident on March 27, 1968.
   Enlarge
   Yuri Gagarin Memorial Plaque - presented to the USSR on January 21,
   1971. Accepting the plaque at the Moscow ceremony was Soviet Gen.
   Kuznetsov, commander of the USSR's Star City space base, where
   cosmonauts have been training since 1960. Gagarin, who made history
   with his 1 hour and 48 minute flight, lost his life in a training
   accident on March 27, 1968.

   Gagarin then became deputy training director of Star City. At the same
   time, he began to requalify as a fighter pilot. On March 27, 1968 he
   and his instructor died in a MiG-15UTI on a routine training flight
   near Kirzhach. It is uncertain what caused the crash, but a 1986
   inquest suggests that the turbulence from a Su-11 interceptor airplane
   using its afterburners may have caused Gagarin's plane to go out of
   control. Weather conditions were also poor, which probably contributed
   to the inability of Gagarin and the instructor to correct before they
   crashed.

   In his book "Two Sides of the Moon" Alexei Leonov recounts that he was
   flying a helicopter in the same area on that day when he heard "two
   loud booms in the distance". Corroborating the above hypothesis, his
   conclusion is that a Sukhoi jet (which he identifies as a Su-15),
   flying below its minimum allowed altitude, "without realizing it
   because of the terrible weather conditions, passed within 10 or 20
   meters of Yuri and Seregin's plane while breaking the sound barrier".
   The resulting turbulence would have sent the MiG into an uncontrolled
   spin. Leonov believes the first boom he heard was that of the jet
   breaking the sound barrier, and the second was Gagarin's plane
   crashing.

   A new theory, advanced by the original crash investigator in 2005,
   hypothesises that a cabin vent was accidentally left open by the crew
   or the previous pilot, thus leading to oxygen deprivation and leaving
   the crew incapable of controlling the aircraft.

   Many figures in his life published memoirs involving Yuri including his
   mother and his wife in 1983.

   There were two commemorative coins issued in the Soviet Union to
   commemorate 20th and 30th anniversaries of his flight: 1 ruble coin
   (1981, copper-nickel) and 3 ruble coin (1991, silver). In 2001, to
   commemorate the 40th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, a series of four
   coins bearing his likeness was issued in Russia:2 ruble coin
   (copper-nickel), 3 ruble coin (silver), 10 ruble coin (brass-copper,
   nickel), 100 ruble coin (silver).

Gagarin's name

   FAI Gold Medal, awarded since 1968 is named after Gagarin . A crater on
   the far side of the Moon, and an asteroid 1772 Gagarin are named after
   him. In Russia Gzhatsk was renamed Gagarin in 1968, a square in Moscow
   featuring a large monument to Gagarin is named after him. Cosmonauts
   Training Centre in Star City bears his name since 1968. There are also
   numerous streets, avenues and squares bearing Gagarin's name in Russian
   towns.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
