60 years ago, Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to complete a one-stop flight around Earth’s orbit and see with his own eyes the entire ‘Green House’ of mankind from space.
Germany was the first country to think of space boosters in the 1940s, but the United States and the Soviet Union were the countries that materialized that idea to change history. In 1957, the Soviet Union made the world “stunned” when it successfully launched an artificial satellite into space on the R7 boosters.
The moment the Vostok 1 and Gagarin left the launch pad. Photo: AP
Not to be outdone, in 1958, the US also successfully put the Explorer 1 satellite into orbit. After this period, the two sides entered a fierce race to conquer space, aiming to become the first country able to bring people to space.
Finally, the Soviet Union was the country to finish earlier, with astronaut Yuri Gagarin’s orbit exactly 60 years ago, on April 12, 1961 – the flight is historic and is considered to have changed change the world.
According to RBTH, Yuri Gagarin was born on March 9, 1934 in an ordinary carpenter family in Smolensk. At the age of 16, he moved to Moscow and then entered an engineering school in Saratov. Gagarin has been dreaming of the sky since childhood. One of the first pictures of Gagarin that his family still has is a young man standing by the wing of an airplane, raising his hand in excitement.
Image of Gagarin sitting on the Vostok spacecraft 1. Photo: ITN
While still a student in Saratov, Gagarin volunteered to join an aviation club. Thanks to his talent and relentless efforts, in 1955, at the age of 21, Gagarin was sent to the Chkalov First Air Force Pilot School in Orenburg and graduated with excellent results after 2 years.
In November 1957, he officially became a military pilot with the rank of lieutenant in the Soviet Air Force. At the same time, the Soviet Union launched an artificial satellite to bring the dog Laica into space. In the early 1960s, he enrolled in the secret program of selecting astronauts for a flight to space and became one of the group of 20 brightest candidates.
Yuri Gagarin. Photo: ITN
After nearly a year of hard training, Gagarin has proven the qualities that show he is the best person, passing all rigorous physical and mental tests – the most important factor for an astronaut. The universe.
On April 8, 1961, major pilot Gagarin was officially selected to be the first person to fly into space. His substitute was none other than astronaut Gherman Titov, who later flew into space aboard the Vostok 2 spacecraft on August 6, 1961.
The night before the flight, April 11, 1961, Gagarin and Titov spent the night in a small bungalow in Baikonur. “I’m leaving tomorrow and I can’t even believe it will be me,” Gagarin told his colleague. At 5:00 a.m. on April 12, 1961, two astronauts were awakened and taken to Baikonur airport.
The convoy carried Gagarin when he returned to Moscow on April 14, 1961. Photo: TASS
After completing the final procedures, Gagarin boarded the Vostok 1 train, Titov remained for the next mission. At 9:07, the ship and Gagarin left the launch pad. After 10 minutes, the train enters orbit at a speed of 29,000 km / h, reaching a maximum altitude of 327 km. Gagarin became the first person to see the species’ common home from outer space.
“I see the Earth, it’s beautiful,” he said from space in his colleague’s rupture on the ground.
After completing a 108-minute round-the-Earth journey, Gagarin and his landing gear landed safely by parachuting into a field in the state of Saratov. Due to his landing a few kilometers from the proposed site, the first two people to see him were an old farmer woman and a baby girl. Gagarin once spent several minutes explaining to them he was … not a Western spy, according to WION.
Gagarin’s landing gear landed in a field in Saratov. Photo: ITN
When a colleague appeared, he was greeted with glee. He rested for a few days and was brought back to Moscow on April 14, 1961 on a jet. Hundreds of thousands of Soviet citizens filled the streets of Moscow at that time to celebrate the country’s hero.
According to Russian media, because of the dangerous and secret nature of the flight mission, after being selected as the first astronaut, Yuri Gagarin even wrote a suicide note. If the worst happens, the letter will be sent to your family.
Also, since no one had ever been to space before Gagarin, Soviet scientists could not predict every situation that happened to astronauts. Therefore, the Vostok is controlled from the ground and Yuri Gagarin can only intervene in case of emergency.
Talking about the moment in space, Gagari said seeing the soft blue Earth, next to the dark sky, but with many bright stars. Gagarin could not see the Moon but the Sun was very bright, many times brighter than from Earth.
Gagarin visited London in 1961. Photo: Russian DSQ in London
After the legendary flight, Gagarin participated in Soviet space training and research activities. He also spends a lot of time traveling around the world to inspire his travels and met many famous people.
In 1967, after witnessing his best friend, astronaut Vladimir Komarov, died when a mission to connect two spacecraft in orbit failed, he collapsed.
On March 27, 1968, more than a year after the death of his best friend, Yuri Gagarin returned to the flight route with the task of training a test pilot on the first generation MiG-15 jet fighter. However, the MiG-15 crashed shortly after takeoff, killing him.
Gagarin before the fateful flight in 1968. Photo: ITN
At that time, the Soviet Union decided not to publish specific information about the cause of Gagarin’s death, creating many speculations. In 2011, 50 years after Gagarin’s space flight, the Russian government published more than 700 pages of documents about Gagarin, which revealed that the weather on March 27, 1968 was very complicated and the dive moves. Gagarin, or its co-pilot, put the plane in danger.
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