Yuri Gagarin

Introduction

Yuri Gagarin, born on March 9, 1934, in the Russian town of Klushino, became the first human to travel into space. His incredible adventure took place on April 12, 1961, aboard the Vostok 1 spacecraft, marking a landmark milestone for the Soviet Union during the Space Race. Gagarin's successful orbit around the Earth made him an international celebrity, garnering him important titles and honors such as Hero of the Soviet Union.

Gagarin worked as a foundryman in Lyubertsy before venturing into space. When he joined the Soviet Air Forces, he became a pilot stationed near the Norway-Soviet Union border. He was chosen for the Soviet space program and went through rigorous training with five other cosmonauts. Following his momentous space mission, Gagarin took on positions such as deputy training director at the Cosmonaut Training Centre, which was eventually named after him. He was elected to the Soviet Union and later the Soviet of Nationalities, the lower and upper chambers of the Supreme Soviet, in 1962.

While Vostok 1 was Gagarin's last space flight, he was the backup for Soyuz 1, which sadly resulted in a deadly disaster, killing his friend and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. Fearing for Gagarin's safety, Soviet officials barred him from making any future space missions. Regardless, Gagarin resumed his career, graduating from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy in February 1968. Unfortunately, he died just five weeks later in a jet crash near Kirzhach while operating a MiG-15 with flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin.

Early Life

Yuri Gagarin's life began on March 9, 1934, in the Russian hamlet of Klushino. With parents Aleksey and Anna laboring on a sovkhoz (a collective farm), he and his family suffered difficulties. Yuri was the third of four children, the others being Valentin, Zoya, and Boris. Valentin and Zoya were critical members of the family's care team.

During World War II, the Gagarins, like many others, endured. The German occupation caused hardship, as departing soldiers took animals. The Nazis attacked Klushino in 1941, burning down the school and forcing inhabitants, including the Gagarins, to work in occupied fields. During the 21-month occupation, Yuri's family faced harsh living circumstances, living in a tiny mud house. Yuri became a saboteur at a young age to oppose the occupiers. His elder siblings were transported to work as slaves, but they miraculously escaped and returned after the war. The family assumed they were dead since they were ignorant of their survival. Yuri was dealing with illness, sadness, and starvation at the time. He was also taken to the hospital when a German soldier wounded his mother with a scythe.

Yuri, a teenager, assisted the Red Army in locating explosives left by fleeing soldiers when the Germans were forced out in 1944. These early adverse experiences developed Gagarin's tenacity and drive, predicting the attributes that would lead him to become the first human in space.

Education

Yuri Gagarin's family relocated to Gzhatsk in 1946, and he finished his studies there. Yuri and his brother Boris attended a rudimentary school in town, where a volunteer instructor taught reading lessons using a disused Soviet military manual. A former Soviet airman later joined to teach Yuri's favorite subjects, math and science. Yuri had been fascinated by aviation since a Yakovlev fighter plane crashed-landed in Klushino during WWII, and he was part of a group of kids who built model airplanes.

Gagarin began working as a foundryman at a steel mill in Lyubertsy, near Moscow, when he was 16 years old in 1950. He took evening classes for seventh-grade schooling while working. After graduating with honors in mold making and foundry work in 1951, he was chosen for additional study at the Saratov Industrial Technical School, specializing in tractors. During this period, he volunteered as a Soviet air cadet at a local flying club, learning to fly a biplane and, subsequently, a Yakovlev Yak-18. He also worked part-time as a dock laborer on the Volga River to supplement his income. During these early educational and professional experiences, Gagarin's enthusiasm for flying began to take form.

Career

Yuri Gagarin was accepted into the First Chkalov Higher Air Force Pilots School in Orenburg in 1955, which was a key milestone in his career. He began his training on the familiar Yak-18 before switching to the MiG-15 in February 1956. His early troubles with landing the two-seater trainer aircraft jeopardized his pilot training, but a chance was offered, and Gagarin successfully landed with a cushion, increasing his perspective. This was the start of his solo flights in 1957.

Gagarin was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Soviet Air Forces on November 5, 1957, and graduated from flying school the following day. He was then assigned to the Northern Fleet for a two-year mission at the Luostari Air Base near the Norwegian border. Assigned to the 769th Fighter Aviation Regiment, he flew Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15bis aircraft and acquired 265 flying hours by October 1959.

Gagarin's interest in space travel developed following the October 1959 launch of Luna 3. Lieutenant Colonel Babushkin's support for his suggestion for the Soviet space program led to his approval. He received his Military Pilot 3rd Class rating on July 7, 1959. On November 6, 1959, Gagarin was promoted to senior lieutenant and interviewed by a medical committee, which was a critical step toward his qualifying for the space program. Thus, the early years in the Soviet Air Forces laid the groundwork for Gagarin's momentous space flight.

Relationship and Personal Life

Yuri Gagarin met Valentina Goryacheva at the May Day celebrations in Moscow's Red Square in 1957 when he was a cadet in flight school. Valentina, a medical technician, and Orenburg Medical School graduate married him on November 7, the same year Gagarin graduated from flying school. The couple had two daughters: Yelena Yurievna, born in 1959, who went on to become an art historian and the director general of the Moscow Kremlin Museums, and Galina Yurievna, born in 1961, who went on to become a professor and department chair at Moscow's Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.

Despite his rapid climb to stardom, Gagarin was reputedly discovered by his wife having a meeting with a nurse at a Black Sea resort in September 1961. He leaped off a second-floor balcony in an attempt to flee, leaving a lifelong scar above his left forehead. Gagarin was an avid sportsman in his youth, participating in basketball and ice hockey as a goalkeeper. He coached and officiated for the Saratov Industrial Technical School squad. Furthermore, there were allegations, subsequently refuted, that during his historic spaceflight, Gagarin said, "I don't see any God up here." Colonel Valentin Petrov, a friend of his, refuted this assertion, connecting it to a comment made by Khrushchev concerning the state's anti-religious campaign. Gagarin, according to Petrov, was initiated into the Russian Orthodox Church as a youngster, and there were signs of religious rituals in his household as well.

However, Gagarin voiced atheistic ideas in his book, saying that the triumphs of space exploration prompted some believers to reject God. According to many reports, Gagarin's personal and interpersonal life had both accomplishments and struggles, reflecting the complexity that comes with stardom and personal views.

Death

On March 27, 1968, Yuri Gagarin and flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin were killed in a MiG-15UTI accident near Kirzhach while on a routine training flight from Chkalovsky Air Base. Following the event, the bodies of Gagarin and Seryogin were burned, and their ashes were deposited within the Kremlin walls.

The crash's cause has been clouded in mystery and the subject of different explanations, spawning conspiracy theories. Several investigations, carried out independently by the Air Force, official government bodies, and the KGB, sought to find the truth. The incident was blamed on airbase staff activities, according to a declassified KGB assessment from March 2003, citing an air traffic controller who gave outdated weather information and ground workers who left external fuel tanks attached to the aircraft. According to another study, a bird hit or evasive movements led the aircraft to enter a spin, which was worsened by the crew's miscalculation of altitude owing to the false weather forecast.

Other causes, presented in 2005 and published in Air & Space magazine, include hypotheses on oxygen depletion due to an open cabin air vent or a rapid descent initiated by the crew to address an open vent, which may have resulted in loss of consciousness and then in an accident.

Awards and Honours

For his historic mission, Yuri Gagarin got various accolades and distinctions. On April 14, 1961, a big march in Red Square honoring him drew millions of people. Gagarin was awarded renowned titles such as Hero of the Soviet Union, Order of Lenin, Merited Master of Sports of the Soviet Union, and the first Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR during this occasion. On April 15, the Soviet Academy of Sciences bestowed upon him the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal, named after a Russian pioneer in space aviation. Gagarin also received four Soviet memorial medals during his career.

In 1961, he was honored as a Hero of Socialist Labour by Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria. Cuban President Osvaldo Dorticos awarded Gagarin the first Order of Playa Girón on the eighth anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. Other significant accolades include the Federation Aeronautique Internationale's Gold Air Medal in 1960 and the De la Vaulx Medal in 1961. He was honored by several nations, obtaining decorations such as the Star of the Republic of Indonesia, the Order of the Cross of Grunwald in Poland, the Order of the Flag of the People's Republic of Hungary, and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam's Hero of Labor.

International recognition followed, receiving the Italian Columbus Day Medal, the Gold Medal from the British Interplanetary Society, and the Commander Grade Order of Aeronautical Merit from Brazil. Gagarin earned the Order of the Nile and the golden keys to Cairo's gates during a trip to Egypt in 1962. The German Democratic Republic awarded Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova the Order of Karl Marx on October 22, 1963. These honors demonstrated the world's appreciation and admiration for Gagarin's breakthrough feat in space exploration.

Sculptures and Memorials

Yuri Gagarin is remembered by sculptures and memorials across the world, commemorating his momentous trip into space. Gagarin sculptures may be seen at Orenburg, Cheboksary, Irkutsk, Izhevsk, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, and Yoshkar-Ola, among other places in Russia. In addition to Nicosia and Cyprus, there are monuments at Druzhkivka, Ukraine, Karaganda, Kazakhstan, and Tiraspol, Moldova.

The monument to Yuri Gagarin, located in Gagarin Square on Leninsky Avenue in Moscow, was dedicated on 4 June 1980. This titanium monument, which stands 38 meters tall, is erected on a pedestal. A model of the descending module used during Gagarin's spaceflight lies next to the column. Beyond Russia, a statue of Gagarin, a replica of the one outside Gagarin's former school in Lyubertsy, was installed in 2011 at Admiralty Arch on The Mall in London. It was relocated to a permanent place outside the Royal Observatory in Greenwich in 2013.

A monument installed in 2012 near NASA's initial spaceflight headquarters in Houston was a gift from Russian companies. Gagarin busts were delivered to numerous Indian towns, with one exhibited in 2012 at the Birla Planetarium in Kolkata. In April 2018, a bust of Gagarin was put on a street named after him in Belgrade, Serbia. However, it was subsequently removed and replaced owing to its small head size, which was seen as an "insult" to Gagarin.

In March 2021, a monument of Gagarin was unveiled in Jakarta, Indonesia, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Indonesia-Russia diplomatic ties and the 60th anniversary of Gagarin's spaceflight. The monument, a gift from the Russian embassy, represents the close relationship between Moscow and Jakarta. These memorials and sculptures honor Gagarin's enormous feat and his lasting influence in space exploration.

Yuri Gagarin's 50th Anniversary in 2011

In 2011, the globe celebrated the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's remarkable voyage into space. Global tributes and activities were held to honor this historic achievement. "First Orbit", a unique documentary video, was made aboard the International Space Station (ISS). This film combined real voice recordings from Gagarin's trip with pictures of his path, providing a unique perspective from space.

The Expedition 27 crew aboard the International Space Station, representing Russia, the United States, and Italy, transmitted a touching video tribute to commemorate "Yuri's Night". Wearing shirts with Gagarin's likeness, they sent out heartfelt greetings to people all across the world, commemorating the continuing legacy of the first human to set foot in space.

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation participated in the celebration by issuing commemorative gold and silver coins. These coins acted as physical reminders of Gagarin's historic feat and effect on space exploration.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary, the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft, which launched in April 2011, was christened "Gagarin". This symbolic act not only paid tribute to the space pioneer but also offered a new dimension of significance to the mission, reaffirming the ongoing memory of Yuri Gagarin's incredible adventure. The activities commemorating Gagarin's 50th anniversary highlighted the world's adoration for his crucial role in expanding human exploration beyond our planet.