Iouri Alexeïevitch Gagarine (in Russian Ru ЮрийАлексеевичГагарин ) (March 9th 1934 - March 27th 1968), Hero of the Soviet Union, is a cosmonaut who, the April 12th 1961, marked the history of humanity and the space Conquête while becoming the first man to travel in space, carrying out a complete revolution around the Earth.

Its beginnings

Youri Gagarine was born in Klouchino, close to Gjatsk in the Oblast of Smolensk. The town of Gjatsk was famous Gagarine in its honor in 1968. The father of Iouri, Alekseï Ivanovitch Gagarine (1902-1973), was carpenter; his/her mother, Anna Timofeevna Matveeva (1903-1984), was country-woman and famous like avid of reading. All the Gagarine family lived under the occupation Nazi during the Second world war. The two older brothers were taken along to Germany, apparently like conscripts in 1943, they returned only after the end of the war.

In 1949, after the secondary school, Youri between at the school of agricultural machinery of Lioubertsy. It remains there during two years. It is then the school industrial technique of Saratov which it follows during four years.

It is for this period that it joined a club of piloting amateur. He enters to the flying school of Orenburg in 1955, and meets Valentina Goriatcheva there. It Marie with her in 1957, after having obtained its palms of Fighter pilot on board a Mig-15. After this diploma, it is assigned with the air base of Luostari in the area of Mourmansk close to the Norwegian border.

Adult, Gagarine measured approximately 158 centimetres, it was an advantage to enter the small cockpit of Vostok.

Career in the Soviet space program

Selection and drive

In 1960, after a long process of research and selection, Youri Gagarine is selected with nineteen other cosmonauts for the Soviet space program. It integrates the first military group cosmonauts (TsPK-1). All followed experiments aiming at testing their physical and psychological endurance as to involve them with the future vol. the final choice was made on Gagarine and Guerman Titov for their excellent performances to the drive like their size (the place being restricted in the Vostok module). Assignement of Gagarine for this mission, approval with the more high level of PCUS, is certainly due to its modest origins and its open personality. Contrary, Titov came from a middle-class. Official Soviet took into account other factors such as the appearance of Iouri, its capacity to hold the attention of the media, its Russian heritage and even the name “Gagarine” associated with the aristocracy tsarist.

Flight carried out

The April 12th 1961, Gagarine becomes the first man to travel in space in the capsule Vostok 3KA-2 (Vostok 1). It takes off of the Cosmodrome de Baïkonour (Kazakhstan) with 9:07 (Moscow time; 6 hours 07 GMT) then carries out a revolution of 1 a.m. 48 min around the Ground, with an average of 250 kilometers altitude (Apogée: 327 km and Perigee: 180 km). It is posed towards 8:50 close to Saratov (city on the the Volga to approximately 700 km in the south-east of Moscow). With a few kilometers of the Earth, it had been ejected of its capsule and had carried out the remainder of its parachute drop.

Its sign of call during the flight is Кедр, indicating the Siberian pine. While being in orbit, Gagarine was promoted the rank of Lieutenant to that of Major.

At the end of the years 1990, a polemic in connection with the recognition of this first space flight was born, since Gagarine had not finished the mission on board capsule. It died out when one made the point that the ejection of the cosmonaut had been envisaged before his launching and thus formed part of the normal course of the operation.

Become a hero of the Soviet Union, it will never be authorized to turn over in space.

The largest museum of the Aeronautical and the space of Russia located at Monino bears from now on its name.

Death and legend

After its flight, Gagarine becomes director of the drive for the Cité of the stars and amorça a reconversion as a fighter pilot. March 27th, 1968, its instructor and die to him on board a Mig-15 UTI at the time of a mission of routine.

To date, the circumstances of died of Gagarine are not completely elucidated. However, the official version is the following one:

A witness, Valentine Sourkov, affirmed for its part that the sky was clear and that the plane had fallen as if the pilots had not been able to rectify it. It specifies that it would have been found in the surroundings of the village of Riazantsy and the town of Kroutets.

Gagarine and Seriogine are buried in the wall of the the Kremlin.

Distinctions

At the time of his space flight, lieutenant Gagarine was directly promoted with the rank of major.

; Titles

  • Pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR
  • Hero of the Soviet Union
  • Hero of the Socialist Work of Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria
  • Hero of the Work of the Vietnam
  • President of the Company for the soviéto-cuban friendship
  • Member of honor of the Company Finland - the USSR
  • Member of honor of the International Academy of Astronautics (1966)

; Orders

  • Lénine (the USSR)
  • Georgi Dimitrov (Bulgaria)
  • Karl Marx (GDR)
  • Star of 2nd class (Indonesia)
  • Cross of Grünwald (Poland)
  • Flag of 1st class with diamonds (Hungary)
  • " Collar of Nil" (Egypt)
  • Large Cord of Star of Africa (Liberia)

; Citizen of Honor

The cities of the Cairo and Alexandria (Egypt) gave their Gold Keys to him.

Others

After its disappearance, its birthplace of Gjatsk, as well as the area, were débaptisées and took the name of Gagarine.

Its name was also allotted to:

Moreover, of many streets, avenues and places all over the world took also its name.

In the first second of the part Infinita Tristeza of Manu Chao, one hears some sentences pronounced by Gagarine and recorded during the famous flight of 1961.

A cartoon shows her exploits in the weekly magazine Vaillant , the June 5th 1966 (by Raymond Poïvet)

Key dates

  • 1951 : School of training of Lioubertsy

  • 1955: Technical and industrial institute of Saratov
  • 1955: Aero club of Saratov
  • 1955: Incorporation in the army
  • 1957: School K.E. Vorochilov of the military pilots of Orenburg. Until establishment under cosmonaut, it was used as fighter pilot of the Fleet of North for Luostari, area of Petchenga in the oblast of Mourmansk.
  • 1960: Adhesion with the Communist party of the the USSR
  • March 11th, 1960: Establishment
  • April 12th, 1961: 1st human space flight
  • May 23rd, 1961: Ordering detachment of the cosmonauts
  • December 20th, 1963: Assistant commander of the Center of drive of the cosmonauts
  • April 23rd, 1967: “Lining” of Komarov for the mission Soyuz 1. Komarov found death when its capsule was crushed on the ground with its return to earth.
  • 1968: Diploma of the Joukovski Academy of aeronautics of Moscow
  • March 27th, 1968: Death in a plane crash.

Quotation

“And tomorrow? Establishments on the the Moon, from the voyages towards Mars, the scientific bases on the Asteroid S, of the contacts with others Civilization S… Let us not regret not taking part in forwardings which will go on the distant Planet S. Let us not envy the men of tomorrow. Of course, they will have chance, and things which are not for us that field of the dream will be banal for them. But a great happiness fell to us to us also, that to have carried out the first steps of the Homme in the space. And those which will follow us could envy us well this happiness. ”

Random links:1728 | Prime numbers twins | Jeremy Ratchford | Ptiloris paradiseus | The best of Sheila

© 2007-2008 speedlook.com; article text available under the terms of GFDL, from fr.wikipedia.org