First Man in Space

By Douglas Messier

On April 12, 1961, a farmer and his daughter saw a figure in a bright orange suit and large white helmet descend under a parachute and land nearby. As the figure walked toward them, they retreated in fear.

“Don't be afraid!” the figure called out. “I am a Soviet like you, who has descended from space and I must find a telephone to call Moscow!" And so it was that the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, announced his arrival back on Earth after the successful flight of Vostok 1.

Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space

Gagarin was born on March 9, 1934, in the village of Klushino to parents who worked on a collective farm. He took a great interest in space and flying during his youth. While studying at a technical high school, he joined an aero club and learned to fly. He began military flight training at the Orenburg Pilot’s School in 1955 and entered the Soviet Air Force after graduation, where he worked his way up to senior lieutenant in 1959.

In 1960, Gagarin was among 20 pilots selected for the space program. After a series of strenuous tests, Gagarin was chosen to be part of an elite team known as the Sochi Six. The farm boy from Klushino had impressed everyone with his skill and demeanor.

On the morning of April 12, 1961, Gagarin slid into the Vostok 1 space capsule at the Tyruatam spaceport. The booster ignited in a cloud of flames and smoke. “Let’s go!” Gagarin shouted. Ten minutes later, he was in orbit traveling faster than anyone in history at 17,000 miles per hour.

The first man in space gazed out in wonder at the curvature of the Earth and the planet beneath him. The Kamchatka peninsula rolled by as he headed out over the Pacific Ocean. Gagarin soon witnessed the first sunset in orbit as he entered the night side of the planet.

He had little to do. Unsure of how humans would function in space, designers had automated Vostok 1 and locked up the manual controls. In an emergency, Gagarin would open an envelope and punch in a code in order to take control.

It wasn’t necessary. The automated system fired Vostok 1’s retro rockets about an hour into the flight. Soon, the spacecraft was enduring the searing heat of re-entry as Gagarin dealt with 8 G’s. Ever the patriot, Gagarin re-entered the atmosphere whistling the song, "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows.” The song’s first two lines are “The Motherland hears, the Motherland knows/Where her son flies in the sky.”

The Vostok 1 was going to hit the ground too hard for Gagarin to stay aboard, so as planned, he ejected at 23,000 feet. He came down under his own parachute and landed separately from his spacecraft. The flight had lasted 108 minutes.

Gagarin returned to Earth to international acclaim and was named a Hero of the Soviet Union. He traveled abroad frequently, serving as a goodwill ambassador for the Soviet Union. Sadly, the first man in space never flew into space again.

On March 27, 1968, he and flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin were killed when their MiG-15 jet crashed in bad weather. The precise cause of the crash is debated to this day. Both men were cremated and their ashes buried in the Kremlin Wall on Red Square.

Link for First Man in Space: Yuri Gagarin Biography: http://www.biography.com/people/yuri-gagarin-9304838

 

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