Yuri Gagarin .. 60 years since the first man launched into space

Today marks the sixtieth anniversary of the first human flight into space, and the Russian Yuri Gagarin was the first human to travel into space on April 12, 1961. The astronaut circled around Earth orbit by the Vostok spacecraft of the Soviet Union, and his journey lasted 108 minutes, and after his flight he became a popular hero.

Russia celebrates Space Day every year on this day, in an annual tradition that comes in the framework of commemorating the flight of the first astronaut in history, Yuri Gagarin.

Today, more than six decades after his historical journey, Gagarin’s achievement is still widely celebrated in the Russian Space Museums, where many spaceships and statues venerating his status are displayed. In addition, his remains are buried in the Kremlin in Moscow and part of his spacecraft is displayed in a museum. RKK Energiya.

Gagarin’s flight occurred at a time when the United States and the Soviet Union were competing for technological supremacy in space, but the Soviet Union had sent the first satellite called Sputnik into space in October 1957.

According to NASA, before Gagarin’s mission, the Soviets made a test flight into space through the prototype of the Vostok spacecraft, in which they sent a life-size doll named Ivan Ivanovich and a dog named Zvezduchka to space. After the test flight, the Soviets considered the ship suitable for carrying humans into space.

The "legendary" astronaut Yuri Alexievich Gagarin, the third of four children, was born on March 9, 1934 in a small village a hundred miles from Moscow. As a teenager, he witnessed the forced landing of the Russian "Yak" fighter plane near his home, and years later, when it was exposed. He had the opportunity to join a flying club before the show with passion, and he made his first solo flight in 1955, and only after several years did he submit his application to be considered an astronaut.

More than 200 Russian Air Force fighters were nominated to serve as astronauts. They were considered exemplary pilots because they had previously been exposed to the forces of acceleration and bombardment in addition to their experience in high-tension situations, at that time 27-year-old First Lieutenant Gagarin was among the pilots chosen.

On April 12, 1961 at 9:07 a.m. Moscow time, the Vostok 1 spacecraft took off from the Soviet launch site, and because no one was sure how weightlessness would affect the pilot, and the spherical capsule did not contain many controllers on board, work was either done. Automatically or controlled from the ground.

When an emergency occurred, Gagarin was supposed to receive an override code allowing him to manually control but Sergey Korolev, chief designer of the Soviet space program, ignored the protocol and gave the code to the pilot before the flight.

In 108 minutes, Vostok orbited the Earth once, reaching a maximum altitude of 203 miles (327 km). The spacecraft was carrying supplies that would work for 10 days in case the engines failed and Gagarin committed to wait until the orbit weakened naturally, but the supplies were not necessary. Because Gagarin returned to the Earth's atmosphere and managed to maintain consciousness despite encountering forces up to eight times the force of gravity during his descent.

Vostok did not have engines to slow its entry or a site to land safely, yet some 4 miles (7 km) away, Gagarin ejected himself from the spacecraft and parachuted himself onto the ground.

In order to consider the mission official, the International Aviation Federation, the governing body that records flights, decided that the pilot must land with the spacecraft, Soviet commanders indicated that Gagarin landed in a Vostok 1 and did not launch himself, but they did not disclose That until 1971.

Despite this, Gagarin still set the record as the first person to leave Earth's orbit and travel to space.

Gagarin's legacy When he returned to Earth, Gagarin had become a world hero, greeted by cheers of hundreds of thousands of crowds of people in Red Square, a public square in Moscow, Gagarin became a national treasure as he traveled around the world to celebrate this historic Soviet achievement.

On his return to his homeland, Gagarin had become the Supreme Deputy of the Soviet Union (the highest legislative body of the Soviet Union) and was appointed commander of the astronaut team, and because the Soviets did not want to risk losing such an important figure, they were hesitant whether they could allow Gagarin to return to space, Nevertheless, he continued to make test flights for the Air Force.

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Gagarin was killed alongside another pilot on March 27, 1968 while they were testing a MiG-15 fighter jet, leaving his wife, Valentina Ivanovna Guryacheva, and his two daughters.

NASA's Apollo 11 landed, the first mission by which man landed on the moon's surface, in July 1969, the mission crew left behind a commemorative medal bearing the name of Gagarin, and left other medals for astronauts who lost their lives in space or while preparing for spaceflight.

Over time, the United States and the Soviet Union began working together in their endeavors to establish joint space flights.

The Apollo Soyuz was the first joint US-Soviet space flight in 1975, and in its wake, after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, NASA sent many astronauts via its space shuttle to the Soviet-Russian Mir space station.

The collaboration between NASA's space shuttle and the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) paved the way in making them important partners in the International Space Station program, which first launched modules in 1998 and continues its research today.

The importance of Gagarin in the Russian space program remains, as the crew uses the Soyuz spacecraft in a number of pre-launch traditions before boarding the spacecraft - such as unloading on the launch vehicle tires - to follow the footsteps of Gagarin’s historic journey, and above all of this Gagarin is often considered an example. On the heroic character of young children in Russia.

It is noteworthy that the space community commemorates Gagarin’s achievement every year by holding a so-called "Yuri Night," a celebration that takes place every year on the launch date of its flight on April 12th.

"Yuri Night" was established in 2001 and attracts thousands of revelers every year.