When Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space…

Prior to 12th of April, 1961, it was a dream for a man to be in space and orbit the earth but it was achieved on that day by a man that has come to become one of the most important names in space technology.

Earlier the first satellite had been launched by the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) in 1957 which launched the ‘space war’ between the United States and the USSR. However, the U. S. lost most of the battles in the early days of space voyages.

Image: Space.com

The USSR went on to become the first to send an animal to the space and the most important of them, a human being.

The USSR beat the U. S. to the record by sending Senior Lieutenant Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin to the space on April 12, 1961, less than a month before the first American Alan Shepard went to space. Yuri Gagarin in this process became the first man in space and also the first man to orbit the earth.

The Vostok 3KA-3 (Vostok 1) – the spacecraft used for the flight – lifted off from the Baikonur  cosmodrome in USSR (present day Kazhakstan) The orbital flight by Yuri in the Vostok 1 spacecraft lasted for 108 minutes in space before he landed back on earth in the Soviet Republic.

The space craft travelled with a top speed of 28,260km/hr/17,600mph (7.85 km/s). Imagine that speed, you could have been standing with your friend and he could have missed it if he had blinked. The maximum altitude during the flight was 187 miles (301km).

Gagarin didn’t land with the spacecraft as he was ejected about 7km before Vostok 1 was due to land and he landed using a parachute. The Soviets kept this little detail out and this led to a controversy later as there were calls that it should not have been regarded as a spaceflight by FAI (Federation Aeronautique Internationale) because it violates the FAI rule that states that the man must land with the spacecraft for it to be regarded as a spaceflight.

The FAI had to adjust its rule to accommodate Gagarin in the list and also German Titov who landed in another spaceflight in the same way. Who cares how he landed anyway? So far he was the first man in space, do I care whether he landed on his head or his knees or God threw him back for being a dare devil? No I don’t, and I don’t think you do too.

Yuri Gagarin, who was born on the 9th of March, 1934 went through a rigorous process before he was picked among the last 20 contestants that vied for the spot. His main challenger was German Titov as both had to gain the favour of Sergei Korolov to have the spot.

One of Yuri’s main features that gave him an edge was that he had a small stature; he was 5ft 2 inches (1.57m) tall which is more suitable for the small space in Vostok 1. He also had a good smile and was the favourite of most.

In fact, when the 20 contestants were told (anonymously) to write the name of another person they will like to have the spot if they didn’t get it, only three of them didn’t name Yuri. Thus Yuri became the choice and Titov became the backup in case there was any problem.

The spaceflight made the 27 year old (at the time of flight) became a worldwide celebrity in a very short time. For starters, this landed him not less than 15 honours/awards in 1961 including becoming the Hero of the Soviet Union. He also became the deputy to the Supreme Soviet from 1962.

It is a shame however that this was the only spaceflight that Yuri Gagarin had before he died as there were fears of exposing a hero to that level of risk after one of his friends died in a crashed spacecraft. It was also an irony/tragedy that a man who had gone to space and came back safely was killed in a test flight on an aircraft that crashed.

Yuri Gagarin died on the 27th of March, 1968, days before the seventh anniversary of his famous spaceflight and about a year before man first landed on the moon. He died at the age of 34 and was survived by wife Valentina Ivanovna Goryacheva and two daughters Yelena and Galina. His ashes were placed in a niche in the Kremlin wall, his town of birth, Gzhatsk was also renamed Gagarin to honour him.

After Yuri’s death, there were several rumours about a conspiracy that led to his death. A committee was raised to investigate the causes that led to his death. Alexey Leonov, a fellow cosmonaut – who was the first man to stand in space – was part of the committee.

The committee explained to people that Yuri and the aircraft instructor in the aircraft were trying to evade a foreign object before the aircraft nosedived. However, Leonov revealed in a recent interview with Russia Today that they were not trying to evade a goose nor a magic orange.

Revealing that he was in a plane close to the area at the time it occurred, he explained that another bigger aircraft Sukhoi jet (Su-15 ‘Flagon’), had flew too close to Yuri’s MiG-15 training aircraft which caused it to nosedive at 750km/hr while trying to evade the bigger aircraft. He explained that Yuri was aware of the other test flight but the plane should not have been less than 10,000 metres into the sky and not 450 metres that it was that day.

It was also explained that Yuri and the co-pilot were given a false weather report for the day. However, rumours from some quarters claim that a compartment in the plane has been opened by a previous user which caused lack of oxygen for the two pilots on board and made them lose control of the aircraft.

Leonov reckoned that flying at that low distance to the earth was against the rules of the flight for the Su-15 aircraft. He however failed to mention the name of the pilot in charge of the said aircraft claiming he was asked not to reveal the name.

Yuri Gagarin opened the gateway to mankind’s travels to the space and it has not stopped since then. The great credit is that while no one had been able to fly in the space, Yuri Gagarin belled the cat.

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