Yuri Gagarin: 60 Years of a First Man in Space - Science

Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin (Klushino, Russia, March 9, 1934) He was the first human to orbit the Earth and view it from space.
Gagarin was the prototype of the Soviet “New Man”.

See also: Neanderthal ancestor contributes the oldest modern human genome

Of humble origins and commanding great sympathy, he had the ideal character to become the astronaut who would invade space at a time when the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, competed in all fields in the “Cold War”.

Gagarin came from a humble family, and before joining the Air Force, where he reached the rank of officer, he worked in a foundry and then in a tractor factory.

According to his daughter, Elena Gagarina, during the Second World War, a Soviet plane was shot down near the city in which the Gagarin family resided. Yuri and a friend rescued the pilot, hiding him from the Nazi forces. It was at this point that Yuri finds out that she wants to become a pilot.

In 1959, the Kremlin gave the green light to a project to send a man into space after putting the dog Laika into orbit. Initial selection of candidates has commenced at all air bases of the country.

In Other Science News: How Much Money Does a NASA Astronaut Make?

The desired profile characteristics were: young knight, excellent physical form and no more than six feet tall. Gagarin competed with various candidates and scored the highest scores in a series of trials and tests to determine his physical and psychological endurance.

On Wednesday, April 12, 1961, it became Gagarin The first human to travel to outer space. The name chosen for the spacecraft was Vostok 1. The total duration of the flight was 108 minutes: nine to enter orbit, then one orbit around Earth.

During the flight, Gagarin just spoke on the radio and ate something, in order to see if a human could behave “naturally” in zero gravity.

While maneuvering to return to Earth’s atmosphere, as planned, Gagarin was expelled from the capsule at an altitude of 7 km and landed by parachute, but not at the planned point but near a town called Smilovka, where a frightened peasant woman confused him with a foreigner because of the orange suit that he was He wears it, to which Gagarin replied: “Sure, yes, but don’t worry, I’m Soviet.”

Additionally: the sun could be the cause of El Niño and La Niña

The Soviet government took advantage of the astronaut’s fame to do propaganda. They even prevented him from returning to space for his life, even though he was allowed to pilot airplanes. Gagarin was called “Hero of the Soviet Union” and was awarded the Order of Lenin.

He enjoyed immense international fame and for several years he traveled the world to promote his achievement, meeting with kings, presidents, politicians, scholars, artists and musicians.

But on March 27, 1968, an unfortunate plane crash as a co-pilot of a military plane would cause the death of this world hero who opened the way for man’s exploration of the universe.

German Puerta *
for the time
[email protected]