First flights into space. Gagarin's space flight: what you should know about one of the main events of the 20th century How long did man's flight into space last?
On April 12, 1961, exactly 55 years ago, a historical event occurred that shook, without exaggeration, the whole world - the Smolensk boy Yuri Gagarin became the first person to go into space.
The main thing about the first flight is known, if not everyone, then very many: on April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin on the Vostok-1 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and for the first time in the world made an orbital flight around the planet Earth, which lasted 108 minutes .
On the 55th anniversary of this event website collected 12 facts that few people remember.
1. We started preparing for the flight two years in advance.
Officially, preparations for the space flight began more than two years before “Day X”: the decision on the selection of cosmonauts was made in Resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 22-10 of January 5, 1959. Yuri Gagarin wrote a report asking to be included in the group of candidates on December 9, 1959. A special military unit for cosmonaut training was organized on January 11, 1960 by order of the Air Force Commander-in-Chief Konstantin Vershinin, and later it became the Cosmonaut Training Center. Gagarin was enrolled in the candidate group on March 3, 1960, and training began on March 25.
2. Ordinary guys
The first group of USSR cosmonauts consisted of 20 people. During the selection, according to surviving documents and the memoirs of those involved, the candidate’s flying qualities (and they were all jet fighter pilots) did not play any role at all. But absolute health, weight and height were very important: a person taller than 170 centimeters and weighing more than 72 kilograms would simply feel uncomfortable in the ship - due to the design features. Also, when selecting candidates, party membership, political activity and social origin were taken into account. Having grown up in a peasant family, Gagarin was a perfect fit.
Gagarin's cardiogram the day before the flight. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
One of the detachment’s instructors, war hero, test pilot Mark Gallay wrote in his book “With a Man on Board”: “In any air garrison one could easily meet such guys. Is this bad? On the contrary, I am convinced that it is very good! In no way does it detract from the merits of the first cosmonauts, but it speaks a lot in favor of “any air garrisons.”
3. Space race
It is known that the launch of Vostok-1 was in a great hurry: there was information that the Americans would send their astronaut into space on April 20. Therefore, the flight date was scheduled between April 11 and April 17. The astronaut was chosen almost at the last moment - at a closed meeting of the state commission on April 8, just four days before the launch. But even on April 12, right up to the start, Gagarin was accompanied by German Titov, who was his backup. Titov was allowed to remove his spacesuit only when Gagarin was already inside the ship.
4. Dangerous ship
Replica of the Vostok rocket, VDNKh, Moscow Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
The haste also affected the design of Vostok-1 itself: for the sake of speed, the most simply and quickly feasible solutions were preferred to optimal solutions, and some elements were not even assembled in time. So the ship takes off without an emergency rescue system at the start, a soft landing system for the ship and a backup braking system. The designers calculated that if Vostok enters a low 180-200 km orbit, it should, thanks to natural braking from the upper atmosphere, return to Earth within 10 days. So the life support systems were designed for these 10 days.
The launch was successful: the launch vehicle fired without errors, but at the final stage, the faulty radio control system did not turn off the 3rd stage engines. The engine was turned off only after the timer went off, but the ship had already ascended into orbit, the highest point of which turned out to be 100 kilometers higher than the calculated one. Departure from such an orbit using “aerodynamic braking” could take, according to various estimates, from 20 to 50 days.
5. Who said “Let’s go”?
The phrase that Gagarin said instead of the one required by the regulations, “Crew, I’m taking off,” went down in history and became one of the symbols of flight. There is a version that the legendary “Let's go!” Gagarin “picked up” the methodologist of the cosmonaut corps, test pilot Mark Gallay. It was he who liked to say this before takeoff, and introduced the expression into the squad’s training. This, in addition to hostility to the standard message about readiness for takeoff, was also explained by a purely psychological moment - “Let's go!” sounded more cheerful and informal.
“Dislike for the chic phrase - “Crew, I’m taking off!” “I felt it since I once heard it from the lips of a pilot who worked only on light aircraft and before takeoff proudly uttered it, addressing the “crew” of ... one person,” Gallay wrote in his memoirs.
A non-statutory entry in the range duty officer's log: "Man in space! Hurray!" Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
6. Meeting weightlessness
Of course, the astronauts were intensively prepared for everything that they would experience in space - but, it is clear that they proceeded from purely theoretical data. In orbit, Gagarin had to conduct several simple experiments to test everything in practice. The experiments were as follows: eat, drink and pee with a pencil. When the astronaut tried to put down the pencil, it immediately began to “float away.” Yuri recorded all his feelings and thoughts on the on-board tape recorder (for later analysis), and after this behavior of the writing instrument, he noticed that it was better to tie pencils in space.
7. Protection from “insanity”
The reaction of the human psyche to such stressful conditions before the first flight, of course, had not been studied. Therefore, the designers of Vostok-1 provided special protection in case the first cosmonaut, in a fit of insanity, tried to control the flight. So, to enable manual control, you had to open a sealed envelope, inside of which was a piece of paper with a code. It was possible to unlock the control panel only by entering the correct sequence on it.
Ship's dashboard. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
8. Hard descent
Few people imagine what Gagarin experienced at the end of his flight. The braking propulsion system worked, but with a lack of momentum, and the automation issued a ban on the normal separation of compartments. Because of this, for 10 minutes before entering the atmosphere, the ship tumbled randomly, making one revolution per second. The cosmonaut only reported an emergency situation on board the ship, apparently deciding not to frighten the flight directors. The descent apparatus separated from the luscious engine compartment only at the entrance to the denser layers of the atmosphere: the command for separation came from thermal sensors, which detected the burnout of the connecting cables.
During the descent itself, which, like the subsequent ships in the series, took place along a ballistic trajectory, the astronaut experienced eight to ten times the load. And after the vehicle entered the atmosphere, a truly terrible picture appeared before Gagarin’s eyes: the hull of the ship caught fire, and streams of liquid metal flowed down the windows of the windows.
Model of the Vostok-1 spacecraft in the Paris Air and Space Museum. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
9. Unopened valve, extra parachute and icy water
The difficulties did not end there: they ejected at an altitude of seven kilometers, Gagarin began to descend separately from the capsule by parachute. At the same time, the sealed valve of his spacesuit did not immediately open, so at some point the astronaut was left without air. In addition, a spare parachute came out along with the main parachute - the lines could get tangled. And finally, the initial landing site could have been the icy water of the Volga at that time, but Gagarin, controlling the lines, was able to adjust the trajectory and landed one and a half kilometers from the shore.
The descent module of the Vostok spacecraft in the RSC Energia museum. The lid, which separated at an altitude of 7 kilometers, fell to Earth separately, without a parachute. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
10. Meeting in the forest
It is known that Gagarin was supposed to land 110 kilometers from Stalingrad, but due to a glitch he returned to Earth in the Saratov region. According to official data, the astronaut was met by the military. But there is a legend that in fact the first people to see a man in a spacesuit descending from heaven were the wife of a local forester, Anna (Anikhayat) Takhtarova, and her six-year-old granddaughter Rita (Rumiya). And only after that the military from the division and local collective farmers arrived at the scene of events. Rumiya, according to media reports, lives near Astrakhan and still remembers the meeting with the “orange monster” - that was the color of Gagarin’s spacesuit.
11. Long day
The launch of Vostok-1 from Baikonur occurred at 9:07 Moscow time (12:07 local), the flight took another 108 minutes, and Gagarin landed, according to official data, at 10:55. What would you do after everything you experienced on such a busy morning? Gagarin had to accept the first awards and communicate with the management; in the afternoon he gave interviews and took photographs for three hours. And only a few hours later, in the evening, around 6 p.m., at the regional committee’s dacha on the banks of the Volga, the cosmonaut was finally able to take a shower and eat normally. And at 21 o'clock the party began - they celebrated the successful flight.
12. Newsreel filming
The famous newsreels depicting the launch of Vostok-1 were actually filmed separately, for the sake of history, since the flight and launch itself were carried out in the strictest secrecy. During the filming, Gagarin again repeated everything he did on April 12, 1961.
In the last century, there were a lot of discoveries, scientific and technical achievements that literally turned the life of mankind upside down on the entire planet. This also includes Gagarin’s flight into space.
This event became one of the most striking for its time and even now represents a kind of calling card of Soviet and Russian cosmonautics.
Launching a person into space is a daunting task that required the mobilization of the country's best minds, the presence of well-functioning high-precision production and advanced electronics. Only all this together made it possible to accomplish this great event and open up new horizons of development for people.
At one time, the name of Yuri Gagarin thundered throughout the world, but now even he is gradually being forgotten. Modern schoolchildren and students are no longer so interested in the great achievements of the past, so periodically they just need to be reminded of this. After all, this is our common history.
Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin - the most important thing from the biography of the astronaut
The future world-famous cosmonaut began his life on March 9, 1934 in a village called Klushino, in the Smolensk region. In the sad year of 1941, Yura was about to go to school to study, but the attack by the Nazis changed the course of events and his studies were forcibly interrupted until 1943.
In 1954, the Gagarin family moved to Gzhatsk, where Yuri graduated from the 6th grade of school and went to study at the Lyubertsy vocational school. In 1951, the guy went to study at the Saratov Industrial College.
When they began to select a candidate for the first spaceship Vostok-1 to send into space, Gagarin submitted a report to enroll him in the team. Having passed all the necessary commissions and checks, he was approved as the main candidate.
Yuri's backup is German Titov, who was supposed to replace him in the event of any force majeure. These people were selected because they best fit the established requirements.
In what year did Gagarin fly into space?
April 12, 1961 became an epochal day in the history not only of the Soviet Union, but of all humanity. It was on this day that Yuri Gagarin boarded the Vostok-1 spacecraft and successfully launched into space.
The date was chosen in advance and at this time all the necessary work was carried out to debug the equipment, prepare the astronaut himself, and the board on which he was flying. Everything required careful checking and diagnosis, because even the slightest mistake could lead to Yuri’s death.
Were there people in space before Gagarin? The official version says that no, but as usual there are lovers of secret theories who claim that the first person in orbit was a certain cosmonaut Vladimir Ilyushin.
What cosmodrome did you launch from?
Yuri's flight into space took place at 9:07 am Moscow time from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, known throughout the world even today.
It is the first cosmodrome on the planet and in our time remains a leader in many respects, in particular, in size it is the largest such facility on the planet.
The Vostok rocket was launched from the cosmodrome under the control of Rocket Forces Colonel A. S. Kirillov. The second person in charge during this process was the deputy of the legendary designer Korolev L. A. Voskresensky.
What was the name of the ship
As mentioned above, the spaceship on which Gagarin went into space was called “Vostok”. It opened a whole series of ships with the same name, which in the future carried out more than one successful flight beyond the Earth's atmosphere.
“Vostok” was built by designer O. G. Ivanovsky. Under the careful supervision and guidance of the same legendary Sergei Pavlovich Korolev.
The ship used fairly simple, but at the same time extremely reliable and effective technical solutions and materials. The main tasks set for the ship were to collect information about how being in orbit would affect the human body, psyche and performance, as well as testing all systems and mechanisms.
How long did the flight last?
Yuri Gagarin, who became the first person to travel into space, spent a full 108 minutes in Earth's orbit and during this time made a full revolution around planet Earth.
As for the first flight in the history of mankind, this time was very impressive, because in order to ensure it, it was necessary to have a very high-quality execution of the spacecraft itself, careful and competent preparation of the astronaut, and the creation of all the conditions for him to stay in orbit.
The flight duration of future ships was already significantly longer. For example, the pilot of the Vostok-5 spacecraft, Valery Fedorovich Bykovsky, went into space on June 14, 1963 and stayed there for 5 whole days, flying around the earth more than 80 times.
The first female cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova, set off on the Vostok-6 spacecraft at the same time as Bykovsky, but two days later, and coped with the task perfectly.
How many orbits around the Earth did you make?
The ship "Vostok" made 1 revolution around our planet. This was an outstanding and unparalleled result.
The date of the ship's launch remained in people's memory forever and allowed us to open a new stage in the development of all mankind. The feat of Yuri Gagarin even now excites young minds and makes them strive for high things.
Gagarin's call sign during his first flight
During his first flight, Gagarin received the call sign "Kedr". The reason for this was not his height or other physical dimensions, but the desire of the project participants to use symbolism in this way.
Monument to Yuri Gagarin in Moscow
Cedar is an eternal tree that will always live in the memory of the people. So Yuri’s feat should live forever, like an ancient cedar. There are various stories about this call sign, but they are mostly speculation.
Where did the first astronaut land?
After flying around the orbit, the Vostok spacecraft began to descend, but due to a breakdown in the braking system, it landed not where it was originally planned.
The apparatus arrived in the area between the villages of Podgornoye and Smelovka. Gagarin was then picked up by military personnel in a helicopter and taken to Engels airfield. Photos of these significant events are probably stored in state archives.
Here are some interesting moments from the life of mankind's most famous astronaut:
- Probably every schoolchild knows what Gagarin said at the launch of his rocket. He uttered the iconic phrase “Let’s go!”
- Not everyone knows how old Gagarin was when he flew into space. The answer will surprise many young people, because when he was first sent in 1961, Yuri was 27 years old.
- The flight altitude of the Vostok ship was 250-300 km.
- This legendary and brave man died at a young age. He died at just 34 years old during an aircraft test. The causes of the disaster are still quite vague.
This is basic information about how the launch of the Vostok spacecraft and its sole captain, Yuri Gagarin, went. This historical breakthrough still remains in people’s memory, stimulating new stages of space exploration.
How did it all start? Gagarin's flight into space, which was the first in human history? And all this happened on April 12, 1961. Yu. Gagarin, a citizen of the Soviet Union who had the rank of senior lieutenant, was the first person to make a space flight in orbit around the Earth on the Vostok ship. Thus, he opened the era of space flights on manned spacecraft.
Gagarin's entire flight into space lasted 108 minutes, but despite this, it was a powerful impetus for the continuation of space exploration. Yu.A. Gagarin, as the first cosmonaut, received the rank of aviation major ahead of schedule and was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Selection of cosmonaut candidate and preparation.
How to determine who is the first to fly into space, of course, it certainly has to be a pilot, and a fighter jet pilot at that. Taking into account the specifics and capabilities of the then space technology, special candidates were needed - people who were absolutely healthy and professionally trained, as well as disciplined and meeting the entire complex of physical and medical conditions.
In addition to Yu.A. Gagarin, there were also contenders for the first flight into space. There were only twenty of them. The applicants were selected among fighter pilots, this was decided by Korolev, who believed that it was precisely these pilots who had experience of overload, as well as stressful situations and large pressure drops.
In addition, the selection of candidates was made taking into account positive characteristics, party membership, and also took into account political activity and social origin. Moreover, flight qualities did not play a significant role directly during selection.
In the first cosmonaut training squad there were two leaders: Yuri Gagarin and German Titov.
Of this number, twenty people, six were selected, this was due to the fact that Korolev was in a hurry, because there was information that somewhere at the end of April 1961, the Americans wanted to send their man into space. Therefore, the USSR planned the launch on April 11-17, 1961. The first cosmonaut was determined at the last moment, this was done at a meeting of the Civil Committee, it was Yu. Gagarin, and his comrade, German Titov, became an understudy.
And so, on April 3, 1961, the assembled Presidium of the Central Committee finally made a decision on manned space flight.
And just five days later, on April 8, 1961, the next meeting of the State Commission was held, at which the issue of launching the Vostok spacecraft was decided. This commission approved the assignment for man for the first space flight, which was signed by S.P. Korolev, as well as N.P. Kamanin. Here is the text -
“Perform a one-orbit flight around the Earth at an altitude of about 180-230 kilometers, and lasting about an hour and a half with landing in a given area. The purpose of the flight was also determined, it was this: it was necessary to check the following: the possibility of a person staying in space on a special, equipped ship, the equipment of the ship in flight, the connection of the ship with the Earth, and also to make sure of the necessary reliability of the landing of the ship with the astronaut.”
After the end of the open part of the meeting, remaining in a narrow composition, the commission, which approved Kamanin’s proposal for admission to Yuri Gagarin’s flight, that is, Gagarin was to fly into space first, and his friend Titov was to be approved for this flight as a reserve cosmonaut.
The first human space flight, Gagarin's flight into space
The participation of the USSR in the race for space exploration leads to the fact that in the work on creating the Vostok spacecraft, a number of not the best, but simple and quickly implementable solutions were chosen.
The Vostok spacecraft launched on April 12, 1961 at 09:07 Moscow time from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, located in Kazakhstan, with pilot-cosmonaut Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin on board; Yuri Gagarin had the call sign “Kedr”. The command “to start” was given, then Gagarin said his long-famous phrase: “Let’s go!”
During the flight, Gagarin carried out simple experiments in space, in orbit: i.e. he ate, drank, wrote notes with a pencil. “Putting” a pencil next to him, he accidentally discovered that it immediately began to float away. Gagarin concluded from this: pencils and other, other objects that are in space must be secured, i.e. tie. He recorded his feelings and observations on a tape recorder.
At the end of Gagarin’s flight into space, the braking propulsion system, designed by the famous designer Isaev, worked successfully, but with a slight lack of momentum, so the automation issued a signal to prohibit the normal separation of compartments.
During the descent, at an altitude of about 7 km, exactly in accordance with the given flight plan, Yu. Gagarin ejected, after which the capsule and the cosmonaut began to descend separately by parachute. This is where the problem arose, oddly enough it turned out to be the landing site. Yuri Gagarin parachuted into the winter river water of the Volga. But this time, Yuri Gagarin was helped by excellent pre-flight preparation - by controlling the lines, he was able to move the parachute away from the river water, and landed at a distance of about 1.5-2 kilometers from the river bank.
Return to Earth
Having completed one revolution around the Earth, Yuri Gagarin completed his flight at 10:55:34 in the 108th minute.
The first people to meet him on the ground after the flight were the wife of a local forester, Anna Takhtarova, and their six-year-old granddaughter, Rita. After a short time, military and local collective farmers arrived at the landing site. A group of military men, one of them took guard over the descent module, and the second group took Gagarin to the area where the unit was located. From here, Yu. Gagarin reported the following by phone to the commander of the air defense division: “Please convey to the Air Force Commander-in-Chief: I completed the task, landed in the given area, I feel good, there are no bruises or breakdowns. Gagarin."
At this time, a Mi-4 helicopter took off from the Engels airfield, the crew of which needed to find and pick up Gagarin. This crew, the Mi-4 crew, immediately discovered the descent module, but Gagarin was not next to it; Local residents explained the situation; they said that Yuri Gagarin had left on a truck for the city of Engels.
Then the Mi-4 took off and headed for the city of Engels. From the helicopter on the road, not far from the checkpoint, they noticed a car in which Gagarin, after the report, was already heading to his descent module. Here Yu. Gagarin got out of the car, waved his hands, the helicopter pilots picked him up and flew to the Engels airfield, transmitting a radiogram with the following content: “The cosmonaut has been taken on board, I am heading to the airfield.”
At the airfield in Engels, they were already eagerly waiting for Gagarin, and the entire leadership of the base pulled up to the helicopter ramp. Gagarin was presented with a telegram of congratulations from the Soviet government. In a Pobeda car, Gagarin was taken to the command and control center, and then to the base headquarters to contact Moscow.
About three hours after Gagarin arrived in Kuibyshev, Korolev and several other representatives from the State Commission arrived there. At about 9 o'clock in the evening, the table is set and Gagarin's successful flight and return from space are celebrated.
Taking into account the secrecy of the first manned flight into space, as well as the fact of Gagarin’s launch and flight into space were not covered in advance. The well-known footage of Gagarin was filmed not on the day of the launch into space, but later, especially for newsreels, where Gagarin repeated everything he did during the real launch.
Events after Yu.A. Gagarin's space flight
Successful completion of the planned research and implementation of the flight program On April 12, 1961, at exactly 10:55 a.m. Moscow time, the Soviet spacecraft Vostok made an accident-free landing in a given area of the Soviet Union.
Pilot-cosmonaut Major Gagarin said: “Please report to the party and the government that the landing went well, I feel good, I have no injuries or bruises.”
This flight of Gagarin into space opened up great prospects for the conquest of space by mankind.
This was a TASS message that was prepared in advance...
Meeting with Yuri Gagarin in Moscow
Initially, no one planned such a grandiose meeting for Gagarin in Moscow. This was all decided at the last moment, and Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev decided it. He called the Kremlin and insistently demanded a worthy meeting for Gagarin, the first cosmonaut.
On April 14, an Il-18 flew for Gagarin; on its approach to Moscow, the plane was accompanied by an honorary fighter escort consisting of seven MiG-17 fighters. The plane with the escort flew in ceremonial formation over the center of Moscow, then over Red Square, and landed at Vnukovo airport, where Yuri Gagarin received a grand reception: a mass of jubilant people, journalists and cameramen, as well as the country's leadership.
Then there was a trip in an open ZIL-111V, Gagarin greeted those greeting him while standing. There were congratulations all around, many waving placards. One person managed to break through the cordon and personally presented Gagarin with a bouquet. A rally took place on Red Square, at which Nikita Khrushchev announced that Yuri Gagarin was awarded the titles Hero of the Soviet Union, as well as “Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR”.
Foreign visits
The first foreign trip for Yuri Gagarin was a trip to Czechoslovakia. He was flying on a Tu-104 regular plane to Prague. When passengers on the flight recognized Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin, they rushed for autographs.
Yuri Gagarin visited Finland twice - in 1961 and 1962.
In July 1961, Gagarin arrived in the UK, he was invited by the English foundry union.
And in 1961, Gagarin managed to visit Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Finland, Great Britain, as well as Poland (July 21-22), Cuba, Brazil with a short stop on the island of Curacao, visited Canada in the same year with a stop in Iceland, Hungary, India, Ceylon, Afghanistan.
In general, Yu.A. Gagarin visited almost all countries of the world, where he was greeted joyfully and kindly.
Thus began an era, the era of human exploration of near space!
April 12th is forever inscribed in the history of mankind as Cosmonautics Day!
began long before man was there. Many people remember those times when seeing planet Earth or visiting the Moon was something out of the world of science fiction. Today, every schoolchild knows the date April 12, 1961 - first man's flight into space. This event, which was watched by the whole world, is associated with the name of the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin; his flight lasted 108 minutes.
This was a colossal success for Soviet scientists, the beginning of the history of mastering the territory of weightlessness, the whole country was waiting for Gagarin’s triumphant return home. After all, no matter how well the astronaut was prepared, no one knew what exactly was happening outside our planet. Year of the first flight into space knows the whole world, and April 12 has since become an official holiday.
The history of space exploration is the most striking example of the triumph of the human mind over once unruly matter. The first object that was able to fly into Earth’s orbit took 50 years to create by the standards of historical chronicles, which is quite a bit. Before made the first flight into space Yuri Gagarin, the textbook Belka and Strelka, whose return no one expected, have already been there. But it took place, and the shaggy ones returned home.
The flight took place in August 1960 on the fifth satellite; in one day the animals managed to fly around the planet 17 times. It was no coincidence that they chose white dogs - the image on the screens was black and white, so contrast was required to observe the behavior of Belka and Strelka. They developed a special system for training dogs; they had to get used to wearing a vest and calmly respond to surveillance sensors. Most of all, scientists were concerned about how the state of weightlessness would affect the body, and it was impossible to answer this question while on Earth. This honorable task faced the shaggy cosmonauts.
After 8 months it was completed first manned space flight. Immediately before Gagarin, in March, a dog named Zvezdochka flew there. Future cosmonauts were also present at the launch of the spacecraft to make sure that the object was completely ready for a safe human flight. Senior Lieutenant Gagarin also studied the technique. After it took place first manned space flight every year new discoveries were made.
It must be said that Belka and Strelka and Yuri Gagarin are far from the first living beings to conquer the territory of weightlessness. Before that, the dog Laika visited there, whose flight was prepared for 10 years and ended sadly - she died. Turtles, mice, and monkeys have also flown into space. The most striking flights, and there were only three of them, were made by a dog named Zhulka. Twice she launched on high-altitude rockets, the third - on a ship, which turned out to be not so perfect and suffered technical failures. The ship could not reach orbit, and a decision was considered to destroy it.
But again there are problems in the system, and the ship returns home prematurely and falls. The satellite was discovered in Siberia. No one hoped for a successful outcome of the search, not to mention the dog. But after surviving a terrible accident, hunger and thirst, Zhulka was saved and lived for another 14 years after the fall.
Gagarin in space. How it was
Day April 12, 1961 - began first flights into space man, it became a milestone and divided the history of the exploration of weightless space into two periods - when man only dreamed of stars and the time of conquest of the “dark” territory. Gagarin started as a senior lieutenant and landed with the new rank of major. Baikonur Cosmodrome, launch pad No. 1, at exactly 9:07 Moscow time, the Vostok-1 spacecraft set off with the first person on board. It took 90 minutes to fly around planet Earth and cover 41 thousand km.
Yuri Gagarin's first flight into space took place, he landed near Saratov and since then he has become one of the most revered and famous people on the Planet. It must be said that the astronaut had to experience a lot during the flight, he was well prepared, but even the most approximate conditions at home during training cannot be compared with what actually happened. The ship tumbled repeatedly, had to endure a lot of overloads, and there were system failures, but everything ended well. Thus, the Soviet Union won the space race with the United States.
The first manned flight into space: the most interesting things
A simple Soviet guy, Yuri Gagarin, accomplished a real feat, it was he who accomplished first flight into space this brought real success to the young man, now he will remain forever in the hearts of people with his famous “Let's go!” and a wide, kind smile. Do we know everything about this flight? There are many facts that were carefully hidden from the Soviet public until recently.
- Valentin Bondarenko could have become the first cosmonaut, but literally two weeks before the launch of the spacecraft, he died during a fire in a pressure chamber.
- Before entering the Earth's atmosphere, there was a failure in the automation responsible for separating the compartments, so the ship tumbled for 10 minutes.
- The landing in the Saratov region was not planned; Gagarin missed the target by 2800 km. The first people to meet the astronaut were the wife and daughter of a local forester.
- When selecting dogs for space flight, preference was given exclusively to females, since they did not raise their legs when relieving themselves.
- Gagarin's first flight into space could have ended tragically, so he wrote his wife a farewell letter, in case he did not return. Therefore, it was given away not in 1961, but in 1968 after a plane crash in which the astronaut died.
German Titov was much better physically prepared for the flight, but the charisma of his competitor played a key role here. Despite the fact that the Americans tried in every possible way to assign the title of discoverer to themselves and disputed year of the first manned space flight, arguing that they were there before, all their judgments are unfounded.
“My gaze settled on the clock,” Yuri Gagarin described the flight in the book “The Road to Space,” “the hands showed 9 hours 7 minutes Moscow time. I heard a whistle and an ever-increasing rumble, felt the giant ship tremble with its entire hull and slowly, very slowly came off the launch device. The struggle of the rocket with the force of gravity began... The powerful engines of the rocket created the music of the future, probably even more exciting and beautiful than the greatest creations of the past.”
When launching the spacecraft into orbit, the cosmonaut maintained radio contact with the Mission Control Center (MCC), observed the light alarm on the instrument panel, and controlled the separation of the rocket stages. Gagarin endured the effects of overloads and vibrations during takeoff quite satisfactorily. Soon a state of weightlessness set in, but this did not affect his well-being. During the flight, the astronaut ate food packed in tubes and drank water. All onboard equipment in the first human space flight operated in automatic mode.
“When I first looked out of the window of a spaceship at our planet,” Yu. A. Gagarin later wrote, “I admired the beauty of the blooming Earth.” At 10:25 a.m., after the orbit around the globe was completed, the command to descend was issued. The braking propulsion system was activated and the descent began. The overload was increasing. The ship began to rotate. Gagarin barely had time to close himself so that the blinding light of the Sun would not fall into his eyes, but did not use the curtains, waiting for the descent module to separate. He knew that this should happen 10 12s after the start of braking. It seemed to the astronaut that more time had passed, but there was no separation, and the rotation continued. Deciding that in such an abnormal situation he would still land somewhere even before the Far East, Gagarin transmitted to Earth: “VN” everything is fine. The ship's rotation suddenly slowed down and the thermal protection lit up. Through the porthole, the astronaut saw the light of the flame raging around the ship. The overload gradually increased, and I had to strain, which helped to endure it.
At an altitude of 7 km, the speed of the vehicle was sufficiently reduced, the hatch cover was shot off, and the cosmonaut ejected along with the seat, and at an altitude of 4 km the parachute opened. On April 12, 1961, at 10:55 am Moscow time, Yu. A. Gagarin landed near the village of Smelovki, Ternovsky district, Saratov region.
“No,” the astronaut’s wife later said, “perhaps calling this day the pinnacle of his life would not be entirely correct. The top means that the further path is down, the ascent is completed. Yuri dreamed of new heights. He dreamed of movement. In him I saw the meaning of human existence...” “An unprecedented flow of glory fell upon the first cosmonaut,” recalled Deputy Commander of the Air Force for Space, General N.P. Kamanin. - After a difficult cosmic road, a difficult earthly one began. The whole world demanded Gagarin. Everyone wanted to know something about his life, hobbies, habits...”
On April 14, 1961, a plane with the first cosmonaut on board landed at Vnukovo airport. The ramp arrived, Yu. A. Gagarin left the salon and began to descend onto the path. “I had to go, and go alone,” he later shared his thoughts. - And I went. Never, even there, in the spaceship, have I been so worried as at that moment. The path was long, very long. And while I was walking along it, I was able to pull myself together. I move forward under the lenses of television eyes, movie cameras and cameras. I know everyone is looking at me. And suddenly I feel something that no one noticed - my shoe lace came undone. Now I’ll step on it and, in front of all the honest people, I’ll stretch out on the red carpet. There will be confusion and laughter - he didn’t fall in space, but fell on flat ground...”
The meeting was great. In total, during his first flight, Yuri spent 108 minutes in space. Yu. A. Gagarin became a national hero and an idol of many people on the planet.
