Remembering the late Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, on his birthday
Yuri Gagarin tragically died in 1968, but his legacy as the first man to enter outer space and orbit the Earth will live on forever.
Yuri Gagarin was born in the small Russian village of Klushino, near Gzhatsk (renamed Gagarin in 1968, after his death) to parents Alexey Ivanovich Gagarin, who worked as a carpenter and bricklayer, and Anna Timofeyevna Gagarina, who worked as a milkmaid.
Gagarin had a rather difficult childhood, starting in November 1941 when a Nazi officer took over their residence and the Gagarin family were forced to build a three square metre mud hut on the land behind their house.
After graduating from vocational school, he underwent further training at the Saratov Industrial Technical School.
During his time there, he volunteered for weekend training as a Soviet air cadet at a local flying club, where he would naturally learn to fly – at first in a biplane and later in a Yak-18 trainer.
He graduated from the technical school in 1955 and was drafted into the Soviet Army. He was later sent to the First Chkalov Air Force Pilot’s School in Orenburg on recommendation in 1957.
Gagarin became a Lieutenant in the Soviet Air Force on 5 November 1957 and on 6 November 1959, was promoted to the position of Senior Lieutenant.
He was chosen, along with 19 others, for the Soviet Space Program in 1960 and was further selected for an elite training group known as the Sochi Six, from which the first cosmonauts of the Vostok programme were chosen.
The list for the first launch was shortened to just two – Gagarin and Gherman Titov – due to their training performance, and their size.
Gagarin was a mere 1,57m tall, and was eminently suited to the limited space in the Vostok cockpit.
The launch took place on 12 April, 1961, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, leading to Gagarin simultaneously becoming the first human in space and the first to orbit the Earth.
At the time of launch, Gagarin shouted, “Let’s go” to the control room. This became a historical phrase in the Eastern Bloc, and was used to refer to the beginning of the Space Age.
Upon his return to Earth, Gagarin became a national hero across the entire Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, as well as a worldwide celebrity. He went on numerous tours around the world, visiting Italy, Germany, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Egypt, Finland, and the United Kingdom.
From 1962 until his death, he filled a number of political positions, as well as several ranks in the Soviet Air Force.
Yuri Gagarin died on 27 March, 1968, while on a routine training flight at Chkalovsky Air Base. The cause of the accident is to this day still not definitively known; however, several conspiracy theories have materialised.
He was cremated with the flying instructor who also died in the crash and his ashes were interred in the wall of the Kremlin on Red Square.
Gagarin became an honorary citizen of 21 cities across nine different countries and was also awarded the golden keys to the gates of the Egyptian cities, Cairo and Alexandria.
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