YURI GAGARIN
Yuri was born on March 9, 1934 in Klushino, a small village 100 miles west of Moscow. His father was a cabinetmaker, carpenter, bricklayer, and farmer, and his mother was a milkmaid. Together they worked on a kolkhoz or collective farm. By Soviet social standards, his heritage was impeccable. He was the third of four children. During the war, the Nazis threw his family out of their home and took away two of his sisters. Yuri helped his parents dig a dugout where they lived untill the war was over, then the family moved to Gziatsk. When he was a teenager, he witnessed a Russian Yak fighter plane make a forced landing in a field near his home. It was just returning from battle, its wings bullet-ridden. When the pilots emerged covered in medals, he was extremely impressed. As he later recalled,
April 12 is International Day of Human space Flight. It was on this day in 1961 that Yuri Gagarin created history as he circled the earth on board the vostok 1 space craft. United Nations declared April 12 to be the “International Day of Human Space flight” The resolution said the first International Day in 2011 would mark the 50 th anniversary of the flight by Gagarin and reaffirm, the important contribution of space science and technology in achieving sustainable goal and increasing the well-being of states and peoples. The Day ensures that outer space continues to be explored for peaceful purpose. The move was initiated by the Russian Federation which paid homage to Gagarin and said that exploring space had brought immense benefits to mankind in the areas of meteorology, agriculture, telecom, biology and physics. Further, the concept of a space station saw people of different countries coming together to explore space. The resolution also focused on Gagarin’s statement during his flight where he had said he was amazed to see that our planet is blue”
The Russian Federation made it known that the flight was a landmark event in the 20th century and that Gagarin’s move had led to more achievements like space stations and the creation of space stations “Today, flights in to space are no longer anything extraordinary. For over 50 years more than 500 visited space. Even the term space tourism has emerged.. In another important statement, the U.S representatives said the cold war” space race is over and we have all won” Yuri Gagarin was among a score of pilot’s chosen to develop the soviet space programme. The 20th century was a time that marked the great race to explore space between the soviet Union and the west, mainly the US. In Russia Gagarin became a hero. Across the world, newspapers spent pages publishing his biography and the exciting details of his flight. Gagarin was taken in a parade to the Kremlin and was later decorated with the highest Soviet honour, the “Hero of the Soviet Union” by the Soviet leader Nikita Kurshehev. Documents say Gagarin was finally chosen for the mission because of his modesty, his ability to handle complex mathematical concepts, for his sharp reactions and the fact that he was physically fit. After his flight, Gagarin said the feeling of weightlessness was most striking and it felt as if a person was suspended in mid-air. Gagarin went on world tour which only brought him more fame. A few countries printed postal stationary with his image stamps at covers which some minted coins that had his engraved image
Prof. John Kurakar
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