His older brother Valentin was born in 1924, and by the time Yuri was born he was already helping with the cattle on the farm.
His sister Zoya, born in 1927, helped take care of "Yura" and their youngest brother Boris, born in 1936. Gagarin's hometown was situated along the path of several invasions of Russia, and had been the site of many wars and conquests from foreign nations.
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space, achieving a major milestone in the Space Race; his capsule, Vostok 1, completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961.
Gagarin died five weeks later when the MiG-15 training jet he was piloting with flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin crashed near the town of Kirzhach. == Early life == Yuri Gagarin was born 9 March 1934 in the village of Klushino, in the Smolensk Oblast of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, near Gzhatsk (renamed Gagarin in 1968 after his death).
His sister Zoya, born in 1927, helped take care of "Yura" and their youngest brother Boris, born in 1936. Gagarin's hometown was situated along the path of several invasions of Russia, and had been the site of many wars and conquests from foreign nations.
The Nazis captured Klushino on 18 October 1941.
In early 1943, his two older siblings were deported by the Germans to Poland for slave labour.
When the Germans were routed out of Klushino on 9 March 1944, Yuri helped the Red Army find mines buried in the roads by the fleeing German army. == Education and early career == In 1946, the family moved to Gzhatsk, where Gagarin continued his education.
They did not return home until after the war, in 1945. The rest of the Gagarin family believed the two older children were dead, and Yuri became ill with "grief and hunger"; he was also beaten for refusing to work for the German forces and spent the remainder of the war at a hospital as a patient and later as an orderly.
When the Germans were routed out of Klushino on 9 March 1944, Yuri helped the Red Army find mines buried in the roads by the fleeing German army. == Education and early career == In 1946, the family moved to Gzhatsk, where Gagarin continued his education.
He was fascinated with flying crafts from a young age and his interest in airplanes was energized after a Yakovlev fighter plane crash landed in Klushino during the war. In 1950, aged 16, Gagarin began an apprenticeship as a foundryman at a steel plant in Lyubertsy, near Moscow, and enrolled at a local "young workers" school for seventh-grade evening classes.
After graduating in 1951 from both the seventh grade and the vocational school with honours in mouldmaking and foundry work, he was selected for further training at the Industrial Technical School in Saratov, where he studied tractors.
He earned extra money as a part-time dock labourer on the Volga River. == Soviet Air Force service == In 1955, Gagarin was accepted to the First Chkalovsky Higher Air Force Pilots School in Orenburg.
He initially began training on the Yak-18 already familiar to him and later graduated to training on the MiG-15 in February 1956.
Having completed his evaluation in a trainer aircraft, Gagarin began flying solo in 1957. On 5 November 1957, Gagarin was commissioned a lieutenant in the Soviet Air Forces having accumulated 166 hours and 47 minutes of flight time.
On 17 February 1968, Gagarin successfully defended his aerospace engineering thesis on the subject of spaceplane aerodynamic configuration and graduated cum laude from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. == Personal life == In 1957, while a cadet in flight school, Gagarin met Valentina Goryacheva at the May Day celebrations at the Red Square in Moscow.
On 7 July 1959, he was rated Military Pilot 3rd Class.
After expressing interest in space exploration following the launch of Luna 3 on 6 October 1959, his recommendation to the Soviet space programme was endorsed and forward by Lieutenant Colonel Babushkin.
Gagarin was promoted to the rank of senior lieutenant on 6 November 1959, three weeks after he was interviewed by a medical commission for qualification to the space programme. == Soviet space programme == === Selection and training === Gagarin's selection for the Vostok programme was overseen by the Central Flight Medical Commission led by Major General Konstantin Fyodorovich Borodin of the Soviet Army Medical Service.
Yelena Yurievna Gagarina, born 1959, is an art historian who has worked as the director-general of the Moscow Kremlin Museums since 2001; and Galina Yurievna Gagarina, born 1961, is a professor of economics and the department chair at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow.
The first twelve including Gagarin were approved on 7 March 1960 and eight more were added in a series of subsequent orders issued until June.
Gagarin began training at the Khodynka Airfield in downtown Moscow on 15 March 1960.
In April 1960, they began parachute training in Saratov Oblast and each completed about 40 to 50 jumps from both low and high altitude, over both land and water. Gagarin was a candidate favoured by his peers; when they were asked to vote anonymously for a candidate besides themselves they would like to be the first to fly, all but three chose Gagarin.
On 30 May 1960, Gagarin was further selected for an accelerated training group, known as the Vanguard Six or Sochi Six, from which the first cosmonauts of the Vostok programme would be chosen.
Gagarin enrolled in the programme in September 1960 and did not earn his specialist diploma until early 1968.
In August 1960, a Soviet Air Force doctor evaluated his personality as follows: The Vanguard Six were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961 and entered a two-day examination conducted by a special interdepartmental commission led by Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kamanin, the overseer of the Vostok programme.
On the eighth anniversary of the beginning of the Cuban Revolution (26 July), President Osvaldo Dorticos of Cuba presented him with the first Commander of the Order of Playa Girón, a newly created medal. Gagarin was also awarded the 1960 Gold Air Medal and the 1961 De la Vaulx Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Switzerland.
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space, achieving a major milestone in the Space Race; his capsule, Vostok 1, completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961.
In August 1960, a Soviet Air Force doctor evaluated his personality as follows: The Vanguard Six were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961 and entered a two-day examination conducted by a special interdepartmental commission led by Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kamanin, the overseer of the Vostok programme.
Historian Asif Siddiqi writes of the final selection: === Vostok 1 === On 12 April 1961, at 6:07 am UTC, the Vostok 3KA-3 (Vostok 1) spacecraft was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome.
On 15 April 1961, accompanied by officials from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, he answered questions at a press conference in Moscow reportedly attended by 1,000 reporters.
Yelena Yurievna Gagarina, born 1959, is an art historian who has worked as the director-general of the Moscow Kremlin Museums since 2001; and Galina Yurievna Gagarina, born 1961, is a professor of economics and the department chair at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow.
Following his rise to fame, at a Black Sea resort in September 1961, he was reportedly caught by his wife during a liaison with a nurse who had aided him after a boating incident.
Leonov said the first boom he heard was that of the jet breaking the sound barrier and the second was Gagarin's plane crashing. According to some conspiracy theories, Gagarin's death was ordered by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, who supposedly was jealous of Gagarin's popularity, overshadowing him at public events. == Awards and honours == === Medals and orders of merit === On 14 April 1961, Gagarin was honoured with a parade attended by millions of people that concluded at the Red Square.
Gagarin had also been awarded four Soviet commemorative medals over the course of his career. He was honoured as a Hero of Socialist Labor from Czechoslovakia on 29 April 1961, and Hero of Socialist Labor (Bulgaria, including the Order of Georgi Dimitrov) the same year.
On the eighth anniversary of the beginning of the Cuban Revolution (26 July), President Osvaldo Dorticos of Cuba presented him with the first Commander of the Order of Playa Girón, a newly created medal. Gagarin was also awarded the 1960 Gold Air Medal and the 1961 De la Vaulx Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Switzerland.
President Jânio Quadros of Brazil decorated Gagarin on 2 August 1961 with the Order of Aeronautical Merit, Commander grade.
The town of Gagarin, Armenia was renamed in his honour in 1961. In 1961 the Olympic sports training center in Chernihiv in Ukraine, was named Stadion Yuri Gagarin and the 25 May 1964, Gagarin in person attended the stadium. Gagarin has been honoured on the Moon by astronauts and astronomers.
He was also elected as a deputy of the Soviet of the Union in 1962 and then to the Soviet of Nationalities, respectively the lower and upper chambers of the Supreme Soviet. Vostok 1 was Gagarin's only spaceflight, but he served as the backup crew to the Soyuz 1 mission, which ended in a fatal crash, killing his friend and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov.
Kennedy barred Gagarin from visiting the United States. In 1962, Gagarin began serving as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union, and was elected to the Central Committee of the Young Communist League.
He became a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Forces on 12 June 1962, and received the rank of colonel on 6 November 1963.
During a tour of Egypt in late January 1962, Gagarin received the Order of the Nile and the golden keys to the gates of Cairo.
Since 1962, it has been celebrated in the USSR and most of its former territories as Cosmonautics Day.
He became a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Forces on 12 June 1962, and received the rank of colonel on 6 November 1963.
On 22 October 1963, Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova were honoured with the Order of Karl Marx from the German Democratic Republic. === Tributes === The date of Gagarin's space flight, 12 April, has been commemorated.
The town of Gagarin, Armenia was renamed in his honour in 1961. In 1961 the Olympic sports training center in Chernihiv in Ukraine, was named Stadion Yuri Gagarin and the 25 May 1964, Gagarin in person attended the stadium. Gagarin has been honoured on the Moon by astronauts and astronomers.
Despite this, he remained a strong contender for Soyuz 1 until he was replaced by Komarov in April 1966 and reassigned to Soyuz 3. The Soyuz 1 launch was rushed due to implicit political pressures and despite Gagarin's protests that additional safety precautions were necessary.
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space, achieving a major milestone in the Space Race; his capsule, Vostok 1, completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961.
After completing training at the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy in February 1968, he was allowed to fly regular aircraft.
Gagarin died five weeks later when the MiG-15 training jet he was piloting with flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin crashed near the town of Kirzhach. == Early life == Yuri Gagarin was born 9 March 1934 in the village of Klushino, in the Smolensk Oblast of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, near Gzhatsk (renamed Gagarin in 1968 after his death).
Gagarin enrolled in the programme in September 1960 and did not earn his specialist diploma until early 1968.
On 17 February 1968, Gagarin successfully defended his aerospace engineering thesis on the subject of spaceplane aerodynamic configuration and graduated cum laude from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. == Personal life == In 1957, while a cadet in flight school, Gagarin met Valentina Goryacheva at the May Day celebrations at the Red Square in Moscow.
In April 2011, documents from a 1968 commission set up by the Central Committee of the Communist Party to investigate the accident were declassified.
The Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City was named on 30 April 1968.
The Russian Air Force Academy was renamed the Gagarin Air Force Academy in 1968.
During the American space programme's Apollo 11 mission in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left a memorial satchel containing medals commemorating Gagarin and Komarov on the Moon's surface.
In 1970, a wide crater on the far side was named after him.
Gagarin was inducted as a member of the 1976 inaugural class of the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico. Gagarin is memorialised in music; a cycle of Soviet patriotic songs titled The Constellation Gagarin (Созвездье Гагарина|translit=Sozvezdie Gagarina|label=none) was written by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov in 1970–1971.
In 1971, Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin left the small Fallen Astronaut sculpture at their landing site as a memorial to the American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts who died in the Space Race; the names on its plaque included Yuri Gagarin and 14 others.
Gagarin was inducted as a member of the 1976 inaugural class of the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico. Gagarin is memorialised in music; a cycle of Soviet patriotic songs titled The Constellation Gagarin (Созвездье Гагарина|translit=Sozvezdie Gagarina|label=none) was written by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov in 1970–1971.
On 4 June 1980, Monument to Yuri Gagarin in Gagarin Square, Leninsky Avenue, Moscow, was opened.
Since 2000, Yuri's Night, an international celebration, is held annually to commemorate milestones in space exploration.
Yelena Yurievna Gagarina, born 1959, is an art historian who has worked as the director-general of the Moscow Kremlin Museums since 2001; and Galina Yurievna Gagarina, born 1961, is a professor of economics and the department chair at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow.
In 2001, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, a series of four coins bearing his likeness was issued in Russia; it consisted of a two-ruble coin in copper-nickel, a three-ruble coin in silver, a ten-ruble coin in brass-copper and nickel, and a 100-ruble coin in silver.
According to a biography of Gagarin by Jamie Doran and Piers Bizony, Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin, the KGB worked "not just alongside the Air Force and the official commission members but against them." The KGB's report, declassified in March 2003, dismissed various conspiracy theories and instead indicated the actions of airbase personnel contributed to the crash.
Another theory, advanced in 2005 by the original crash investigator, hypothesizes that a cabin air vent was accidentally left open by the crew or the previous pilot, leading to oxygen deprivation and leaving the crew incapable of controlling the aircraft.
In a 2006 interview, Gagarin's friend Colonel Valentin Petrov stated that Gagarin never said these words and that the quote originated from Khrushchev's speech at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU about the state's anti-religion campaign, saying "Gagarin flew into space, but didn't see any god there".
Leonov and presented by Russian embassy in Jakarta, is considered as "a sign of strengthening relations" between Moscow and Jakarta, which have been sister cities since 2006. === 50th anniversary === The 50th anniversary of Gagarin's journey into space was marked in 2011 by tributes around the world.
This dive caused them to lose consciousness and crash. On 12 April 2007, the Kremlin vetoed a new investigation into the death of Gagarin.
In 2011, Russia issued a 1,000-ruble coin in gold and a three-ruble coin in silver to mark the 50th anniversary of his flight. In 2008, the Kontinental Hockey League named their championship trophy the Gagarin Cup.
In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Gagarin was ranked as the sixth-most-popular space hero, tied with the fictional character James T.
In April 2011, documents from a 1968 commission set up by the Central Committee of the Communist Party to investigate the accident were declassified.
In 2011, it was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight by the United Nations. A number of buildings and locations have been named for Gagarin.
In 2011, Russia issued a 1,000-ruble coin in gold and a three-ruble coin in silver to mark the 50th anniversary of his flight. In 2008, the Kontinental Hockey League named their championship trophy the Gagarin Cup.
Beside the column is a replica of the descent module used during his spaceflight. In 2011, a statue of Gagarin was unveiled at Admiralty Arch in The Mall in London, opposite the permanent sculpture of James Cook.
The sculpture was completed in 2011 by Leonov, who is also an artist, and was a gift to Houston commissioned by various Russian organisations.
Leonov and presented by Russian embassy in Jakarta, is considered as "a sign of strengthening relations" between Moscow and Jakarta, which have been sister cities since 2006. === 50th anniversary === The 50th anniversary of Gagarin's journey into space was marked in 2011 by tributes around the world.
In 2013, the statue was moved to a permanent location outside the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. In 2012, a statue was unveiled at the site of NASA's original spaceflight headquarters on South Wayside Drive in Houston.
The Russian Federation presented a bust of Gagarin to several cities in India including one that was unveiled at the Birla Planetarium in Kolkata in February 2012. In April 2018, a bust of Gagarin erected on the street in Belgrade, Serbia, that bears his name was removed, after less than a week.
A Russian docudrama titled First in Space was released in 2013.
In 2013, the statue was moved to a permanent location outside the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. In 2012, a statue was unveiled at the site of NASA's original spaceflight headquarters on South Wayside Drive in Houston.
The Russian Federation presented a bust of Gagarin to several cities in India including one that was unveiled at the Birla Planetarium in Kolkata in February 2012. In April 2018, a bust of Gagarin erected on the street in Belgrade, Serbia, that bears his name was removed, after less than a week.
Belgrade City Manager Goran Vesic stated that neither the city, the Serbian Ministry of Culture, nor the foundation that financed it had prior knowledge of the design. In August 2019, the Italian artist Jorit painted Gagarin's face on the facade of a twenty-story building in the district of Odintsovo, Russia.
The mural is the largest portrait of Gagarin in the world. In March 2021, a statue of Gagarin was unveiled at Mataram Park (Taman Mataram) in Jakarta, Indonesia in celebration of the 70th anniversary of Indonesia-Russia diplomatic relations as well as the 60th anniversary of the first human space flight.
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