This April, specifically on the 12th, marks the 60th anniversary of the first flight of a man into space, the Soviet Yuri Gagarin. On that April 12, 1961, the world stopped to see a human being leave our planet for the first time.
Gagarin's flight took place just 3 years and May after another March of the former USSR, the sending of the first satellite into space, Sputnik.
The historic feat took place on the Vostok spacecraft and lasted about 108 minutes. The Russian cosmonaut circled the planet before returning safely to Earth.
Gagarin's Flight
At 9:07 am Moscow time, Vostok 1 started its engines and took off from the Soviet launch center.
After the ascent and long-awaited entry into orbit, Gagarin looked up at Planet Earth and said his iconic phrase, "The earth is blue".
“The feeling of weightlessness was a little strange compared to Earth. Circling Earth in the orbiter, I marveled at the beauty of our planet.” also said the Soviet.
the landing
Today we are used to seeing re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere and landing. Rockets like SpaceX's turn in reverse, the capsules open large parachutes and make their landings (water landing).
At the time of Space Shuttles, landing was like a plane with engines off, but with Yuri Gagarin it was completely different.
Vostok 1 had no engines to slow its re-entry speed and the impact with the ground could be fatal, so the Soviets' solution for the cosmonaut's safety was a parachute jump.
Yes, Yuri Gagarin jumped from his ship about 7 km high and landed with a parachute on Soviet soil.
tragic end
Yuri Gagarin would make a second space flight in 1968, however, the Soviet hero ended up dying in a tragic accident in a MiG-15 fighter.
On March 27 of that year, Yuri and his companion died in the crash of a MiG-15 fighter, the real cause of the accident was a secret for 50 years, and only in 2011 did Russia reveal that the accident was caused by a “manoeuvre”. brusque”.
However, some say that Gagarin's death may have had other reasons, including suicide and political sabotage.
In 2013, a colleague of the famous cosmonaut said that a Sukhoi fighter would have ed very close to the MiG, which caused turbulence.
Others report that a strange object that was not very well specified, would have scared the pilots, who in turn performed an evasive maneuver and lost control of the jet that went into a spin.
Recognition
Yuri Gagarin became a Soviet hero and received the Medal of the Order of Lenin and 'Hero of the Soviet Union' from Lenin, his highest honour.
On the international scene, the young Soviet man who at the age of 27 went into space also gained prominence and further boosted the Space Race with the USA, which sent the first US astronaut a few months after the flight of Gagarin, the US astronaut, was Mercury Alan Shepard.
Other Curiosities
Known for having gone to space, Gagarin was a great lover of aviation, the future first man in space enjoyed building model airplanes when he was young.
Still in his youth Yuri flew light aircraft in an Aero Club in the region. Some time later he entered the Orenburg Military Pilot School, where he learned in the iconic MiG-15.
After his memorable flight into space, Yuri went on a world tour, visiting several countries, including Brazil.
In Brazilian lands, the Soviet cosmonaut went to São Paulo and Brasília, where he met the president of Brazil at the time, Jânio Quadros.
Research sources: Space.com/History HIT
