During our journey in the history of Space , there will be people we will not talk about and who nevertheless participated in this wonderful human adventure.
Let them know that whatever their role : astronauts
, engineers
, person in charge of the household , cook
…, humanity is grateful to them and thanks
them for what they have done.
Born on March 9, 1934 in Russia, Yuri Gagarin came from a modest family, but his mom tried to give him a taste for reading at an early age.
During the Second World War, Yuri was 7 years old and experienced fear, deprivation and all sorts of atrocities.
One day, a Soviet fighter plane landed near his village and a rescue plane came to get the pilots. Little Yuri is fascinated by the plane and the pilots, one of them even shows him how the cockpit works.
He doesn’t know it yet but this event will change Yuri’s life.
Having become a foundry worker, Yuri enrolled in an aeroclub and, at the age of 21, he decided to train as a fighter pilot.
At the end of 1959, he was one of 20 pilots selected to become a cosmonaut
.
On April 12, 1961 at the age of 27, he took off for Space.
The reliability of his rocket SEMIORKA is not that of the rockets
of today and, he knows that he will perhaps not return. However at the time of the launch, he is smiling
.
The end of the flight will know some incidents. Thus, during the re-entry in the atmosphere, the spaceship turns dangerously on itself and Yuri is subjected during 10 minutes to accélérations of 10g ( as if his weight had been multiples by 10 ), his vision darkens.
At 7000 meters of altitude, Yuri ejects and completes his descent by parachute.
.
The Soviet authorities will reveal this fact only 17 years later because they were afraid that the flight was not approved.
Victim of a plane accident which cost him his life in 1968, Yuri will not return in Space but will remain in the eyes
of the world a pioneer of Space exploration and a hero !
In the race for Space conquest Russians
and Americans
have always competed. With Yuri Gagarin, the Soviet Union has taken a lead but the United States are never far away and when we are on Earth
there is a small white shape in the sky that attracts all the covetousness, a place where humans would like to go for a walk !