It’s April the 12th, 1961
and the Vostok 1 capsule has started
its re-entry to earth’s atmosphere.
However
all is not well.
The service module
which should have separated from the re-entry capsule
is still attached.
High above Egypt,
the little spacecraft is being thrown into wild gyrations
as the two parts heat up in the upper atmosphere.
Inside the capsule,
the first man in space,
Yuri Gagarin,
assesses the situation
as he experiences up to 10 times the force of gravity.
In his own words:
“There was a moment
about 2 to 3 seconds,
when the data on the control gauges started looking blurry.
It was starting turning gray in my eyes…”
Yuri Gagarin was born on March the 9th 1934 in Klushino,
a small village just over 100 miles west of Moscow.
His family were peasants before the revolution
and when Yuri was born
were working on a collective farm.
During the war
Klushino was occupied by the Germans.
The Gagarin residence was commandeered
by a German officer
and the Gagarin’s lived in a 9 square meter mud hut
in the land behind the house.
The Germans sent 2 of Yuri’s older brothers
to work as slave labor in Poland.
After the war the family moved to Gzhatsk
and aged 16 Yuri went to work
as an apprentice in a steel plant.
During this time he took evening classes
and after graduation moved to Saratov
where he studied tractors at the Saratov Industrial Technical school.
He volunteered at the local flying club,
flying on weekends as an air cadet.
To make ends meet
he also worked as a dock labourer on the Volga river.
In 1955 at the age of 21
he was admitted to Air Force pilots school in Orenburg
and shortly after started training on the MiG 15.
At 5′2" or 157cm
Gagarin wasn’t tall by today's standards.
He struggled landing the 2 seater trainer
and was almost dismissed from pilot training.
He was given one last chance
to successfully land the MiG 15.
Yuri’s instructor gave him a cushion to sit on
to improve his view
and Yuri landed the aircraft without any issue.
In 1957
Yuri became a Lieutenant in the Soviet Air Force
and towards the end of 1959
at the age of 25
he volunteered for the Soviet space programme.
The selection programme was rigorous.
Pilots had to be between the ages of 25 to 30,
weigh less than 72 kg or 159lb
and be below 5'7" tall.
154 pilots were short listed
and went through the intense psychological and physical tests.
Finally just 20 were approved.
The men trained together
and Gagarin was hugely popular.
When the trainees were asked to vote
who should be the first pilot to go into space
all but 3 voted for Yuri.
The State commission meeting on April the 8th 1961
just 4 days before the flight
nominated that Yuri Gagarin would be the primary pilot
and Yuri’s friend and colleague,
German Titov, should be his backup.
On the day of the launch
in the bus on the way to the launchpad,
Gagarin needed to pee.
He asked the bus driver to stop
and “christened” the back right hand tyre of the bus.
This tradition still continues today
with all pilots taking off from Baikonur.
The women cosmonauts prepare a cup
so they too can splash the rear wheel.
Gagarin entered the Vostok 1 at 04:10 UTC
and was strapped in.
Launch was 2 hours away.
Gagarin talked to capcom and to Korolev.
Korolev was the genius behind the Soviet space programme
and was so nervous
he had to be given a pill to calm him.
At this time 50% of Soviet launches were unsuccessful
and everyone was aware of the odds.
Unbelievably during this time
Yuri asked for some music to be played
and was described as
“calm”.
Half an hour prior to launch
his pulse was just 64 beats per minute.
Three press releases were already prepared.
Two for failure
and one for success.
At 06:07 am UTC
the engines fired
and the launch began.
Gagarin famously said
“Поехали!”
or
“Lets go!”
followed by
“Goodbye, until we meet soon, dear friends”
and Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space.
Gagarin had no control of the spacecraft.
The Soviet scientists were unsure
what the effects of space would be.
So to play it safe
they put a series of codes into a sealed envelope
that Gagarin would open
under exceptional circumstances
so that he could initiate the landing procedure himself.
11 minutes after lift off
as the Vostok 1 capsule passed over the Soviet Union
Gagarin reported:
“The craft is operating normally.
I can see the Earth in the view port.
Everything is proceeding as planned.”
No one knows exactly what went through his mind at this time.
He had time to eat and drink
during his 108 minute orbit of the Earth.
As a consummate professional he was surely focused on his mission.
However
the incredible achievement of getting a man into space
just 16 years after the USSR was devastated by war
сould not have been lost on him.
53 minutes into the flight at 7am UTC
as Vostok 1 passed over the Strait of Magellan
at the tip of South America,
Radio Moscow announced the news
that the Soviet Union had put a man into space.
News that was to shake the world.
The flight had been designed
so that if retrofire was unsuccessful
Yuri would fall to Earth naturally after 10 days.
The orbit was higher than planned though
and so natural orbit would have been 20 days.
Far far longer than Yuri’s supplies would last.
Fortunately
Retro fire occurred successfully about 1 hour into the flight
and started to bring Yuri home.
It was a very bumpy ride
due to the faulty separation of service module and capsule.
Gagarin wrote:
“The spacecraft started spinning around its axis
at very high speed.
One moment I see Africa,
another moment the horizon,
another the sky.
I barely had time to shade myself from the sun,
so the light did not blind my eyes…
But I did not close the blinds.
I wanted to find out myself what was going on.”
Finally over the Mediterranean sea the module separated.
There is still debate as to why this happened.
Some have speculated that cables burned through in re-entry
separating the modules,
some that temperature sensors triggered the separation.
However the separation did occur
and the Sharik re-entry capsule successfully entered the atmosphere.
The bright glow of re-entry was visible behind the window shields.
The thermal protection crackled
and an alarming smell of burning entered the capsule.
At a height of 7km
Gagarin jettisoned the hatch
and he ejected from the capsule
still strapped into his ejection seat.
Gagarin landed separate to his capsule.
A fact that the Soviets lied about until 1971.
The rules for the record books
set by the FAI in 1961
stated that the pilot had to land with the spacecraft
to be considered for the record,
a rule that was later changed.
Gagarin landed on a farm
500 miles south of Moscow
by parachute in his bright orange spacesuit
near a farmer and her daughter.
They were scared and started to back off in fear.
Gagarin called out:
“I am a Soviet citizen like you
who has descended from space
and I must find a telephone to call Moscow!”
Gagarin was awarded “The Hero of the Soviet Union”.
And in Russia he was loved by the people
who called him Yura
which is the friendly form of Yuri.
The world embraced the brave young cosmonaut
and his winning smile
as he went on tour
visiting 30 countries around the globe
although JFK barred him from entering the US.
Gagarin restarted pilot training
but the authorities were reluctant to have him fly again.
To risk losing him would have been a disaster.
He was backup for his friend
Vladimir Komarov
on the Soyuz 1 flight.
Soyuz 1 was rushed due to political pressures
and Gagarin was unhappy with the safety of the craft.
When Soyuz 1 crashed
after its parachute failed to open
Gagarin was banned from any further spaceflights
The impact of Gagarin’s achievement
spurred the United States into action
and pushed the moon landings forward with JFK announcing in 1962:
“We choose to go to the moon!”
On the 27th March 1968
Gagarin was on a training flight in a Mig 15 UTI.
There are a number of theories as to what happened
including bird strike
and a near miss with another plane
but it seems the aircraft entered into a spin
that couldn’t be recovered.
The ashes of Gagarin and his flight instructor
who was also in the plane
are in the walls of the Kremlin.
The Apollo astronauts
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
left a memorial to Gagarin and Komarov on the moon.
Yuri wrote a note to his wife
prior to his space flight in the event of an accident.
She was given the note 7 years later,
after his plane crash.
It talks of his hopes for his daughters and his wife
and finishes:
“Goodbye, my dears.
I embrace you all tight and kiss you.
Your Dad and Yura.”