China Daily Global Edition (USA)
HOW THE SPACE RACE STARTING GUN WAS FIRED
X Gagarin’s landmark mission marked 60 years on
Sixty years ago this month, young Russian Yuri Gagarin became the first man to travel in space, beginning his mission by shouting poekhali, which translates as “let’s go”.
The Vostok 3KA-2 spacecraft carAlthough rying Gagarin, the 27-year-old son of a carpenter and a dairy farmer, took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, then part of the Soviet Union, on April 12, 1961.
the landmark mission lasted just one hour and 48 minutes, it fired the starting gun in the space race in the 1960s, which culminated with United States astronaut Neil Armstrong becoming the first person to step on the moon in 1969.
In early April 1961, the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the West was heating up. An attempt by US-backed Cuban exiles to invade Cuba’s Bay of Pigs was just days away, and four months later, the Berlin Wall closed the Iron Curtain across Europe.
As the capsule carrying Gagarin back to Earth landed somewhat violently in a remote area in the southwest of the Soviet Union, the incident was watched in disbelief by an elderly farmer and her 5-year-old granddaughter.
Minutes later, the astronaut, wearing a silver spacesuit, emerged from the capsule and told the pair he had returned from space.
In an interview with the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets to mark the anniversary of the mission, the granddaughter, Rita Nurskanova, said that after seeing a flash of light and a spacesuit, her grandmother started to pray and wanted to flee the scene.
Gagarin calmed her down, saying he was human and “came from the sky,” Nurskanova said. Her grandmother then helped him unfasten his helmet.
In his logbook, Gagarin later described the unexpected meeting. “I told them, ‘don’t be afraid, I am a Soviet like you — I have descended from space and I must find a telephone to call Moscow’.”
US President John F. Kennedy sent a telegram congratulating Moscow on the achievement, with one Soviet newspaper headline stating, “America magnanimous in defeat.”
However, a NASA report on Gagarin’s accomplishment made no bones about the embarrassment felt in the US.
“About 4 am, telephones began buzzing up and down the east coast of the United States as reporters demanded responses from NASA officials,” the report said.
Then-public affairs officer for NASA, John “Shorty” Powers, told reporters, “We are all asleep down here,” resulting in a headline later that day stating: “Soviets put man in space: spokesman says US asleep”.
Chief Soviet rocket engineer Sergei Korolev said that in choosing the man who would become the first human in space, the Soviet authorities wanted a skilled and experienced pilot willing to break new ground. Above all, they wanted a candidate who was short.
The first manned space mission used the tiny Vostok 1 craft, a spherical vessel just over 2.29 meters in diameter, calling for an astronaut no more than 1.7 meters tall and weighing a maximum of 72.1 kilograms. Standing just 1.57 meters, Gagarin was the perfect height for the spacecraft.
His charming smile also set him apart from the other contenders, Korolev said.
Gagarin’s charming, engaging personality was reportedly capable of winning over even the sternest, most hard-nosed Russian, proving invaluable in improving the image of the Soviet government around the world.
Three months after his flight, Gagarin traveled to the United Kingdom, where he was given a hero’s welcome, being greeted by Queen Elizabeth II and thenPrime Minister Harold Macmillan.
Despite torrential rain that accompanied his visit to the northern English city of Manchester, Gagarin insisted on traveling in an open-topped car without an umbrella. On arrival at his destination, a union headquarters, he waved to the crowds from a balcony. In turn, they greeted him like royalty.
Gurbir Singh, whose book A Smile That Changed the World recalls the visit, said, “He had experienced something no one else had experienced.
“Apart from the speed and altitude records he achieved, he’d also experienced a realm — space, microgravity, weightlessness — something no one had ever experienced, and for a few months, no one else would experience.”
The pride resulting from Gagarin’s mission has remained with his compatriots for decades — through the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the Russian economic crisis in 2014 to the present day.
The Russian space industry has struggled in recent years, experiencing a series of mishaps, but sending the first human into space remains one of the crowning achievements of the Soviet space program.
The day of Gagarin’s flight, April 12, is celebrated every year in Russia as Cosmonautics Day. This year, the authorities pulled out all the stops to mark the 60th anniversary, with 24-hour television coverage, murals on high-rise buildings and laser projections of Gagarin’s portrait.
The now-rusty Vostok capsule is on display at the Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow, which is staging a new exhibition dedicated to his achievement.
Visitors are shown documents, photographs and personal belongings, some dating to Gagarin’s childhood and school years.
Vyacheslav Klimentov, a historian and the museum’s deputy director of research, said, “This (Gagarin) is probably the only surname that everyone (in Russia) knows, from 4-year-old children to people over 80.”
Tatiana Brazhnikova, a 49-year-old school teacher visiting the museum, was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying: “That the first manned flight into space was made by the Soviet Union was very significant for
“I told them, ‘don’t be afraid, I am a Soviet like you — I have descended from space and I must find a telephone to call Moscow’.”
Yuri Gagarin, the Soviet cosmonaut who became the first man in space on April 12, 1961, speaking to an elderly farmer and her 5-year-old granddaughter after emerging from his landing capsule
our state. I feel great pride in this achievement.”
In a message sent from the International Space Station, the four Russians on board saluted “all earthlings” and hailed Gagarin’s accomplishment.
Heroic example
Cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky said, “Gagarin’s legendary 108minute flight became an example of heroism for his successors, including us.”
This month, Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to the southern city of Engels on the banks of the Volga River, visiting Gagarin’s landing site, where a memorial stands to honor the historic flight. Putin was accompanied by Valentina Tereshkova, a Soviet cosmonaut and the first woman in space.
After laying flowers on a monument to Gagarin near the site, Putin said: “This is without a doubt a great event that changed the world. We will always be proud that it was our country that paved the road to outer space.
“In the 21st century, Russia must properly maintain its status as one of the leading nuclear and space powers, because the space sector is directly linked to defense.”
Putin said Russia should not abandon its advantages in space — although in recent years the country has experienced a number of setbacks, including a lost spacecraft and an aborted takeoff during a manned mission in 2018.
Russia’s Soyuz rockets are reliable and allow Moscow to remain relevant in the modern space industry, but the country faces key players in addition to NASA.
A major blow came last year when Russia lost its monopoly for manned International Space Station launches after reusable rockets from entrepreneur Elon Musk’s Space X, carrying NASA astronauts, successfully docked at the space station.
Despite funding cuts, Dmitry Rogozin, head of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency, has set a series of ambitious goals for the space program in recent years.
On April 12, the US State Department issued a Facebook post marking 60 years since the first manned space flight, along with “technological progress and international cooperation, which are facilitated by space exploration”.
The short post, in Russian, did not mention Gagarin by name.
In a post on Twitter, Rogozin used strong language to criticize the State Department for failing to refer to Gagarin, stating, “Superpowers do not behave that way.”
In a video message recalling Gagarin’s achievement, Rogozin stressed that Russia is “on the cusp of very important changes” that will see next-generation spacecraft and lunar missions.
“We believe in our space, in Russian space,” he said.