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Yuri Gagarin

by Ms. Nadezhda Ivanova from Krasnoyarsk

Returned for work, message sent 1/14/2014 rm
Yu. Gagarin on board the spaceship Vostok 1 (http://bucharsky.ru/photos (V. Bucharsky)
Yu. Gagarin on board the spaceship Vostok 1 (http://bucharsky.ru/photos (V. Bucharsky)

Yuri Gagarin (9 March 1934 - 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He became the first man to make a 108-minute flight around the earth. His Vostok 1 spaceship was launched into space on April 12, 1960. Since then this day has been celebrated as Cosmonautics Day in the Soviet Union/ Russia.

Yuri Gagarin was born in the village of Klushino, near the town of Gzhatsk. Later it was renamed Gagarin. Alexey Gagarin, his father, was a carpenter and bricklayer, and Anna Gagarina, his mother, was a milkmaid. There were four children in the family: older brother Valentin, older sister Zoya, Yuri and younger brother Boris.

A Memorial to Gagarin on Saratov Technical School (http://bucharsky.ru/photos (V. Bucharsky)
A Memorial to Gagarin on Saratov Technical School (http://bucharsky.ru/photos (V. Bucharsky)

After finishing school education, Gagarin studied at the Saratov Industrial Technical School, where he studied tractors. While in Saratov, Gagarin attended a local flying club, where he learned to fly different planes. After graduating from the technical school in 1955, Gagarin was sent to the First Chkalov Air Force Pilot School in the city of Orenburg.

Yu. Gagarin after his famous flight (http://bucharsky.ru/photos (V. Bucharsky)
Yu. Gagarin after his famous flight (http://bucharsky.ru/photos (V. Bucharsky)

April 12, 1961, was a cornerstone in Gagarin's life. Saying 'Let's Go!' "POYEKHALI!" he started his 108-minute flight around the Earth. On his coming back Yuri Gagarin said:'Orbiting Earth in the spaceship, I saw how beautiful our planet is. Let us preserve and increase this beauty! Do not destroy it!' The spaceship 'Vostok-1' with Yuri Gagarin on board landed not far from the city of Saratov. There is a special landmark there to commemorate the event. After this first manned space flight Gagarin became an international celebrity, and was awarded many medals and titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union, the nation's highest award.

Monument to Gagarin in Saratov ( (http://saratovregion.ucoz.ru/saratov/monuments/gagarin_naberezhnaya.htm)
Monument to Gagarin in Saratov ( (http://saratovregion.ucoz.ru/saratov/monuments/gagarin_naberezhnaya.htm)

On 27 March 1968, during a training flight, the pilot Yuri Gagarin and the flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin died in a MiG-15UTI crash near the town of Kirzhach. In the walls of the Kremlin on Red Square there are plaques in honor of the brave space explorers.. Yuri Gagarin will remain the beloved son of the Earth who was the first to appreciate its beauty from space. There are lots of monuments the heroic cosmonaut. One of them was erected on Cosmonaut Embankment in Saratov in 1995.

Page created on 1/15/2014 12:00:00 AM

Last edited 1/15/2014 12:00:00 AM

The beliefs, viewpoints and opinions expressed in this hero submission on the website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, viewpoints and opinions of The MY HERO Project and its staff.

Related Links

Wikipedia - Wikipedia is provides various information in any sphere of life.
NASA - Nasa features news and events in the US and world space exploration
Wiki-quote - Wiki-quote gives various quotations of known people
Album - V. Bucharskiy created an album of Gagarin's pictures
The Great Saratov Encyclopedia - The Great Saratov Encyclopedia features the history and present day of Saratov
 

Author Info

Hello, dear audience! I would love to introduce myself so as to explain my choice of the hero. I am an English teacher from Krasnoyarsk, in Russia. I was born in Saratov, a city on the banks of the mighty Russian river Volga. The life and accomplishments of my hero, Yuri Gagarin, were closely connected with my birthplace.