STORIES
Explorers
DONATE

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin

by Chris from Spokane

“People of the world! Let us safeguard and enhance this beauty-not destroy it!”

From the 1940s until the early 1990s, the United States of American and the Soviet Union were dead-locked in the Cold War. It was in this time period that my hero, Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, made his impact on the world. He was born in the Russian town of Klushino, near Moscow, on March 9, 1934. Gagarin’s family worked on a collective farm. Early in his life, Gagarin dreamed of traveling into space, probably spurred on by his teacher, a former Soviet pilot (Yuri Gagarin, October 3, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin).

Young Yuri Gagarin (Complements of http://www.kosmonaut.se/gagarin/book/8.html)
Young Yuri Gagarin (Complements of http://www.kosmonaut.se/gagarin/book/8.html)

After growing older and working as a metal works foundry man, Gagarin joined a local flight club and began flying as a hobby. Over time, this pastime became Gagarin’s passion and he soon joined the Soviet Union’s Orenburg Pilot School. While learning to fly MiG-15’s Gagarin met his future wife, Valentina. As Mr. Gagarin’s flight career continued, the Soviet Union was reaching for the stars, so to speak.

Yuri Gagarin in Space Suit (complements of  http://www.rirt.ru/)
Yuri Gagarin in Space Suit (complements of http://www.rirt.ru/)

In 1960, after a Soviet Union-wide search of talented pilots, Yuri Gagarin and 19 others were selected for the Soviet space program as cosmonauts. After extensive physical and mental training and testing, Gagarin and another cosmonaut, Gherman Titov, were selected as the final two candidates for the first manned trip into space. Although these two were selected because of their abilities and performance during training, one major characteristic of these two was their small physical stature. Both men fit well into the small manned cockpit the Soviets had devised, which had a maximum diameter of about 2.3 meters (Polfeldt, D., October 3, 2007 from http://www.kosmonaut.se/gagarin/index_article.html).

On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth, American or Soviet. Sitting atop a conglomeration of rockets, Gagarin’s capsule rushed into space, reaching 5 g’s (October 3, 2007, from http://www3.northstar.k12.ak.us/ schools /ryn/spacerace/people/gagarin.html). After a 108 minute orbit, Yuri Gagarin returned to Earth successfully. However, when Gagarin made contact with the Earth, he was no longer in his capsule. Because of the design of the capsule, the impact the capsule made after descent was too much for a human to withstand, so an ejection seat and parachute were used to bring Gagarin down the final 7 kilometers (Polfeldt, 2007).

After Yuri Gagarin’s successful orbiting of the Earth, he became an instant national hero throughout the Soviet Union and the world. Gagarin receive the “Hero of the Soviet Union” distinction for his flight (Polfeldt, 2007). He traveled throughout the world sharing his experience outside the gravitational effects of Earth. On March 27, 1968, Gagarin and a flight instructor crashed in a MiG-15UTI, killing both occupants. Although, at the time, the United States and Soviet Union were in the Cold War, I feel that Gagarin’s historic flight inspired many others to reach for the stars, both in Russia and the United States.

Page created on 10/8/2007 12:00:00 AM

Last edited 10/8/2007 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 - General information about Yuri Gagarin
Comrade Kosmonaut - A fellow Cosmonaut's site dedicated to Yuri Gagrin
Northstar.k12 - An elementary student's webpage about Yuri Gagrin

Extra Info

Images used are used with permission from sited sources. For a short movie showing a little of Yuri Gagarin's historic flight into space, click on the YouTube link.