Yuri's Night World Party at NASA/Ames Research Center: April 13, 2007, Part 10
http://www.ynba.org/


About Yuri Gagarin

The story of Yuri Gagarin (See left image) began in a countryside village west of Moscow, in Klushino near Gzhatsk (now in Smolensk Oblast, Russia), Born March 9, 1934, while a youth he became interested in space, planets and dreamed of taking a space tour. After starting an apprenticeship in a metal works foundry, he was selected for further training at a technical high school in Saratov. Gagarin became interested in aircraft and took lessons at a local flying school, where he was a natural. When he graduated from college in 1955, he joined the Soviet Air Force and trained at the Orenburg Pilot's School. Because of his natural abilities, he became a test pilot.



The Space Age

The Space Age began when the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1 (see left image) into Earth's orbit on October 4, 1957. The satellite helped to identify the density of high atmospheric layers through measurement of its orbital change, and provided data on radio-signal distribution in the ionosphere. It also provided the first opportunity for meteorite detection.







The United States' first Earth satellite was Explorer-1 (See left image), launched on January 31, 1958. The experimental payload was a Geiger counter for detecting cosmic rays.



With the space race on, Yuri Gagarin volunteered to become a cosmonaut, unaware that a top-secret Soviet space project was already underway. Representatives from the project wanted to test him for the challenge. After going through a rigorous series of experiments designed to test his physical and psychological endurance, Yuri obtained top grades from the instructors. At the age of 27, he was selected to fly the Vostok 1. He would make history on April 12, 1961 as the first human in space. The Vostok 1 spacecraft orbited the Earth once in 108 minutes. It climbed to an Earth orbit apogee (high point) of 187 miles (302 kilometers) and a perigee (low point) of 109 miles (175 kilometers).

America followed suit with the U.S. Mercury program manned space mission launched on May 5, 1961, using a Redstone rocket from Launch Complex 5 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Mercury capsule was named Freedom 7 and it performed a sub orbital flight, piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard (See left image) - the first American in space. The flight lasted less than 16 minutes and attained an altitude of just over 300 miles (187 kilometers).


In 1962, Gagarin began serving as a deputy to the Supreme Soviet. He later returned to "Star City," the cosmonaut facility where he worked on designs for a reusable spacecraft. He worked on these designs in Star City for 7 years.

After an impressive career in the 1960s, Gagarin and his instructor died in a MiG-15UTI on a routine training flight near Kirzhach, on March 27, 1968. A sad ending to his life, but the legacy continues each year throughout the world with Yuri's Night.


For more information.

Yuri Gagarin and Vostok Program:
www.kosmonaut.se/gagarin
www.ispyspace.com/Yuri_Gagarin.html

Sputnik Program:
www.sputnikmania.com
history.nasa.gov/sputnik

Mercury Space Program:
www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/mercury.htm

Explorer 1 Program:
www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/GAL100/exp1.html
www.jpl.nasa.gov/explorer


(Note: opinions expressed here are my own, and are not necessarily those of NASA or the organizers of Yuri's Night.)

Next page