18.12.2022
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was born on March 9, 1934 in the village of Klushino, Gzhatsky District of the Western Region (now Gagarinsky District of the Smolensk Region) in a peasant family.
His father, Alexey Ivanovich (1902-1973), was a carpenter. His mother, Anna Timofeevna (1903-1984) worked as a milkmaid. Yuri Gagarin was the fourth child; his brothers Valentin, Boris, and sister Zoya. During the Great Patriotic War, the Gagarins’ family was in occupied territory, and after it ended, they moved to the town of Gzhatsk (now Gagarin).
Education
In 1949, Yuri Gagarin enrolled at the vocational school № 10 in Lyubertsy (now the Lyubertsy Technical School named after V.I. Vernadsky near Moscow). A. Gagarin, a hero of the Soviet Union, a cosmonaut and pilot). At the same time, he studied at the Lyubertsy evening school for working youth. In June 1951, he graduated with honors from the college, receiving a specialty molder-caster, and the 7th grade evening school.
In August 1951, on the referral of the Moscow regional management of labor reserves, he was enrolled in the Saratov Industrial College (now the Professional and Pedagogical College of the Saratov State Technical University named after Y. A. Gagarin). He graduated from it in 1955 with honors majoring in foundry engineering.
In 1954-1955, simultaneously with his studies he was engaged in the Saratov regional flying club, he flew Yak-18. On March 14, 1955 he made his first parachute jump from a height of 800 meters.
In 1957, graduated with honors from the 1st Chkalov Military Aviation School of Pilots named after K. E. Voroshilov (in 1958 the school was renamed into Orenburg Flight School due to the original name being returned to the city), qualified as a fighter pilot. During training he flew Yak-18 and MiG-15bis.
From September, 1961 till March, 1968 he was the student of the engineering faculty of the Military Air Engineering Academy named after Zhukovsky. N.E. Zhukovsky in Monino near Moscow. Graduated from the academy with honors majoring in manned air and space crafts and engines for them (qualification pilot-cosmonaut-engineer).
Service in Air Force
From December of 1957 he served as a pilot in the 769th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 122nd Fighter Division of the Northern Fleet at the settlement of Luostari Novoye, Murmansk region. Completed flights in difficult weather conditions and at night on MiG-15.
Was military pilot 3rd class. By the end of 1959 had flown 257 hours, performed 41 parachute jumps.
In the group of cosmonauts.
In 1959 Yuri Gagarin, after learning about the recruitment of candidates for testing new flying equipment (future spaceships), wrote a report with a request to enroll him in the group of test pilots. In autumn of the same year he was summoned to Moscow to undergo a comprehensive examination at the Central Research Aviation Hospital.
On March 7, 1960 under the order of the Supreme Commander of the Air Force of the USSR Konstantin Vershinin, Yuri Gagarin was enrolled as a cosmonaut in the cosmonaut corps of the Cosmonaut Training Center (CTC, now the Gagarin Test and Research Center for Cosmonaut Training). On October 11 of the same year as a group of six pilots (apart from Gagarin, the group included Valery Bykovsky, Grigory Nelyubov, Andriyan Nikolayev, Pavel Popovich and German Titov) began to prepare for the first manned space flight on board “Vostok” spaceship.
On January 25, 1961 he was appointed a cosmonaut of the CPC with the qualification of “cosmonaut of the Air Force”.
On April 8, 1961 the State Commission confirmed Yuri Gagarin, senior lieutenant of Air Force, as the pilot of spaceship “Vostok”. His double was German Titov.
Flight into space
Launch vehicle 8K72K (later called “Vostok”) was launched from 5th Research test site of USSR Ministry of Defense (Baikonur cosmodrome was called at that time) on April, 12, 1961 at 09.07 Moscow time. However, TASS did not report immediately, but 50 minutes after launch. The news was delayed as it was pending the signing of a decree awarding Gagarin the honorary title of “major” (this was insisted upon by Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee and Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers).
Vostok” spaceship made one revolution around the Earth, the same day Yuri Gagarin returned to Earth. He ejected from the descent module and landed with the help of a parachute in a collective farm field near the village of Smelovka, Saratov region.
Until 1971 the fact of Gagarin’s parachute landing was kept secret. This was due to the record registration procedure established by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI). At that time, the rules required the pilot claiming the world record to land inside the aircraft. In 1971, the FAI revised its requirements, deciding that the landing methodology in astronautics could be different from aviation.
After the flight
At the end of April 1961, Yuri Gagarin went abroad on a “peace mission.” All in all during three years the first cosmonaut of the planet visited about 30 countries, including Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Finland, Great Britain, Poland, Cuba, Brazil, Canada, Hungary, India, Egypt, Austria, Japan, France, Mexico, GDR, Sweden, Norway and others.
From May 1961 he worked in the CPC as a cosmonaut squad leader and senior cosmonaut instructor.
In June 1962 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and in November 1963 – colonel.
From December 1963 Gagarin was the deputy head of the Central Cosmonaut Training Center and simultaneously the head of space flight training department. In March 1964, while retaining his previous positions, he was again appointed senior cosmonaut instructor.
From March 1966 he was the deputy chief of the CPC on space-flight training, senior cosmonaut instructor.
In September 1965 – April 1967 Yuri Gagarin trained for the flight on the first manned spaceship “Soyuz” as a member of the second crew, he was understudy for Vladimir Komarov. After the death of Komarov on April 24, 1967, when returning on Soyuz-1, Gagarin was no longer considered for further flights into space.
In 1968 he obtained permission to resume flying practice in the Air Force.
The first cosmonaut was elected deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 6th and 7th convocations (1962, 1966), he was the president of the Soviet-Cuban Friendship Society.
Dying
Yuri Gagarin died on March 27, 1968 while flying on a MiG-15UTI fighter jet trainer. Flight instructor Vladimir Seregin, a Hero of the Soviet Union, crashed along with him. The plane crashed near the village of Novoselovo of Kirzhach district of Vladimir region. The exact cause of the crash has not been determined. In 1975 a memorial was opened at the place of the pilots’ death.
The urns with Gagarin’s and Seregin’s ashes were buried on March 30, 1968 next to the Kremlin wall on the Red Square in Moscow with military honors under volleys of artillery salute.
On April 15, 1968 Yuri Gagarin was excluded from the officer list of the Soviet Army as being killed in the line of duty.
Titles, awards
For the space flight on the 14th of April, 1961 Yuri Gagarin was awarded the title of a Hero of the Soviet Union (1961) and received the order of Lenin (1961). On the same day there was a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on establishing the honorary title “Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR” and awarding it to Gagarin.
In addition, the first cosmonaut of the planet was awarded with many foreign titles and decorations. Among them: Hero of Socialist Labor of Bulgaria (1961), Hero of Socialist Labor of Czechoslovakia (1961), Hero of Labor of Vietnam (1962) and also Orders of the Grunwald Cross 1st degree (1961, Poland), “Playa Giron” (1961, Cuba), National Flag of Hungary (1961), Georgi Dimitrov (1961, Bulgaria), Karl Marx (1963, GDR) and others.
He was also awarded the Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal (1961). He was awarded with Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal of the USSR Academy of Science, de Laveau Medal of FAI and others.
He was awarded the title “Honorary Radio Operator of the USSR” (1962). He was Honored Master of Sports in running (1961), honorary member of the International Academy of Astronautics (1966).
Yuri Gagarin is an honorary citizen of many Russian cities, including Kaluga (1961), Smolensk (1966), Sevastopol (1967), Saratov (1967), Lyuberets (1987), as well as of several foreign cities, including Baikonur (1977, Kazakhstan) and others.
Books
Yuri Gagarin wrote the books “The Road to Space” (1962), “I See the Earth…” (1968), “Psychology and Space” (in co-authorship with Vladimir Lebedev, a physician, a specialist in space medicine; published in 1971, after the death of the first cosmonaut).
Personal information
Valentina Ivanovna Gagarina (1935-2020, maiden name Goryacheva), graduate of the Orenburg Medical College was his wife. To the marriage were born two daughters.
Elena (born 1959) graduated from the history department of Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU), is an honorary professor at MSU (2017), and since 2001 has worked as general director of the State Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve “The Moscow Kremlin”.
Galina (born 1961) is a graduate of the Plekhanov Moscow Institute of National Economy (now the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Russian Economics University), Doctor of Economics, and Head of the Department of National and Regional Economics at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.
In Memory of the Cosmonaut
The day of the first manned flight into space, April 12, has been celebrated annually since 1962 in Russia (former USSR) as Cosmonautics Day, and since 1969 – as the World Day of Aviation and Astronautics. This day was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight by the UN General Assembly resolution A/RES/65/271 dated April 7, 2011.
In 1968, the FAI established the Gagarin Gold Medal. Gagarin Gold Medal.
In 1968, in honor of the first cosmonaut, Gzhatsk and Gzhatsk district of Smolensk region were renamed into Gagarin and Gagarin district. The Cosmonaut Training Center, the Military Air Academy named after Professor N. E. Zhukovsky and Yu. Gagarin, Saratov State Technical University, Lyubertsy College, Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Plant (Khabarovsk Territory, a branch of PJSC “Company “Sukhoi”), Novosibirsk subway station, International Airport “Gagarin” Saratov, the crater on the far side of the moon, one of the asteroids of the solar system (1772 Gagarin), as well as parks, streets and squares in many cities.
Launch pad No. 1 at Baikonur, from which the Vostok spacecraft with the first cosmonaut was launched, was named the Gagarin Launch. The research vessel “Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin” was part of the USSR space fleet. The main trophy of the Kontinental Hockey League, the Gagarin Cup, is named after him.
There is a memorial museum of the cosmonaut in Gagarin city. In Saratov region a monument (1981) and a memorial complex (2011) were unveiled at the place where the cosmonaut landed.
In Moscow a bust (on the Cosmonauts Alley) and a monument (on Gagarin Square) to the cosmonaut were installed. A monument was unveiled in Baikonur city and a bust was unveiled at the Cosmodrome. Monuments are also installed in the Russian cities of Gagarin, Zvezdny Gorodok (Moscow region), Tsiolkovsky (Amur region, the administrative center of the Vostochny cosmodrome) and others. In addition, monuments and busts to Gagarin have been unveiled in Great Britain, Germany, India, Spain, Italy, China, France, the United States and other countries around the world. In 2018, a bronze bust of the cosmonaut was installed at the Russian research station Progress in Antarctica.
In 2011, on the 50th anniversary of the first cosmonaut’s flight, the Russian government established the Yuri Gagarin Space Awards, which are awarded in six areas. The name of Gagarin was given to the manned spaceship Soyuz TMA-21, which was launched in April 2011 from Baikonur with another crew to the International Space Station (ISS). And in 2021, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the flight, the name “Yuri Gagarin” was given to the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, which launched on April 9 with members of the 65th long-duration expedition to the ISS.
