CONTENTS Yuri Gagarin Space Pioneer Child of War Focus on The Race for Space Cosmonaut Gagarin Spacecraft Focus on Space Rockets Countdown Begins April 12 1961 Into Space Most Famous Man in the World Gagarin’s Message Timeline Glossary Find Out More Index
YURI GAGARIN SPACE PIONEER On April 12 1961 there was a loud crack in the sky over the village of Smelkovka in Russia’s Saratov region Around 4 4 miles 7 kilometers above the village fields explosive bolts had just blown the escape hatch off the spacecraft Vostok 1 Moments later a parachutist in an orange space suit drifted down toward a farmer’s wife and her daughter working in a field The parachutist was Yuri Gagarin the first man to travel into space When they saw me in my space suit and the parachute dragging alongside as I walked they started to back away in fear I told them Don’t be afraid I am a Soviet like you who has descended from space and I must find a telephone to call Moscow Yuri Gagarin said
Crowds of people lined the streets of London England to welcome Gagarin in 1961 FAME AND FORTUNE By the time Gagarin reached Moscow he would be the most famous man in the world He had beaten his fellow cosmonauts to be first into space The Soviet Union had again outdone the United States in the race to space Everybody wanted to meet Gagarin shake his hand and ask about his 108-minute journey into space He was promoted to colonel given a chauffeur-driven car and made Hero of the Soviet Union But despite his great accomplishments Yuri Gagarin’s life would end tragically only seven years later
