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
A monument marks the spot where Gagarin landed in Russia’s Saratov region The Soviet Union The Soviet Union was made up of Russia and 14 countries surrounding it The communist Soviet governments were strict secretive and severe in their punishments for disobedient citizens The United States was the Soviet Union’s arch enemy especially from 1947 to 1991 a period known as the Cold War
CHILD OF WAR Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was born on March 9 1934 in the village of Klushino in Russia’s Smolensk region His parents worked on the local farm which provided food for the state In the communist Soviet Union everyone was expected to work together for the common good Then in 1941 Nazi Germany declared war on the Soviets and its armies invaded By 1942 Klushino was caught in the middle of the fighting and shells rained down on the village Soon after German tanks rolled into Klushino and the Nazis took over UNDER OCCUPATION Under the Nazis Gagarin and his family were forced out of their home and had to live in a mud hut in the yard Yuri did everything he could to fight back He smashed glass on the roads to puncture German tires and dropped dirt into the Germans tank engines One day a Russian fighter plane crashed in the fields near Klushino Gagarin and his friends ran to help The pilot handed out chocolate bars to the boys Gagarin stood transfixed by the plane We understood immediately the price that had to be paid for military decorations We boys all wanted to be brave and handsome pilots Gagarin said
