You can always tell it's a special day when Google goes all themed, and today is no exception. On the 12th of April in 1961, soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin made history and became the first person ever in space. Most people in the world were delighted, one notable exeption probably being American Alan Shepherd who missed out on claiming the title by a mere 23 days. Yuri did one leisurely loop of the Earth in Vostok 1, then landed just under two hours later. He apparently landed in a field in front of a farmer and his daughter, scaring the life out of them. In an attempt to reassure them, he is meant to have said "I am a Soviet like you, who has descended from space and I must find a telephone to call Moscow". That seems typical of his straightforward style, while he was up in space, he is reported to have said things like "I am feeling fine. I am in good spirits. I feel splendid. The craft is operating normally." I can't helping thinking that if that were me who was the first person in space there'd be a lot more swearwords involved, but maybe that's one of the many reasons I'm not an astronaut...
Diminutive 5 ft 2 Yuri never lived to see NASA steal back the lead in the space race by sending the first men to the moon in 1969 - he died tragically in a plane crash in 1968. As recognition of his stellar acheivement, Yuri has a couple of commemorative coins bearing his likeness, a crater on the dark side of the moon, an asteroid, a town near to where he was born, numerous streets and squares, and the Cosmonaut Training Facility in Star City named after him. He also has his own mineral, gagarinite, and a 40ft titanium statue in Moscow. Nobody could ever say that Russia is not proud of it's trailblazing son - their very own Columbus of the Cosmos. Happy Anniversary, Yuri, wherever you are.
This reminds me that I want to listen to the last half of Saturday's This American Life. Entitled "Nice Work, If You Can Get It" (http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=329), it began with a discussion of how much it would suck if you were one of the proud few chosen to become a NASA astronaut and then Didn't Get to Go Into Space. Half of them don't. Who knew? Anyway, at the very least, I didn't, and Ira Glass is the consummate interviewer, as always.
Posted by: Regan | April 12, 2007 at 08:59 PM