Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, the first human to journey into outer space was born on March 9, 1934. He was a Soviet Air Forces pilot and later became a cosmonaut after his space feat. Gagarin began working as a foundryman at a steel plant in Lyubertsy.
When he joined the Soviet Air Forces as a pilot, he was selected for the Soviet space programme with five other cosmonauts. This was the beginning of a new history. In 1962, Gagarin was elected as the deputy of the Soviet of the Union and to the Soviet of Nationalities. Those were the tough times too. Trails and turbulences didn’t stop him from achieving accolades and being a part of a major space race milestone.
On April 12, 1961, Gagarin’s capsule Vostok 1 completed one orbit of the Earth. He also served as backup crew to the Soyuz 1 mission, which ended in a fatal crash. Gagarin’s friend Vladimir Komarov breathed his last in the crash. This scared Soviet officials and they banned Gagarin from further flights.
So he took another way and completed training at the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy on February 17, 1968. He was then allowed to fly a regular aircraft. He died five weeks later when the MiG-15 training jet he was piloting crashed near Kirzhach.
A documentary titled First Orbit was released in honour of Gagarin. The Russian, American, and Italian crew of Expedition 27 aboard the ISS sent a special video message wished people ‘Happy Yuri’s Night’ while wearing shirts with Gagarin’s photograph.
Today as it is the 50th anniversary of Gagarin’s journey into outer space, there is so much to be learned. Everyone may not be having an obsession to fly out, but do remember one thing. Anyone who wish to mark their living will have to go through bad times. Because there is no gain without pain.
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