tomorrow marks the 50th anniversary of the first human spaceflight

http://www.straight.com/article-386136/vancouver/yuri-gagarin-anniversary-marks-50-years-human-spaceflight

Yuri Gagarin anniversary marks 50 years of human spaceflight

By Doug Sarti, April 11, 2011

Fifty years ago this week, 27-year-old Soviet Air Force pilot Yuri 
Alekseyvich Gagarin exclaimed "Poyekhali!" ("Off we go!") and blasted off 
from the Russian steppes to become the first human in space.

A triumph of engineering, his April 12, 1961, flight was also a triumph of 
Cold War politics for the Soviet Union.

When Gagarin's spacecraft, the cramped Vostok3A, roared into orbit, it was 
the culmination of a fierce four-year competition between the Soviets and 
the United States to see who could get a man into space soonest.

It was pretty much a dead heat, with the first American, Alan Shepard, 
originally slated to fly in early March of 1961. When technical 
difficulties sidelined Shepard's flight for two months, Gagarin had his 
chance to make history.

With their heavy-lift Vostok rockets, the Soviets had a decided advantage 
in the early days of spaceflight. Their missions displayed a dazzling 
number of "firsts": First satellite, first animal in space (a dog named 
Laika), first man in space, and before long, the first woman and first 
multi-person crew in space, as well as the first spacewalk.

In 1961, Soviet rockets could fly higher, longer, and carry larger 
payloads than contemporary American rockets. In fact, when Shepard finally 
did launch, nearly a month after Gagarin, it was a somewhat anticlimactic 
suborbital mission -- a simple up-and-down ballistic flight. Still, it 
didn't stop the American PR machine from billing Shepard as "The First 
Free Man in Space".

At the time, Gagarin's 108-minute flight -- like much of the inner 
workings the Soviet Union -- was veiled in secrecy and the mission wasn't 
even announced until Gagarin had returned safely. While the flight went 
smoothly, there was one major cover-up which didn't come to light until 
later: the fact that Gagarin had bailed out after re-entering Earth's 
atmosphere.

While early American spacecraft were designed to semi-gently splash down 
on the ocean, the Vostoks were constructed for harder landings on the 
grasslands of Western Russia. Since Soviet engineers were still working 
the kinks out of their retro-rocket braking system, it was decided that it 
would be safer to have Gagarin eject at 20,000 feet and parachute back to 
Earth.

A reasonable plan, but one at odds with the regulations of the Fdration 
Aronautique Internationale -- the global organization overseeing aviation 
achievements -- which stipulated that a pilot must land his craft to 
qualify for a record. Thus, the story was concocted, and perpetuated, that 
Gagarin remained in the Vostok throughout the entire landing.

Regardless, once Gagarin was back on terra firma and the story broke, the 
world was electrified. And, aside from the tremendous achievement itself, 
it was obvious the Soviets had once again bested the American space 
program.

The perceived loss of national pride was even enough to spur America on to 
the moon. Angling for a space achievement where the U.S. could be first, 
U.S. president John F. Kennedy declared, little more than a month after 
Gagarin's flight, "I believe that this nation should commit itself to 
achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the 
Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."

For his bravery, Gagarin was awarded his nation's highest medal, Hero of 
the Soviet Union. He remained in the Soviet Air Force, went to engineering 
school, and continued working for the space program, although he was taken 
out of the flight rotation. A hero of Gagarin's magnitude, the Soviet 
leadership felt, was too valuable to risk in the dangerous business of 
spaceflight.

Tragically, even the Politburo couldn't keep Gagarin safe from 
occupational hazards. In 1968, while on a routine training mission, 
Gagarin was killed when he lost control of his MiG 15 and crashed in 
western Russia. While a stunned nation mourned, he was given a state 
funeral and his ashes were interred in the walls of the Kremlin.

Today, when spaceflight is perceived as routine.boring, even -- the 
anniversary of Gagarin's historic mission reminds us that it wasn't always 
so. As the United States and the Soviet Union grappled for a foothold in 
the heavens, it was a contest of not only national pride, but political 
ideology.

It's also a reminder of the difficulty, expense, and danger inherent in 
space travel. Except for nine quick trips to the moon, humans haven't 
strayed from the same close Earth orbit that Gagarin trailblazed a 
half-century ago.

-- 
dadl-ot mailing list
http://mail.thehood.us/mailman/listinfo/dadl-ot_thehood.us
http://news.gmane.org/gmane.music.dadl.ot