Re: tomorrow marks the 50th anniversary of the first human spaceflight

I don't think I knew we'd been to the moon nine times...

Johne Cook
| http://raygunrevival.com | http://authorculture.blogspot.com |*
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On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 4:02 PM, Peter T. Chattaway <
petert-LOVM4QxV+tDq6eQxt3vRmLDks+cytr/[email protected]> wrote:

>
> 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.
>
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