Yuri Gagarin - the man who opened the era of space conquest

(Baonghean.vn) - Exactly 56 years ago, on April 12, 1961, mankind's dream of conquering space came true with Yuri Gagarin's historic flight on the Vostok I spacecraft.This event marked a great turning point in the history of human conquest of space.

At 9:07 Moscow time on April 12, 1961, the Vostok spacecraft carrying cosmonaut Gagarin took off. Ten minutes later, the spacecraft entered orbit, traveling at a speed of 28,000 km per hour, and Gagarin became the first person to see the Earth from outer space.

Hero Gagarin.

He saw the Earth in a gentle blue, next to it was a dark sky dotted with countless bright stars. Gagarin could not see the moon, but the sun was very bright, dozens of times brighter than when viewed from the ground.

And people will never forget Gagarin's first words from space to Earth. He said: "From space, I no longer see national borders! The Earth is eternally green."

This is also the message of eternal peace that the Soviet Union at that time conveyed to people all over the planet.

Yuri Gagarin (left) and Ghecman Titov at the Soviet Air Force Academy named after Zhukov - 1968.

After orbiting the Earth for 108 minutes, the spacecraft Vostok landed safely in a field on the banks of the Volga River. The first human flight into space had ended successfully.

Later, in his book “The Road to Space”, Gagarin wrote about his feelings at that time: “It all happened as in a dream: From the vastness of space I returned safely to the place where I first took off on the ground”.

Gagarin's successful flight brought joy and excitement to people all over the world. The eternal dream of mankind to escape the Earth's gravity and fly into space had become a reality.

Journey to conquer the universe.

The first Soviet cosmonaut Gagarin was born in the village of Klushino, 180 km west of Moscow. Gagarin dreamed of the sky from his youth. In a photo kept by his family, a young man stands by the wing of an airplane, waving his hand in a friendly greeting.

At that time, Gagarin had just graduated from the foundry department of the Saratov Industrial Technical School, and at the same time participated in a training course of an aviation club. Graduating with honors, Gagarin was assigned to an aviation school and became a military pilot. In 1955, after 4 years of training, Gagarin made his first solo flight.

Yuri Gagarin is welcomed back from space. Photo: RIA

In November 1957, when the Soviet Union launched the second artificial satellite carrying the dog Laika, Gagarin dreamed of space for the first time: Maybe soon a man would fly into space, and why not him? When he heard about the recruitment of pilots to grasp the new technology, he applied.

Of the 3,500 volunteers who met the mandatory requirements: height no more than 1.65 m (Gagarin was exactly 1.65 m) and weight no more than 68 kg, only 20 were ultimately selected, including Gagarin.

After a period of training, he was selected as the first astronaut to fly into space and Gagarin successfully made this flight.

After that success, Iuri Gagarin did not fly into space again. On March 27, 1968, he suddenly passed away during a fighter jet test. At that time, he was only 34 years old.

Peace

(Synthetic)