Yuri Gagarin First Man in Space – Europe – International

This Sunday marks 60 years of his first trip into space Soviet Yuri Gagarin, In action that meant a major victory for the Soviet Union in the so-called space race, in which it competed against the United States.

(You may be interested: 60 years of the flight of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space)

On April 12, 1961, a step into the future was taken A feat that was at the beginning of the last century pertaining to science fiction stories only.

“He made man go from just a living being to a kind of intelligence that transcends the earth,” sums up the historian Alexander Zeleznyakov. Gagarin trained as a foundry and metal worker, and later became a military pilot.

Chosen from thousands of candidates to pursue space flight training.

(Also read: This was the first president to travel in space in 60 years)

Legend has it that at the age of 27, he won the sympathy of the heads of the space program by taking off his shoes before boarding the Vostok spacecraft for the first time. Russia when entering the house.

The flight, which launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, took 108 minutes. The spacecraft has only made one orbit around Earth. Despite the successful return of the astronaut, he later learned that there were technical malfunctions that almost left him orbiting the planet for about ten days.

(Also read: Why do Russian astronauts pee on a tire before traveling?)

This is one of the many curiosities on that trip and Gagarin’s life itself that immortalized him and They made it an icon.

France Press agency

You may be interested in:

The funeral of Prince Philip, Edinburgh, April 17

Merkel supports a “short lockdown” throughout Germany

– The keys to escalation on the border between Ukraine and Russia