the first successful human flight into space, Yuri Gagarin - he said "Let's go"
The history of astronautics, the first flights into space. Who flew into space before Gagarin. First flights into space- the territory of cold and weightlessness, and the world of great secrets. April 12, the official holiday of cosmonautics, in honor of the first flight of Yuri Gagarin.
April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin, cosmonaut Soviet Union, committed first manned space flight, which lasted 108 minutes. It was a huge success. A colossal step in space exploration.
It was a time of great achievements of Soviet scientists. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin makes a manned flight into space in Earth's orbit! The whole country rejoiced and celebrated!
This is how it was remembered in the history of space exploration….
Yuri Gagarin's flight into space was extremely important for the Union, because there was a race for space conquests of two superpowers, the USSR and the USA. And it was necessary to prove to the whole world that only in the Union everything is the most advanced, and only under the leadership of the Communist Party great things are done.
But before the first astronaut made a historic flight, animals were the first to go into space. These are world-famous dogs, Belka and Strelka. They made the first orbital flight around the Earth, and spent a day in zero gravity. But as academician Oleg Georgievich Gazenko, an employee of a special laboratory at the Institute of Aviation Medicine of the Air Force, says, they were not the first to go into space.
- In 1948, the special laboratory was tasked with preparing dogs for space flights. For this, animals were caught on the streets, picking up 4-5 kilograms by weight. And already in 1951 we began to work closely. These are multi-level training systems - dogs getting used to wearing a vest with sensors for taking bioparameters.
To accustom them to the cramped cabin of the ship so that the animals do not have a fear of claustrophobia. Almost all kinds of tests that could be foreseen at launch, and the flight of a rocket in space, of course, except for conditions of weightlessness. It was weightlessness that worried scientists a lot about what its effect on the body would be. This question was answered by experimental animals.
But before the successful flight of Belka and Strelka, many will remember that Laika went into orbit in 1957. Preparations for this flight went on for 10 years. But the artificial satellite was not equipped with a system of descent to Earth, and the dog died.
And the dogs Gypsy and Dezik were the first to go into space, though on a high-altitude rocket, but the flight of the dogs was successful, and they returned safely to Earth. Recalls Oleg Georgievich and the dog Zhulka, who traveled to space three times. This little-known, white and fluffy astronautics heroine. Twice she successfully launched into space on high-altitude rockets. For the third time, Zhulka went into orbit in December 1960, on the ship that was Gagarin's predecessor.
But this time, many dangers fell to her lot. Due to crashes technical equipment, the ship does not reach orbit. In this case, the destruction of the ship was prescribed. But again there is a misfire in the operation of the systems, the ship is not undermined. And the satellite falls to Earth, in the expanses of Siberia, in the region of Podkamennaya Tunguska. Two days, the rescue team got to the fallen apparatus.
All this time, Zhulka, who survived all the ups and downs of the fall of the spacecraft, was in the cold, without food or drink. But she survived, and then was "decommissioned" from the participants in the space program. Oleg Georgievich took pity on the brave cosmonaut, and took the dog to his home, where Zhulka lived for about 14 more years.
I must say that not only dogs and mice, but even turtles have been in space. By the way, little known fact, but it was the turtles who were the first to fly around the moon, on the Soviet apparatus Zond-5. The turtles returned safely to Earth after splashing down in the Indian Ocean.
And just before the flight of Senior Lieutenant Gagarin, a dog named Zvezdochka went into space. All future cosmonauts were invited to the launch of the ship in March 1961, with Zvezdochka on board. To see and be convinced, the development of space technology allows a person to make a safe flight into space. Also present was Yuri Gagarin, whose successful flight took place in April.
In this flight, Senior Lieutenant Gagarin uttered the word known to several generations of earthlings: Go". Landed Gagarin already being a major. Some even now express doubts whether Yuri himself said “ Go", or so it was" necessary. — But is it important for the history of astronautics? I think not.
Some researchers, closely examining the history of Soviet cosmonautics, talk about other cosmonauts. Which allegedly went into space to Gagarin, but died during unsuccessful launches, burning up in spaceships.
according to the researchers, archival documents, hide the names and faces of people who will never see the light of spotlights. These are people who flew into space even before Gagarin. It was they who were the pioneers, the first of the people to overcome the force of gravity of the Earth.
But the names of the first cosmonauts who searched for the paths of space roads do not sound among the names of astronauts. They died in spacecraft in search of a way to orbit. And unsuccessful launches of space rockets are not needed for history, just like people. the researchers say.
Of course, I will now run a little ahead, but I want to immediately state the official point of view on this issue. Both officials and historians.
Here is what A. Pervushin said about this - “Perhaps the secrecy surrounding the space program is not well justified. And gave rise to many rumors and speculation. But in the history of Soviet cosmonautics, hidden corpses do not exist and did not exist.” And he calls it "the fruit of a violent fantasy generated by a strict regime of secrecy" and also - "no matter how cynical it may sound, but the unsuccessful return of the astronaut was of interest - it did not matter, in the conditions of the race it was the main thing to declare one's own priority«
Historians talk about the same. As already mentioned, in the space race with the Americans, it was very important that the Soviet cosmonaut was the first to fly into space. As an example, refuting unknown flights, a document of the Central Committee of the CPSU, signed 9 days before the launch of Gagarin, on April 3, 1961, is given. The document required the preparation of two TASS reports on the launch of a manned spacecraft.
One of them was laudatory, about the successful launch of a Soviet ship with a pilot on board, and the great achievement of the USSR. Another message was about the death of Gagarin. That is, there was no concealment of information, with any outcome of the flight and there was no question. According to historians admitted to the study of documents, the names of the often mentioned dead cosmonauts Ledovsky, Shiborin, Mitkov and Gromov did not actually exist, these are fictitious names by unknown people. In any case, according to historians, there was no connection with the people behind these names.
The story of the dead cosmonauts who allegedly made the first flights into space before Gagarin.
You should probably start with famous photo on the cover of Ogonyok magazine, October 1959. There are five people in the image, Kachura, Mikhailov, Zavadovsky, Belokonev, Grachev, testers from the Institute of Space Medicine. In the photo they are wearing helmets, and many have decided that these are the future astronauts. However, their surnames are not found among the names of astronauts. And the Western press puts forward the version that they died during the first flights into space.
Allegedly, cosmonauts Grachev and Belokonev went into space in September 1961, with the aim of flying around the moon in a two-seat spacecraft. According to journalists (in particular, the Western press), a breakdown occurs on the ship, and the astronauts cannot return. A ship with astronauts on board, having lost control, turns into a space wanderer, lost in the cold depths of space. — A tragic story of death.
However, at that time, space technology did not allow manned flights to the moon. Otherwise, the USSR would have defeated the United States in the exploration of the moon. But this does not bother journalists, the main thing is more smoke on the territory of the ideological enemy. The death of Gennady Mikhailov was completely timed to coincide with the unsuccessful launch of an automatic Venusian probe. On February 4, 1961, the launch of the station was unsuccessful, due to an accident in the upper stage, the automatic station "hung" in near-Earth orbit.
True, sometimes there are records that Kachura died this way. But the station was unmanned, fully automatic. However, here everything is already clear, from the name of the Institute it is clear what the mentioned people were doing. In addition, within the framework of the same secrecy regime, the faces "lit up" on the covers of the magazine could not participate in space flights.
But still there is one case of unknown astronauts, which researchers of the dark corners of astronautics can point to. This is Vladimir Ilyushin, the son of a famous designer, he is pointed out as the first cosmonaut. Officially, Ilyushin was in a car accident a few months before Gagarin's launch into orbit.
After being cured in his homeland, he went to China to improve his health with the help of oriental medicine. His health problems were immediately credited for an unsuccessful space flight. Allegedly, the ship, completing its flight, made an unsuccessful landing, in which the astronaut was injured. And for the sake of the same notorious secrecy, the astronaut's injuries were officially "recorded" as a car accident.
However, this version does not stand up to criticism, not only does it lack logic, it is also ridiculous. What can be hidden here? Even in this version, the launch of the ship was successful - it's easier to hide its difficult landing - and you can safely report to the whole world about the achievements of Soviet scientists.
Pyotr Dolgov, a test pilot, burned to death in the ship during an unsuccessful launch in September 1960. Yes, he died, but not when starting into orbit. And two years later, in November 1962, jumping from a stratospheric balloon with a parachute. Presumably died while testing a new spacesuit model.
Other facts cited by researchers alternative history astronautics, and secretly buried dead astronauts are identical. But there were losses among the 20 Gagarin cosmonauts. These are Grigory N., Ivan A., and Valentin F., who were expelled from the detachment for resisting an army patrol while drunk (surnames are not indicated based on ethical standards).
It is known that Grigory N., while serving on Far East in an ordinary air regiment, he said that it was he who was supposed to fly into space instead of Gagarin. True, his colleagues did not believe him. In 1966, Grigory died after falling under a train. It remains unknown whether it was an accident, suicide, or as the researchers wonder, he was overtaken by the regime of secrecy.
Another, the story of disastrous "before Gagarin" launches, as well as subsequently dead cosmonauts, was told by Italians - brothers Cordilla. I'll start with the technical capabilities of the brothers. Maybe now the design engineers will laugh, but the Cordilla brothers, alone, using only photographs of NASA ground tracking stations, were able to assemble their own device. With the help of which they listened to the conversations of the astronauts in orbit with the MCC.
This brothers managed to accomplish the impossible, while all the countries, follow the actions of the Soviet cosmonauts, trying to listen to the broadcast, do it only the Cordilla brothers could. In particular, only they managed to hear how the dying astronauts are talking to the Earth in the last seconds of their lives. In the press, including on television, the story of the Cordilla brothers is recounted in sufficient detail.
Therefore, we will not dwell on how many distress signals in orbit, screams and groans of dying astronauts were recorded by the Italians of Cordilla. But even a person who is not familiar with the details of special communications devices knows that it is impossible to listen to a communication channel on a “closed” frequency, even having a supercomputer of the future three times, it will not work to “sit down” to wiretap this channel. Here we can add that the operation of the special equipment used is strikingly different from the currently known scramblers (a device for encrypting information from unauthorized persons).
So is it within the space program, the military used open frequencies for communication? And they were able to find it only the Cordilla brothers, and the technical staff of the special services of other states turned out to be absolutely incompetent? At the same time, the Italians have been listening to negotiations since the time of Laika's flight. But they shared the information only in 2007, publishing their diary of observations.
But what is curious, as the Italian brothers report, the first flight into space was made by the dog Laika, whose heart work they managed to fix. And indeed, they could not know that the dogs Gypsy, Dezik, Zhulka had been in space, this information, due to the lack of any importance, did not spread. And the brothers could not know about it. And that means everything else can be considered fiction.
And the repetition of the well-known cases of the death of astronauts, in terms of hiding space secrets "before Gagarin's" flights, is of no interest, they are well known.
I remember space history America. After all, as it is found in the press, a manned rocket launch was carried out in Germany back in 1945. This happened under the guidance of the famous inventor of the Fau, Dr. von Braun. Allegedly, the last version of the V-2 rocket was a full-fledged spacecraft. On it, one of the pilots went into outer space. And later he landed safely.
Another amusing story tells how in the mid-80s, a spacecraft falls into the coastal waters near Miami, sometimes referred to as the Canary Islands. The police officers who arrived at the splashdown site freeze, in front of them are three people dressed in German uniform. and they confirm - yes, they are the pilots of the great Germany. And they were launched into orbit in the 45th year. But due to a malfunction of the suspended animation chamber, their sleep lasted longer.
Thus, they also claim the role of the first astronauts. However, in reality, you need to pay attention to one fact, and then all these stories burst like a soap bubble. Dr. von Braun, defected to the United States, and took part in the space race against the Soviet Union. Then why, the inventor, who has already sent astronauts into orbit, has been painstakingly working on the creation of a manned spacecraft for more than a dozen years. The answer is simple, there was no necessary technology, and all stories are fiction.
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Of course, the unsuccessful launches of Soviet spacecraft were. And during unsuccessful launches, many astronauts died. But no one hid their names. Another thing is that little has been said about this, but this is a completely different story.
Some achievements of space technology are also interesting for use in Everyday life, so to speak in the civil. For example, the Penguin space suit, designed to fight astronauts with weightlessness, was subsequently used to cure cerebral palsy.
Another space development is "Bifidum-bacterin", which has stepped onto the shelves of stores. It was originally developed for astronauts, as prophylactic dysbacteriosis.
Flight into space to distant planets and stars has always been a dream of people. In the 20th century, two world wars became the impetus for the development military equipment, jet planes and rockets appeared, and space flight turned from a dream into a goal for a number of developed countries.
Start of the space race
Germany in the thirties of the twentieth century was technically the most developed country planet, and its mechanical engineering was unparalleled. And the first ballistic missiles appeared here too. And when the second World War ended, prototype rockets, jet engines and many blueprints ended up in the United States and the Soviet Union. This gave impetus to the development of jet technology in these powers, and a real race began between them: who will be the first to make a manned space flight. The Soviet space program was led by Sergei Korolev, thanks to whose talent the USSR was able to overtake the United States and be the first to achieve the following goals:
- Launch of the first artificial satellite;
- First manned space flight;
- Exit of the first man into space;
- Sending unmanned probes to the moon.
Flight preparation
Two countries, the USSR and the USA, by the end of the fifties already had launch vehicles, the power of which could make it possible to lift a manned spacecraft into space. In parallel with rockets, future cosmonauts were also prepared for flight. Part of the preparation was countless exercises on various simulators, which were supposed to simulate the loads during takeoff and landing. Also, different animals went into space several times. This was done in order to test the ship's life support program. The Soviet Union sent dogs into space, and America sent chimpanzees. On April 12, 1961, the Soviet Union sent a manned spacecraft into space, and Yuri Gagarin became the first cosmonaut. His flight lasted only 108 minutes, during which time he made one complete revolution around the planet. The day of his flight was declared the International Cosmonautics Day. Gagarin, after the flight, became one of the most famous people planets. Unfortunately, he died in 1968 during a training flight.
The first rocket in space was a significant breakthrough in the study and development of astronautics. Sputnik was launched on October 4, 1957. He was engaged in the design and development of the first satellite, and it was he who became the main observer and researcher of the first step towards conquering extraterrestrial peaks. The next was the Vostok apparatus, which sent the Luna-1 station into lunar orbit. It was launched into space on January 2, 1959, but control problems did not allow the carrier to land on the surface of a celestial body.
First launches: animals and people in the conquest of space
The study of outer space and the capabilities of aircraft took place with the help of animals. First dogs in space Belka and Strelka. It was they who visited orbit and returned safe and sound. Further launches were made with monkeys, dogs, rats. The main task of such flights was to study biological changes after spending a certain time in space and the possibilities of adaptation to weightlessness. Such training was able to ensure the successful first human space flight in the world.
Vostok-1
The flight of the first cosmonaut into space took place on April 12, 1961. And the first ship in space that could be piloted by an astronaut, respectively, was Vostok-1. The device was originally equipped with automatic control, but if necessary, the pilot can switch to manual coordination mode. The first flight around the earth ended after 1 hour and 48 minutes. And the news of the flight of the first man into space instantly spread throughout the globe.
Development of the field: a person outside the apparatus
The first manned flight into space was the main impetus for the active development and improvement of technology. A new stage was the desire to get out of the ship of the pilot himself. Another 4 years were spent on research and development. As a result, 1965 was marked by important event in the world of astronautics.
The first man to go into space, Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov, left the ship on March 18. He stayed outside aircraft 12 minutes and 9 seconds. This allowed researchers to draw new conclusions and begin to improve projects and improve spacesuits. And the first photo in space adorned the pages of both Soviet and foreign newspapers.
The subsequent development of astronautics
Svetlana Savitskaya
Research in the area continues long years, and on July 25, 1984, the first spacewalk was carried out by a woman. Svetlana Savitskaya went into space at the Salyut-7 station, but after that she did not take part in such flights. Together with Valentina Tereshkova (who flew in 1963), they became the first women in space.
After lengthy research, more frequent flights and long stays in extraterrestrial space became possible. The first cosmonaut to go into space, who became the record holder for the time spent outside the ship, is Anatoly Solovyov. For the entire period of work in the field of astronautics, he carried out 16 exits to open space, and their summed length of stay was 82 hours and 21 minutes.
Despite further progress in the conquest of extraterrestrial expanses, the date of the first flight into space became a holiday in the USSR. In addition, April 12 became the international day of the first flight. The descent vehicle from the Vostok-1 spacecraft is stored in the Energia Corporation Museum named after S.P. Queen. Also preserved are the newspapers of that time, and even stuffed Belka and Strelka. The memory of achievements is kept and studied by new generations. Therefore, the answer to the question: "Who was the first to fly into space?" every adult and every student knows.
Who are they - the first people in space? The second half of the twentieth century is significant for many events. One of the most grandiose was the discovery of outer space by man. The Soviet Union played a leading role in this qualitative leap, which mankind made when it began to explore outer space. Despite the fierce rivalry between the world's leading powers, the USSR and the US, the first people in space were from the Soviet Union, which caused bouts of impotent anger in the rival country.
1961
The twelfth of April 1961 is a date that is known to any schoolchild. On this day, the first manned space flight took place. It was then that all the people of the Earth learned from the astronaut that our planet is really round. It was then, on April 12, that the first man went into space. The year 1961 entered the history of earthlings forever.
In those years, there was a fierce rivalry between the USSR and the USA. Both there and there actively sought to explore outer space. The United States was also preparing to fly into space. But it so happened that the cosmonaut from the Soviet Union was the first to fly. It turned out to be Yuri Gagarin. Experiments had already been carried out before, and dogs, the famous Belka and Strelka, flew into space, but not a person. The whole world applauded the first cosmonaut, despite all the US attempts to downgrade his flight.
How it was
The spacecraft "Vostok-1" was launched at 09:00 7:00 from the Baikonur cosmodrome, on board of which was Yuri Gagarin. His flight did not last long, only 108 minutes. It cannot be said that it was completely smooth. During the flight, there was a communication failure; the tightness sensor, due to which the aggregate compartment was not disconnected, did not work; there was also a jamming of the spacesuit.
But the cosmonaut's optimism and technology as a whole did not disappoint. He landed, catapulting to Earth. But due to a failure in the braking system, the device did not descend in the planned area (110 kilometers from Stalingrad), but in Saratov, not far from the city of Engels.
It is because of this that the US for a long time tried to impose on the world their opinion that the flight could not be called complete. However, the attempts were unsuccessful. Gagarin was greeted in many countries as a hero. He has received a wide variety of awards in different countries peace.
Yuri Gagarin: short biography
He was born on March 9, 1934 in the village of Klushino, Gzhatsk District (currently Gagarinsky District, Smolensk Region) into a simple peasant family. In the same place, he survived a year and a half of occupation by fascist troops, when the whole family was kicked out of the house and was forced to huddle in a dugout. At this time, the boy did not study, and only after the liberation by the Red Army, classes at school resumed. Gagarin graduated with honors from a vocational school and entered the Saratov Industrial College. In 1954, he first came to the Saratov flying club, and in 1955, after graduation, he made his first flight. In total there were subsequently 196.
He then graduated from the military aviation school and served as a fighter pilot. And in 1959 he wrote an application to be included in the group of candidates for astronauts.
Yuri Gagarin passed away very early, at the age of 34. But for short life he left a great memory of himself in the hearts of many people who remembered him as a man who first visited extraterrestrial space.
After the flight of Yuri Gagarin, this direction began to develop even more actively. Man and space beckoned each other with new force. Scientists are now fired up with the fact that a woman should visit there. Perseverance and intelligence helped the fair sex Valentina Tereshkova. On June 16, 1963, starting on the Vostok-6 spacecraft, the first woman went into space, having since become famous all over the world.
Valentina Tereshkova: short biography
She was born on March 6, 1937 in the Tutaevsky district of the Yaroslavl region in an ordinary family. Her father was a tractor driver and died at the front, and her mother worked at a weaving factory. In 1953, Valya graduated from seven classes and got a job as a bracelet maker at the Yaroslavl plant. In parallel, she received an education at an evening school. In 1959, young Tereshkova began to go in for parachuting and made about a hundred jumps.
She connected her fate with astronautics in 1962, when it was decided to send a woman into space. Of the many applicants, only five candidates were selected. After enrolling in the detachment as an astronaut, Valentina began intensive training and education. And a year later, it was she who was chosen to fly.
First astronaut in open space
He was the first to leave the spacecraft into open extraterrestrial space. It was March 18, 1965. At that time, no rescue systems for astronauts were provided. It was impossible to dock or transfer from one ship to another. One could only rely on himself and on the equipment that flew with him. Aleksey Arkhipovich decided on this, thereby realizing the dream of the legendary Tsiolkovsky, who proposed using an airlock for spacewalks.
And again the USSR was ahead of the USA. They also wanted to do the same. But the exit of the first man into space was carried out precisely by the Soviet man.
How it was
First in open space wanted to send an animal, but subsequently abandoned this idea. After all, the main task, which is to find out how a person will behave in space, would not have been solved. In addition, the animal would not be able to tell later about its impressions.
Various assumptions were on the lips of the public about the exit of man into open extraterrestrial space. And, despite the fact that the first people had already been in space, no one had an exact certainty how a person would behave outside the ship.
The composition of the crew was selected most carefully. In addition to excellent physical data, coherence and harmony of the entire team was required. The cosmonauts were Belyaev and Leonov, two people complementing each other in terms of their qualities. The cosmonaut stayed overboard for twelve minutes, during which he flew away from the spacecraft five times and returned back. The problem arose when he needed to return to the cockpit. The suit had ballooned so much in the vacuum that he couldn't squeeze through the hatch. After a series of unsuccessful attempts, Leonov decided, contrary to instructions, to swim inward with his head, and not with his feet. He succeeded.
Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov: short biography
He was born on May 30, 1934 in a Siberian village, not far from the city of Kemerovo. His father was a miner and his mother was a teacher.
Alexei grew up in a large family and was the ninth child. More for school desk he became interested in aviation technology, and after high school he entered the school of pilots. Then he graduated from the school of fighter pilots. And in 1960, having withstood a strict selection, he was enlisted as an astronaut.
Leonov made his flight in 1965. From 1967 to 1970, he led the lunar group of astronauts. In 1973, he was selected for a joint flight with US astronauts, when for the first time in history spacecraft docked.
Alexey Leonov is an international member of the astronaut corps, an academician of the RAA and a co-chairman of the Association of Space Flight Participants.
Man and space
Concerning the topic of space, it is impossible not to mention such people as S.P. Korolev and K.E. Tsiolkovsky. They are not the first people in space and have never been there. However, in many respects thanks to their efforts and labors, a person nevertheless reached it.
Sergei Pavlovich - the creator of rocket and space It was on his initiative that the first artificial Earth satellite and Vostok-1 with Yuri Gagarin on board were sent. When a photo of Sergei Pavlovich was found in his jacket.
Konstantin Eduardovich is a self-taught scientist, considered the founder of theoretical astronautics. He is the author of many scientific and fantastic works, promoted the ideas of space exploration.
55 years ago, the first man flew into space - Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin immortalized not only his name and brought glory to his native country, but also opened the era of human space exploration. In the early 60s of the last century, the name Yuri, in honor of Gagarin, was named after almost a quarter of all boys born in the Soviet Union - spontaneous rallies were held in maternity hospitals after April 12, 1961: babies were called Yurams. A city (former Gzhatsk ) and a district in the Smolensk region. Enterprises and organizations, streets and avenues, squares, boulevards, parks bear his name. The current KHL hockey cup also bears the name of Gagarin. However, like many other sports tournaments and school competitions.
It seems that we know absolutely everything about Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin - from books, textbooks, films. After all, Gagarin is the visiting card of our country, its pride and object of respect. His biography is painted almost by the minute - from birth (March 9, 1934) to space flight (April 12, 1961) and death during a plane crash (March 27, 1968). And remembering today the First Cosmonaut, we will not repeat, if possible, about the known facts of his biography, but we will focus on, perhaps insignificant, but interesting details, which also to a large extent characterize Yuri Gagarin. And somewhere they even dispel myths and legends about the main cosmonaut of the planet. 
The very fact of Yuri Gagarin's flight into space and his primacy in the development of near-Earth orbit have long been disputed by American NASA experts, who missed the chance to become the first. Arguments were based on several positions. The first is that before Gagarin, another Soviet cosmonaut had already been in space, whose fate is unknown. 
“Yuri Alekseevich really had a predecessor who went into space twice,” says Antonina Evgenievna Dementyeva, historian of the House of Aviation and Cosmonautics. - "Ivan" or "Ivan Ivanovich" - a model of a man dressed in a spacesuit, equipped with sensors and instruments, made several turns around the earth and transmitted a lot of valuable information about the impact of weightlessness on a person, overloads during launch and flight. 
At the second launch of Ivan, on March 25, 1961, they were equipped with a radio transmitter with tape recordings. To confuse American competitors who were trying to track down any details of Soviet experimental rocket launches into space, he did not transmit encrypted reports to the ground, but ... cooking recipes. The Americans puzzled over the decoding for a long time, and then they came to the conclusion that the Soviet cosmonaut ... went crazy, because in addition to the story about how to cook cabbage soup or kharcho, he also sang choral songs! 
The ones who really went into space before Gagarin were the world-famous dogs Belka and Strelka, who successfully returned to Earth after three days of orbiting. Another legendary dog that has been in orbit is the mongrel Laika, who died during an experimental flight. Cigarettes were named after her - as short as her life. 
The monument to Laika is located near the Dynamo metro station in Moscow, near the checkpoint of the Institute of Space Medicine of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. In total, 20 dogs died during space tests - Dezik, Gypsy, Lisa ... Only girls were selected for long flights - in a narrow container, they did not need to raise their paw when they needed to cope with small needs. 
The feat of the dogs-cosmonauts predetermined the fate of Yuri Gagarin - experiments with animals made it possible to save a person's life. The members of the state commission who chose the first cosmonaut were for the most part sure that they were choosing a "suicide bomber". The rocket on which Gagarin was to fly was designed to send a nuclear warhead to the United States. Twenty people applied for the first flight into space. The selection was carried out by General Designer Sergei Korolev himself. 
Height, weight and health were important. Six people passed the selection, including Yuri Gagarin and his understudy German Titov. It is believed that the then Secretary General Nikita Khrushchev was more sympathetic to the open and friendly Yuri, which predetermined the final choice of who to be first. It was believed that Titov was prevented by a non-Russian name - Herman. But, let's be objective, Titov was better prepared and he was left not just as an understudy, but for a more difficult and long flight, which soon happened. Although German Stepanovich himself was always worried that he did not have the honor of being the first in space. 
It is a well-known fact that Yuri Gagarin flew into space with the rank of senior lieutenant, and landed as a major, bypassing the captain's rank. The major was assigned to him by the Minister of Defense, Marshal Rodion Malinovsky, literally two hours after landing near the village of Smelovka, Saratov Region. And when Gagarin was taken by plane to Kuibyshev (Samara) on April 12, closed dacha Regional Committee of the CPSU, he reported on the completion of the task to the chairman of the state commission Konstantin Rudnev in ... a tracksuit. 
Only the next day they sewed a full dress uniform with major epaulettes, and the employees of the military department brought shoes in size and a set of uniform socks.
By the way, Yuri Gagarin made his first acquaintance with the cockpit of a spaceship ... barefoot. Nine months before the launch, Sergei Korolev brought six candidates for cosmonauts to OKB-1 at a closed factory in Kaliningrad (Korolev) near Moscow and offered to get acquainted with the cabin. Gagarin volunteered first and took off his boots before getting into the pilot's seat. Korolev remembered this - how he enters the house. 
The flight of the first Vostok-1 spacecraft took place in a fully automatic mode. No one could give a guarantee that under conditions of weightlessness the cosmonaut would retain his ability to work. In the most extreme case, Yuri Gagarin was given a special code just before the start, which made it possible to activate the manual control of the ship. But in fact, it was a purely psychological move - the ship was controlled exclusively from the ground. There was a danger for mental condition astronaut, loss of consciousness and, as a possibility, landing on the territory of another state. In this case, the capsule of the descent vehicle was mined - the detonation was to be carried out remotely, and in case of loss of communication, it would work automatically 62 hours after entering the dense layers of the atmosphere. 
The gun that Gagarin had was not intended for suicide, but served as a means of defense against wild animals in the event of landing in a deserted area. Subsequently, all astronauts were armed with personal small arms. It had to be used by Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyaev, who landed in the taiga of the Northern Urals and fought off bears from Makarov.
Before the launch of the spacecraft with a man on board, three messages were prepared for news agency TASS - in case of an emergency on board or, which was not excluded, landing outside the USSR. Envelope number one - in case of complete success. Number two - in case of a forced landing on foreign territory. Number three - in case of a disaster. And when Gagarin reached orbit and data on altitude, declination, period of orbital movement were received, the Kremlin gave the command to TASS: “Open envelope number one!”. There was also a fourth envelope - on board the descent vehicle, which contained the same secret code to turn on the automatic control of the capsule, but Gagarin was informed about it even before the launch.
Yuri Gagarin landed on the ground not in the capsule of the descent vehicle (his original is stored in the museum of the House of Aviation and Cosmonautics), but by parachute, catapulting at an altitude of 6-7 kilometers. Initially, it was planned that way - Korolev doubted that a person was able to endure a sharp landing of a descent vehicle without injury. At the same time, according to the regulations approved by a special international agreement, in order to qualify for a high-altitude record, pilots must remain inside their aircraft. The decision was left for the last minutes of landing, and Gagarin was ready to stay in the capsule until it touched the ground. “Another emergency situation occurred, of which eleven were recorded during the entire flight,” says Antonina Dementieva. - Even when entering the dense layers of the atmosphere, it was not possible to disconnect the cylinder of the instrument-aggregate compartment from the ball of the descent cabin, the squibs could not shoot the wires connecting the two blocks. There was an incredible chatter, rocking of the whole structure, and the speed increased. Only ten minutes later, the wires twisted into a bundle burned out, but the vibrations did not stop. And then a command was given from the MCC to eject Gagarin, which saved his life. Eyewitnesses to the landing of the capsule testified that the ball bounced into the air three or four times on contact with the ground. If there was a person inside it, then he had practically no chance of surviving. ”
Because of this fact, the Americans tried to challenge the very fact of the conquest of space by a Soviet pilot, but later they nevertheless recognized the superiority of the USSR in manned flight into near-Earth orbit.
The popularity of Yuri Gagarin is well known all over the world - everywhere he was met like a god, and the English Queen Elizabeth even neglected the rules of etiquette at the table for the sake of the Soviet cosmonaut and began to use only a spoon from a variety of cutlery - like Gagarin. And once, when Yuri Alekseevich received a kiss from the popular film actress Gina Lollobrigida at a film festival in Moscow, noticing the bewildered eyebrows of his wife, Gagarin smiled at her: “It wasn’t she, Valyusha, who roamed the Arctic with me. We are with you to the very last birch on the grave ... ". And in this phrase - the whole of Yuri Gagarin, who, despite world fame, remained a simple and sincere person. That is how we remember him.
“Many of the outstanding people who stood at the origins of our space program are no longer alive, but the memory of them and the memory of the rejoicing that gripped the entire Soviet people on that day on April 12, 1961 is alive,” says pilot-cosmonaut, twice Hero of the Soviet Union Georgy Grechko. - The memory of the feat of Yuri Gagarin is alive, since the first flight into space was such a real, great feat, the memory of Gagarin's wonderful smile and his legendary "Let's go!" Is alive.