BY RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR
On April 12, Russia annually celebrates Cosmonautics Day, while the whole world celebrates the International Day of Aviation and Astronautics. This holiday commemorates the first manned space flight. Since 2011, this date is also declared by the UN as the International Day of Human Space Flight.
As you know, the first man to fly into space was Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Sixty years have passed since then, but Russia remains one of the world leaders in space exploration. And for that very reason the Day of Cosmonautics in our country can be considered not a professional but a national holiday.
On April 12, 1961 a senior lieutenant Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth in the spaceship “Vostok-1” for the first time in the history of the mankind. It paved the way to the era of active exploration of space by means of manned space flights. Yuri Gagarin became famous all over the world, and at home his merits were honored with the Gold Star medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union and the military rank of major.
The Soviet Union was preparing very carefully for sending a man into space. The selection of candidates for cosmonauts was under the personal supervision of the spaceship “Vostok-1″chief designer Sergei Korolev. He was convinced that a professional military fighter jet pilot should go into space. There were also criteria for age, appearance and health. Two potential candidates were immediately identified in the team of cosmonauts, being trained to go into space.
Senior Lieutenant Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was 27 years old. A native of a peasant family, he graduated from the 1st military aviation school named after K. Voroshilov in Chkalov (now – Orenburg), he served in the naval aviation. By the end of 1959 Lieutenant Gagarin had 265 flight hours and the qualification of a 3rd class pilot.
Gagarin’s backup pilot German Titov also had a military rank of a senior lieutenant but was a bit younger than Gagarin – 25 years old. After being conscripted into the Army, he graduated from the 9th military aviation school of pilots in Kustanai and from the military aviation school of pilots in Novosibirsk. In addition to Gagarin and Titov, four more young pilots were enrolled in the list of first six Soviet cosmonauts.
In the end, the leadership of the country inclined to choose Yuri Gagarin as the first man the Soviet Union would send into space. Of course, the natural charisma of the young officer and his famous smile also played a role.
On April 8, 1961, at a closed session of the State Commission on the launch of the “Vostok-1” spaceship, the first space flight assignment in the history of humankind was approved. It was underlined in the assignment:
“To perform a one-spin flight around the Earth at an altitude of 180-230 kilometers, lasting for 1 hour and 30 minutes with a landing in a designated area; the purpose of the flight was to check the possibility of a human to stay in space on board of a specially equipped spaceship; to check the equipment of the spaceship during the flight; to check the connection of the spaceship with the Earth; to make sure of the safety of the means of landing of the spaceship and the cosmonaut.”
At the meeting of the commission, the final decision was made to send the senior lieutenant Yuri Gagarin into space.
The spaceship “Vostok-1” with cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on board was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 12, 1961 at 09:07 Moscow time.
At the very beginning of the rocket’s take-off, Yuri Gagarin exclaimed: “Let’s go!” These words of the first Soviet cosmonaut became a kind of motto for the new era in humankind history – the era of space exploration. The origin of this phrase, of course, was later interested by historians. It turned out that the test pilot Mark Gallai, who was an instructor in the first group of cosmonauts, preferred to say this phrase. He believed that such an informal style was more favorable to the psychological comfort of the cosmonauts.
The first space flight lasted 108 minutes. During this time, Yuri Gagarin made one turn around the Earth and safely returned to Earth.
This flight was an outstanding event for the whole mankind. The feat of Yuri Alekseyevich has become the common heritage of all mankind. The world public met the space pioneer as a national hero, as a citizen of the planet Earth.
At the end of April, 1961 Gagarin went on his first foreign trip. “Mission Peace”, as the first cosmonaut’s trip to countries and continents is sometimes called, lasted two years. Kings and presidents, politicians and scientists, artists and musicians were honored to meet him.
Yuri Gagarin did a lot of social and political work – he was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 6th and 7th convocations, a member of the Central Committee of Komsomol, the president of the Soviet-Cuban Friendship Society.
Over many decades, the space industry has developed comprehensively in our country. Many discoveries and records have been made and set by Soviet and the Russian cosmonauts. The profession of cosmonaut became almost the most prestigious in the Soviet Union, hundreds of thousands of Soviet boys dreamed of outer space, and for many it was Gagarin’s example that defined their path of life, prompting them to enroll in flight and aviation engineering schools.
For the past years, our country has worked its way up from the 108 minutes of “Gagarin’s flight” to the creation of manned space complexes. For more than 20 years, the International Space Station has been in uninterrupted manned operation. At present, the crew of the 64th long-duration expedition is working onboard.
Today cosmonautics has also assumed new significance. The times of confrontation between the great powers have returned, but today the competition between them is not only on land and at sea, but also in space. It is no coincidence that the United States is actively developing space forces, and American statesmen do not tire of talking about the alleged “space danger” from Russia and China. The study of space and the development of space science are essential not only to maintain parity between the opposing powers, but also a step toward the likely future use of the resources and capabilities that space can offer. That is why our country makes every effort to promote peaceful cooperation in outer space and actively supports such initiatives on the part of countries that are just beginning their journey “to the stars”.
The Ethiopian Herald 11 April 2021
