Unknown pages and forgotten facts of the great feat of Gagarin
It is unlikely that those who are close to 60 by age, or older than these years, do not remember how they first heard about Gagarin’s flight. I personally heard about this on the way to the military registration and enlistment office of the Frunze Academy. Unexpectedly, one of the loudspeakers started talking, which, as it turned out, was installed on the central streets of Moscow that day in advance. Yuri Levitan, with a solemn voice, minted: "April 12 of the year 1961 in the Soviet Union was put into orbit around the Earth the first in the world spacecraft-satellite" Vostok "with a man on board."Then Levitan reported: "The pilot-cosmonaut of the spacecraft-satellite Vostok is a citizen of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, a pilot major Gagarin Yuri Alekseevich".
Last post was not news for me. Although I had nothing to do with space matters, and everything related to space and the cosmonaut detachment was kept in the strictest secret, any secret protection system has its own gaps, often unexpected. Leakage of information through such gaps can go very far. One of these information leaks reached the Frunze Military Academy, where from mid-January to 12 on April 1961, I was at a military interpreter gathering. At the end of March, one of the participants in the training camp came running to the audience with the words: “And I know the name of the first cosmonaut! This is Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin!” It turned out that our friend had a chance to make acquaintance at the Academy's Machinery Bureau during his studies. One of the typists was friends with her colleague from the Ministry of Defense, who printed the order of the Minister for conferring on Senior Lieutenant Yuri Gagarin an extraordinary rank of major. The girl was told that in the leadership of the ministry they decided that the first cosmonaut should have a more substantial military rank than the senior lieutenant. In a matter of minutes, this news became the property of all girlfriends typists, and they revealed the secret to their friends.
But even those Soviet people who previously did not know the name and surname of the first cosmonaut in the world had long hoped to hear such a TASS message. By that time, many people abroad were waiting for this. This is four and a half years ago in October 1957, the launch of the first Soviet satellite came as a complete surprise to the planet. My American friend told me that, having learned about the launch of the Soviet satellite, he could not come to his senses for a long time and sat stupidly in place for a couple of hours. After all, the message about the Soviet cosmic triumph destroyed all his sustainable ideas about the world. Like all Americans, he was confident that no one in the world would overtake the United States in launching the first artificial satellite of the Earth, which was announced by President D. Eisenhuaer back in 1955 year.
How the West assessed our progress in the development of science and technology
Despite clear evidence of the scientific and technological progress of the USSR, the Americans did not believe that our country was able to outrun them. This was the result of sustainable ideas about the chronic inability of our country to scientific and technical progress. At the beginning of the 30s, the United States did not believe in the reality of data on the achievements of the first Soviet five-year plan.
In his report at the joint plenum of the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission of the CPSU (b) 7 in January 1933, Mr. V. Stalin quoted the American newspaper The New York Times, published in late November, 1932: “The five-year industrial plan, which aimed to make a challenge to the sense of proportion, striving for its goal "regardless of costs," as Moscow often boasted with pride, is not really a plan. It is a speculation. "
The excerpt from the article by the American Journal of Current History, quoted by Stalin, said: "A review of the current state of affairs in Russia thus leads to the conclusion that the five-year program failed both in relation to the declared goals and even more thoroughly in regard to its main social principles. "
Ignorance and prejudice, as always, gave rise to erroneous assessments in other countries of the world. Although a number of individuals in the Third Reich convinced Hitler that the Soviet Union quickly created a powerful industry and formidable military force, the Fuhrer ignored these reports. Former German Minister of Armaments Albert Speer recalled that Hitler ridiculed the calculations of the head of the department of economics of the General Staff of Germany, General George Thomas, indicating the high military potential of the Soviet Union. He also rejected the data of the department for the study of the foreign armies of the East of the ground forces general staff. According to Guderian, Hitler called this data "the most monstrous bluff since the time of Genghis Khan." But then, when some German soldiers, who visited the Soviet-German border in 1940, told Hitler that the Russian military equipment was primitive, the Führer began to repeat that, compared with the campaign in the West, the war in the East would be like a fuss of children in sandbox.
True, life made Hitler and his generals reckon with the successes of Soviet defense production. At the beginning of the war, German troops were faced with a number of samples of Soviet military equipment that exceeded their weapons. On the eve of the war in the USSR, BM-13 rocket launchers were created, later called "Katyushas." By the beginning of the war, the first prototype of the IL-2 armored attack aircraft was built, which had no analogues in the world aviation. The KV heavy tank and T-34 medium tank created before the war were superior in quality tank equipment of foreign armies.
German General G. Guderian wrote that back in the beginning of the campaign on the Soviet-German front in Germany, attempts were made to create an analogue of the T-34 tank. The general recalled: “The proposal of the front-line officers to produce exactly the same tanks as the T-34 to correct the extremely unfavorable position of the German armored forces in the shortest possible time did not meet with any support from the designers. with the required speed of the most important parts of the T-34, especially the aluminum diesel engine. In addition, our alloyed steel ... was also inferior to the Russian alloyed steel. " But even at the end of 1927, the USSR People's Commissar for Defense KE Voroshilov informed the delegates of the Fifteenth Party Congress: "We do not produce aluminum at all, this necessary metal for military affairs." Our country did not produce at this time also alloyed steel.
Faced with the advantages of Soviet military equipment, Hitler was forced to take her role models. At the beginning of the 30s in the USSR, the most rapid-firing aircraft machine gun in the world, the ShKAS (Spit-up Komaritsky aviation rapid-fire aircraft) was created.
BG Shpitalny wrote: "When our valiant troops, who stormed Berlin, broke into the office of the Third Reich, then among the many trophies captured in the office, there appeared to be an unusual type of sample weapons, carefully covered with a glass jar, and papers with Hitler's personal signature. Experts who came to inspect this sample were surprised to find under the glass the Tula ShKAS 7,62-mm air gun and Hitler’s personal order, which said that the Tula machine gun would be in the office until the German specialists created the same machine gun for fascist aviation. This, as we know, the Nazis did not manage to do. "
Desperate to get reliable weapons from Germany, German soldiers used Soviet weapons if it fell into their hands. Going to the northernmost section of the Soviet-German front at the end of 1943, Speer heard from soldiers and officers "complaints about the lack of light weapons. Especially they did not have enough machine guns. Soldiers had to rely on Soviet machines, which they sometimes seized as trophies."
It would seem that the Germans at the front learned to respect Soviet weapons. However, Goebbels’s cries about the "wild Mongol hordes" attacking Berlin, armed with Anglo-American military equipment, had an effect on the civilian population of the Reich. Despite the defeat of the German fascist troops, ideas about the "backwardness" of Soviet technology remained. Sharing his fresh impressions of the capture of Berlin, war correspondent P. Troyanovsky wrote: “The most courageous and curious Berliners approached the huge gray heavy Soviet tanks and asked:“ From America? ”Tankmen are not without pleasure:“ No, this is from Russia, from the Urals ” The Germans shook their heads and appealed to the gunners: "English?" The commander of the gun, which was dragged by two powerful tractors "Stalinist", examined the Germans from head to toe and sternly said: "Ural sends us such beauties".
The results of the war convincingly proved the advantages of the Soviet economy, including the defense one. In his speech, 9 February 1946, I. V. Stalin ridiculed foreign ideas that the USSR is a “house of cards”, “a colossus with feet of clay,” and its successes are only “tricks of the Check”.
And yet, the idea that the Red Army was victorious using Anglo-American military aid and filling German troops with mountains of corpses was firmly introduced into the public consciousness of the West. The fact that the supply of weapons under the Lend-Lease constituted an extremely small part of the Soviet arms, and the losses of the German fascist troops only slightly exceeded the Soviet losses, in the West did not know. Many of our compatriots, brought up on the pro-Western propaganda of modern Russian mass media, do not know this now either.
Even after the creation of an atomic and hydrogen bomb in the USSR in the West, they did not believe that these achievements of the Soviet defense industry were the result, above all, of the efforts of our scientists, technicians, and workers. In the West, it was believed that these weapons were simply stolen by Soviet intelligence officers. That is why the signals sent from space by the first Soviet satellite were a shock to public opinion in the West.
At the same time, attempts were made in the United States to downplay the value of satellite launch. One of the congressmen said that the satellite is, they say, just a piece of iron thrown into space, and does not constitute anything special.
Competition in space
True, there were sober people in the United States who understood that it was necessary to carefully study why the Russians were ahead of the Americans in space exploration. Someone in the United States rightly decided that the education system played a significant role in Soviet success. In the USSR, delegations of American teachers rushed to try to understand how Soviet schools work, what Soviet schoolchildren are studying.
On the cover of Life magazine there were two photos of the “first students” of two schools - Soviet and American. The American boy, who gained popularity in his school in sports battles, routinely smiled at the photographer with a wide smile and looked like a movie star. Russian boy was an excellent student. He was in an obscene earflap and, unaccustomed to, squinted at the flash of a camera. From the content of a large article, it followed that, although the young American was popular among the girls of the school, he knew only a minimum of what was known to every Soviet schoolboy, and significantly lagged behind the Soviet high school student depicted on the cover.
The consequence of these comparisons is not in favor of the United States became actions aimed at the development of the American education system. However, without waiting for the long-term consequences of these measures, the Americans began to multiply their efforts to develop space science and technology.
It must be said that by the middle of 50's. Americans have advanced a lot in creating space technologies. Military operations in Germany were still going on, and special US reconnaissance detachments had already begun to catch German scientists in the German rear, who had participated in the creation of the V-1 and V-2 missiles. Werner von Braun, head of the Third Reich Rocket Center, was exported from Germany to the USA. And soon, in the state of New Mexico, the White Sands test site was created, which began the development of American missiles.
Already at the end of 40's. Werner von Braun began to conduct experiments on the effects of weightlessness on a living organism. Later journalist Tim Shawcross in his book "Aliens from space?" cited a lot of strong evidence that rumors about UFOs and aliens allegedly found in Rosswell (New Mexico) were born from experiments with monkeys that were held at the White Sands range, located near the Rosswell air base. The monkeys were put into capsules and sent to rockets to a great height. Sometimes farmers found in these desert places unusual equipment for them and the corpses of monkeys, which idle rumor turned into the corpses of Martians.
In the Soviet Union, dogs were used for such experiments. Already the second Soviet satellite launched a month after the first, in November 1957, had a dog Laika on board.
Only three months after this event, the first American artificial satellite was put into orbit in the USA. However, in terms of weight, it lagged significantly behind the two Soviet who continued to fly over the planet.
The race in space continued. The launches of Soviet rockets toward the moon were often timed to coincide with important political events. Thus, the launch of the first Soviet rocket in the direction of the Moon took place before the opening of the XXI Congress of the CPSU in January 1959. The rocket launching on the moon took place before the start of the official visit of N. S. Khrushchev to the USA in the middle of September 1959. While in the White House, N. S. Khrushchev presented D. Eisenhuaer with a copy of the pennant, which was delivered by a Soviet rocket to the Moon. Shortly after the completion of N. S. Khrushchev’s visit to the United States, a Soviet rocket circled around the moon took place, during which a photograph of the reverse, invisible on Earth side of a permanent satellite of our planet took place.
And so that the Americans would not forget about our achievements, the USSR Embassy in Washington sent New Year's cards to thousands of prominent figures of the United States to New Year 1960, which showed three sheets of the calendar. Each of the leaflets was devoted to one of the three launches of Soviet rockets to the Moon in 1959.
But the Americans did not lose heart. In the newsreel, which was shown in US cinemas in the autumn of 1959, there was a story about the preparation of the expedition to the moon. The plot ended with vigorous verses:
"And very soon
The Yank will be on the Moon! "
("And very soon the Yankees will be on the moon!")
However, 1960 year passed under the sign of a clear advantage of the USSR in the space race. In May, 1960 of the year, on the eve of the meeting of the heads of the four great powers in Paris, in the USSR a spacecraft was put into orbit with a man’s model on board. In August, 1960, two dogs flew into space - Belka and Strelka. A day later, they returned from space safe and sound.
True, in December 1960, the failure occurred: the dog Mushka and the Bee died along with the spacecraft. But soon successful flights and descents of the ships with other doggies were made.
The planet rejoices, but not all
The report on the flight of Yuri Gagarin caused an explosion of joy in the Soviet Union, sincere and spontaneous. People took to the streets with homemade posters, which expressed genuine delight about this event. These feelings were shared by people of different ages and different professions. Vice-President of the USSR Academy of Sciences Academician M. Lavrentiev wrote in Pravda: "The first manned flight into space is not only a victory for the brave Soviet pilot and teams of engineers, scientists, workers who created a wonderful spaceship. It is also the biggest victory of the socialist system, a victory the wise policies of the Communist Party and the Soviet government. " Sculptor E. Vuchetich wrote: “The twentieth century is the century of our Motherland, the century of its glory and pride! ... We were the first to storm the old world on Earth and to achieve victory, opening the way for people to happiness and a new life. We were the first in the world to storm cosmos. " The poet Nikolai Tikhonov wrote: “The miracle of a new era - the day of man’s flight into space has become a fact! The world can be proud of the Man with a capital letter, the Soviet Man, who, like the new Prometheus, lit a new flame of achievement, and this day will never be erased from the memory of people - 12 April 1961 of the year! "
A telegram from the Tsiolkovsky family came from Kaluga to Gagarin: "We welcome you, the pioneer of space flight. We warmly congratulate you on the realization of the eternal dream of humanity." From the Most High Volochka Gagarin, the notable textile worker, Hero of Socialist Labor, Valentina Gaganova, greeted: "We learned the wonderful news on the radio: our dear Soviet man Yuri Gagarin was in space. Isn't that a miracle! Truly great and mighty is our Motherland ... Thank you, comrade Gagarin! I send you respect and kowtow from our entire brigade. " The Ye.A. Dolinyuk, a collective farm farm named after Stalin in the Mill-Podolsky district of the Ternopil region, reported: "The news that the Soviet pilot Yury Alekseevich Gagarin flew around the globe on the Vostok spacecraft, caught me in the field. I am happy and proud that the first cosmonaut is my compatriot. " (At that time, no one would have thought that in a few decades in the western regions of Ukraine, the idea that natives of Smolensk and Ternopil region were compatriots would be regarded as sedition.) Dolinyuk recalled: "For many people it may seem strange, but I first saw the train when I was already an adult woman. Unless then I could think and dream that our simple Soviet person would be the first in the world to fly into space. Today it seems to me that I became 20 years younger. "
These thoughts and feelings were shared in many countries of the world. Scientist-Physicist and President of the World Peace Council John Bernal said: "Supporters of world peace applaud the first successful human flight into space, This is a landmark achievement that is of paramount importance in the knowledge of man of the secrets of nature." Giorgio Piccardi, a professor at the University of Florence, wrote: “The achievement is astounding from the point of view of mechanics. But, as a chemist, I find it striking from the point of view of chemistry. The reaction that allows the spacecraft to develop the speed necessary for flight ... Today, when a person with the speed of a meteor, swept through the space surrounding the Earth, our admiration became limitless. A completely new meaning was given to our relationship with the outside world that feeds life on Earth. " The resolution adopted at the Paris Communist rally said: "In the peaceful competition between socialism and capitalism, the Soviet Union again brilliantly demonstrated the superiority of the system in which the exploitation of man by man disappeared."
The newspapers published greetings from the leaders of the countries of the globe. In his message, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wrote: "This success is a truly wonderful achievement for humanity, for which the science of the whole world - and especially Soviet science - deserves the highest recognition. This victory of man over nature should make people think more and more about how foolish it is to think about wars on our small planet Earth. Therefore, I consider this success to be a great triumph for the cause of peace. "
President of the United Arab Republic, Gamal Abdel Nasser, wrote: "I have no doubt that the greatest horizons now open up to all of humanity. The Soviet people will always have the honor of primacy in bold mastering the secrets of the unknown with bold boldness based on the enormous possibilities of science."
Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro wrote in his message that "in an atmosphere of universal admiration for the Soviet Union," he "took the news of this grand victory of the camp of science and peace, which the courageous Soviet people, the people of creation, the people-hero achieved."
Despite the cooling off in the Soviet-Chinese relations 12 on April 1961, the Prime Minister of China, Zhou Enlai, sent N. S. Khrushchev a message in which he wrote: “The great epoch-making contribution of Soviet science to the conquest of space once again demonstrated the incomparable superiority of the socialist system, significantly strengthened the confidence of the Chinese people and the peoples of all other socialist countries in building socialism and communism, and also greatly inspired the peoples of the entire globe to the struggle against the aggression of imperialism, for world peace, for national independence, democracy and socialism. "
In the central newspaper of the CPC "Renminjibao" an article was published "A new era of human conquest of space began." In particular, it said: “The astounding pace of progress, the brilliant achievements of Soviet science and technology instill in the hearts of millions of people around the globe the greatest joy and inspiration. The world's first satellite, the first rocket on the moon, the first rocket on the way to Venus, the first the spacecraft-satellite was built and successfully launched by the Soviet people. And now the first man - a Soviet citizen who was aboard the spacecraft, returned from a flight in the Universe with triumph. "
President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Guo Mojo published his poems in Pravda:
"Vostok" ship in space distance,
And over the universe the sun shines alo.
People all over the Earth sing,
On the entire planet suddenly became lighter ...
So, glory to mankind spring,
And this day, and daring feat,
And the power of socialism that is visible
Far stars in the depths of the universe. "
Although not so emotionally, Gagarin’s flight and leaders of foreign capitalist countries highly appreciated it. Japanese Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda said: “The launch and landing by the Soviet Union of a spacecraft with a man on board is a major scientific victory. The world expected that the Soviet Union would once launch such a ship and do it first. I would like to express no surprise in connection with this, but pay tribute to the great achievement of the Soviet Union. " Italian Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani said: “The success that the Russians have achieved makes it even more urgent to carefully consider all the consequences of these technical and scientific achievements for science, for public life, for relations between states. The competition for conquering space should be a competition for peaceful conquest, for the free progress of mankind. "
Congratulations came to the Kremlin from many Western leaders, in which Gagarin was stubbornly called an "astronaut" rather than an "astronaut." British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, congratulating N. S. Khrushchev "on the occasion of the greatest success of your scientists, technicians and astronauts in the implementation of human spaceflight," called what happened "historical event. "French President Charles de Gaulle wrote that" the success of Soviet scientists and astronauts honors Europe and humanity. "
Congratulations N. S. Khrushchev and US President DF Kennedy. He wrote that "the people of the United States share the satisfaction of the people of the Soviet Union in connection with the safe flight of the astronaut, which is the first human penetration into space. We congratulate you and the Soviet scientists and engineers who made this achievement possible. I sincerely wish the desire for knowledge of space, our countries could work together and achieve the greatest good for humanity. "
Speaking at his press conference on April 12, the US president acknowledged: "The Soviet Union has achieved an important advantage by creating powerful boosters that can lift a lot of weight ... I hope that we will be able to carry out our efforts this year with due attention to human life. But we fell behind. "
This circumstance was the focus of attention of many newspapers in the world. The West German newspaper "Stuttgart Zeitung" wrote: "The Russians won the first round of the contest for penetrating space, no doubt, thanks to their magnificent achievement of April 12."
However, not everyone in the United States was willing to admit defeat. 12 April, the New York Times, in one of its articles, announced that "no matter which country was the first to fly a man into space." In another article, the newspaper claimed that the United States took the first step in space exploration when they launched a hybrid of a German-American rocket in 1949. The third article said that man’s journey into space "began 600 thousands of years ago, when man’s prehistoric ancestors stood on their hind legs."
Some Americans denied the fact of Gagarin’s flight. The publisher of the influential magazine United States News and World Report, which was considered the mouthpiece of the Pentagon, a prominent columnist David Lawrence wrote that in fact the Russians had launched an ordinary satellite with a tape recorder on which conversations had been pre-recorded. Lawrence persisted in his disbelief and even after the flight of German Titov in August 1961, he continued to reiterate about the tape recorders flying in Soviet spacecraft.
These days, following the instructions of US President DF Kennedy, the American space industry was making feverish efforts to catch up with the USSR or at least weaken the effect of Yuri Gagarin’s flight. Less than a month after Gagarin returned to the ground, the so-called suborbital flight took place on May 5 in the US in May 1961. Pilot Alan Shepard, who was in the capsule of "Freedom-7", was raised by a rocket from Cape Canaveral to an altitude of 185 km and flew 556 km, splashing in the Atlantic Ocean. Exaggerating the significance of this event, the Americans declared it their "first space flight."
After two months and more of July 21, the Americans repeated the suborbital flight. This time the pilot Virgil Grissom flew. However, this time the capsule could not be pulled out of the water. Immediately after splashing, the capsule began to fill with water and Grissom barely managed to jump out of it. An astronaut was picked up by helicopter in the ocean.
Only a few months after the daily flight of German Titov to the USA, the launch of the Friendship-7 spacecraft with the astronaut John Glennn took place. This flight was delayed ten times over two months. However, it took place on 20 February 1962 of the year and Glenn circled the Earth three times.
Despite this flight in the world, the conviction that the United States is lagging behind the USSR in manned flights around space has grown stronger. Belief in the scientific and technical omnipotence of the United States has significantly weakened, and the prestige of the USSR has increased markedly.
"Know what a guy he was!"
In addition to the recognition of the scientific and technical achievements of the USSR, after the flight of the Vostok 12 ship in April, the world recognized a Soviet person who for the first time in the world left the Earth and overcame the earth. Even before Gagarin was awarded the Gold Medal of the Hero of the Soviet Union, he became a hero of the Soviet Union. 14 April 1961, the capital of the USSR, joyfully met the first cosmonaut of the planet. Then the words of the cosmonaut’s report were repeated for the first time, which were repeated more than once as Gagarin’s comrades in the cosmonaut detachment returned from their flights: “I am glad to report that the task of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Soviet Government was fulfilled ... All instruments and equipment of the ship worked clearly and flawlessly. I feel great. I am ready to fulfill any new task of our party and government. "
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the streets of Moscow to greet the hero. The stream of people who went to Red Square to see and greet Yuri Gagarin, who was standing on Lenin’s Mausoleum, seemed to be endless. Gagarin responded to the audience with his friendly smile, which became inseparable from his image.
The whole country listened and watched the performance of the faithful son of the Soviet people, a worthy member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Gagarin said: "The first plane, the first satellite, the first spacecraft and the first space flight - these are the stages of the great journey of my Motherland to mastering the secrets of nature. Our native Communist Party led and surely led to this goal." Even from this short speech of the cosmonaut number one it was clear how the fate of the Soviet country was reflected in his personal life. He emphasized: "At every step of my life and study at a vocational school, at an industrial technical school, at an aeroclub, at an aviation school, I felt the constant concern of the party, of which I am a son."
With his answers at a press conference held at the House of Scientists in Moscow, Yuri Gagarin subdued a sophisticated journalistic audience. Answering the question of journalists, he said that he did not take any talismans or photos of his relatives into the flight, as he was sure that he would quickly and safely return to the earth. Answering the question about his earnings, he said with a cheerful smile: "I, like all Soviet people, have a salary quite sufficient to satisfy all my needs. I was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. This is the highest award in our country." Answering the question of a Latin American correspondent, how the continent of South America looks like from space, Gagarin answered: "He is very beautiful." Then the astronaut did not yet know that he was to visit this, as well as other continents of the Earth.
France and England, Poland and Czechoslovakia, Japan and Liberia, Brazil and Cuba, as well as dozens of other countries, received the first cosmonaut of the planet with enthusiasm. He spoke again and again with speeches and answered questions from journalists and, as always, was resourceful. After he bought dolls for his daughters in Japan, he was asked at a press conference: "Is there no toys in the USSR to buy them for your daughters?" As always, with a smile, Gagarin replied: “I always bring presents to my daughters. I really wanted to give them a surprise this time: bring Japanese dolls. It’s a pity you started talking about my purchase. Tomorrow they will write about it in the newspapers and, perhaps, they will even find out in Moscow. There will be no surprise. You have spoiled the joy of two little girls. "
Behind the external charm was a deep mind, high moral qualities, a comprehensively developed personality. This becomes even clearer when you get acquainted with the content of the book "Psychology and Space", written by Yu. A. Gagarin together with the candidate of medical sciences V.I. Lebedev. The book contains a lot of personal observations of Gagarin on the pilot's behavior, the preparation of astronauts and the experience of a man in space.
In the book’s conclusion, it was emphasized what high demands were placed on Soviet science for cosmonauts: “Since space exploration is possible only for a society that has achieved high development of science and technology, and all space equipment and technology is a concentrated expression of society’s scientific and technological achievements, the astronaut must be the level of these achievements. He should know a lot and be able to know. Be aware of the latest discoveries of scientists and know what is being done today in advanced laboratories and design bureaus ro, in research institutes and factories. Only the fully educated will open the way to space! "
"To master the heights of science today is not easy. Astronauts have to study mathematics and physics, astronomy and cybernetics, radio engineering and electronics, mechanics and metallurgy, chemistry and biology, psychology and physiology. To withstand such a load, you must have excellent health along with Only a physically strong body is able to cope with the cosmonaut training program for the flight and the flight itself. Only a person with a well-trained body, strong nerves and a stable psyche will be able to successfully select reap all the trials faced by people who decided to become an astronaut. conquer the space a strong people. "
“An astronaut is absolutely necessary to possess outstanding abilities and excellent physical data. Yet this is not enough. Perseverance in achieving the goal, perseverance, selfless dedication and love for it are needed. Only these character traits will help a physically strong and highly educated person to become an astronaut ! "
Needless to say, Yuri Gagarin fully met these high requirements and possessed such qualities. For many people of the world, Gagarin became the personification of the Soviet country. Socialism acquired another bright human face, and that was the face of the first cosmonaut of the USSR, Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin.
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