Yuri Gagarin, the first man to orbit the Earth in 1961, was born in Klushino, near Moscow, and was selected for the space program due to his size and accommodating personality. After his successful flight, he became a celebrity and continued to work in the space program until his death in a training flight.
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, also known as “The Columbus of the Cosmos”, is a hero of the Soviet Union born on March 9, 1934. Gagarin was the first man to venture into space when in 1961 he orbited the Earth aboard Vostok 1 The flight took 108 minutes and was considered by many at the time to be the greatest human achievement in history.
Gagarin was born in the village of Klushino, near Moscow. His parents were farm laborers who worked most of the day, so Gagarin was raised by his older sisters and spent much of his time with his teachers and other adults. This seemed to have influenced his dedication to study, as he was eventually selected and sent to a technical high school in another city. There, Gagarin learned to fly, first as a hobe finally as a way to join the Orenburg military pilot school.
Gagarin was selected for the space program in 1960 due in part to his size. He was 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 m) tall, which meant he could fit into small cockpits and maneuver better in tight spaces. Gagarin was also sympathetic and accommodating, which the government saw as an asset when considering subsequent media involvement. During the flight, Gagarin was supposed to record everything he observed, but he was not in charge of the flight. Since there was no way of knowing how a person’s mind and body would react in space, it was considered too risky to allow the occupant of the spacecraft to pilot it. Vostok 1 was controlled from Earth by remote control.
Having successfully completed the flight, Gagarin instantly became a celebrity. He was promoted to major, toured Europe and Asia, and was eventually assigned to the legislative body of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, where he served as a deputy.
Gagarin remained close to the space program by working on spacecraft design and later taking a job as director of training. His brilliant career, which included plans for a second space trip, was cut short when he was killed during a training flight. Gagarin hoped to restart his career as a fighter pilot and was actively training in MiG-15UTI aircraft. He and his flight instructor lost control of the plane in turbulence and crashed near Kirzhach.
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