When did Yuri Gagarin fly into space?
Yuri Gagarin flew into space on the 12th of April 1961, aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome. The flight lasted 108 minutes and completed one orbit of Earth.
Questions about Yuri Gagarin
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What was Yuri Gagarin's call sign during the Vostok 1 mission?
Gagarin's call sign during the Vostok 1 mission was Kedr, the Russian word for Siberian pine or cedar. At the moment of liftoff, he responded to mission designer Sergei Korolev with the word Poyekhali, meaning "off we go" or "let's go."
How was Yuri Gagarin selected for the Soviet space programme?
Gagarin was selected from a pool of 154 qualified pilots short-listed by Soviet Air Force units. Military physicians narrowed the field to 29 candidates, of whom the first twelve, including Gagarin, were approved on the 7th of March 1960. He was formally nominated as the primary pilot at a State Commission meeting on the 8th of April 1961.
How did Yuri Gagarin die?
Gagarin died on the 27th of March 1968 when the MiG-15UTI he was piloting with flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin crashed near the town of Kirzhach during a routine training flight. The precise cause has never been definitively established, despite investigations by the Air Force, government commissions, and the KGB.
What awards did Yuri Gagarin receive after his spaceflight?
On the 14th of April 1961, Gagarin was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Order of Lenin by Nikita Khrushchev, along with the titles Merited Master of Sports and first Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR. He also received the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal from the Soviet Academy of Sciences and the 1961 De la Vaulx Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, among numerous international honours.
Why was Yuri Gagarin banned from future spaceflights?
Soviet officials banned Gagarin from further spaceflights after the fatal crash of Soyuz 1 in 1967, which killed his friend Vladimir Komarov. Officials were concerned that losing such a prominent national hero in an accident would be a severe blow to the Soviet space programme and the state.