Forty-eight years ago today, Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. He rode the Soviet spaceship Vostok 1 into orbit, shocking America and the world with a major PR coup…and an incredible achievement.
Not the best pilot
Gagarin was s good pilot, but not the best. Cosmonaut Gherman Titov, who’s flight followed Gagain’s, was widely consider more skilled.
Khrushchev liked Gagarin
Nonetheless, Gagarin was a good communist and he was from good peasant stock. Khrushchev liked him, so Gagarin got the plum assignment.
The downside of being first
After his flight, Gagarin instantly became world famous and a national hero. The Soviets didn’t want him to fly again—and risk losing their hero on a dangerous second space flight. Gagarin, of course, desparately wanted to fly again.
In 1968, Gagarin was working hard, trying to convince officials to let him fly in space again. But it never happened. Gagarin died unexpectedly in a plane crash on March 27th of that year. (which was, incidentally, my 11th birthday.)
Gagarin’s tradition
On the way to the launch pad, Gagarin stopped to urinate on a back tire of the transport bus. This became a tradition among cosmonauts, practiced to this very day.
