Apr 12, 2011
Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Gagarin: world famous
April 12, 1961. Exactly 100 years after shots were fired at Fort Sumter, starting the Civil War, another momentous event occurred: a man left the planet for the first time.
Yuri Gagarin was the right man to be the first in space. Personable, with a sunny disposition and a disarming humility, he was universally liked.
His single orbit of the Earth put Gagarin in the history books. World famous, and a national hero, the Soviet Union barred him from a return to space. Gagarin was too important and spaceflight too dangerous.
Years later, Gagarin won his bid to return to active flight status. Sadly, he was killed in a plane crash on March 27, 1968—my 11th birthday.
