10 little-known facts about Yuri Gagarin – March 9, 2024 – Russia today Posting in CHAT: Russia The photo shows a press conference of the cosmonauts, in which Gagarin and Tereshkova took part. Source: Central Scientific Research Institute of the State Autonomous Okrug. F. 7302. Op. 1. D. 1346 Exactly 90 years ago, on March 9, 1934, Yuri Gagarin was born, the first man in space, who made millions of children around the world dream of astronautics. Our like-minded people from Fontanka have collected 10 well-known and not so well-known facts about the legendary pioneer, who was not alien to anything human. And journalists from the portals 76.RU and MSK1.RU found rare archival photographs of the cosmonaut, which you can also see below. Petersburg roots Yuri Gagarin was born in the village of Klushino, Gyatsky district, western region of the RSFSR (now Gagarinsky). district, Smolensk region). However, there is a connection in the family history with St. Petersburg. Maternal grandfather Timofey Matveev worked at the Putilov plant as a highly qualified driller. He lived in Avtovo, on Bogomolovskaya Street (now Vozrozhdeniya) and participated in the events of the 1905 revolution, including the procession to the Tsar on January 9 (Bloody Sunday). The future mother of the first cosmonaut, Anna Matveeva, managed to graduate from primary school at the Putilov plant before the revolution. At a press conference held the day after the space flight, foreign journalists asked the cosmonaut whether he was a relative of the descendants. from the family of princes Gagarins, now living in the USA. “I don’t know any princes or people of noble birth among my relatives and have never heard of them,” Gagarin answered. Almost flunked out of school. In 1955, Yuri Gagarin entered the 1st Military Aviation Pilot School named after K.E. Voroshilov. And although he showed excellent results in almost all subjects, the future cosmonaut found himself on the verge of expulsion. He was unable to land the plane successfully. As it turned out, Gagarin’s small height (165 cm) prevented him from feeling the ground - he simply saw the runway from a different angle. The problem was solved when Gagarin began to put a pillow on the seat. Moreover, it was his short stature that allowed Gagarin to become a candidate for the first cosmonaut: such requirements arose due to the corresponding restrictions on the Vostok spacecraft, which were determined by the power of the launch vehicle Yuri Gagarin during a visit to YaroslavlSource: GKU YAO GAYAO. AED storage. P1–10805 Why did Gagarin say “Let’s go!” There are several versions of Gagarin's phrase “Let's go!” The astronaut himself later said that before the launch he felt general tension and wanted to cheer up his colleagues. “And when the engines turned on, when the rocket began to rise from the launch pad, to defuse the situation, I tried to say in such a cheerful, ordinary voice: “Let's go!” – he admitted. It is also believed that this phrase was coined by test pilot Mark Gallay, who was training the first group of astronauts. He didn’t like the phrase “Crew member, I’m taking off!”, as required by the regulations, so when the testers began exercises on the spacecraft simulator, he replaced it with “Let’s go!”, which is probably why Gagarin said this specifically to encourage his colleagues . However, Valery Alekseev, one of the members of the team that prepared Yuri Gagarin for space flight, later claimed that the famous “Let's go!” was said by Sergei Korolev before Gagarin’s takeoff: “I’m burning, goodbye, comrades!” When the Vostok-1 ship began to descend, Yuri Gagarin uttered a long-silent phrase: “I’m burning, goodbye, comrades!” The fact is that before the first flight into space, no one really knew what exactly happens when a spaceship passes through dense layers of the atmosphere during descent. Therefore, seeing a raging flame in the window, Gagarin assumed that the spaceship was burning, and he himself had to live only a few seconds left. In fact, the friction of the heat-resistant skin of a spacecraft with the atmosphere is a working moment that occurs during every flight. I lost a pencil in space. During the flight, no serious problems arose during the trip, but there was no escape from everyday problems. For example, in zero-gravity conditions, the pencil flew out of Gagarin’s hands, so the cosmonaut could not make notes in the logbook. I had to write another report. I took the tablet, but there was no pencil. It flew away somewhere. The eyelet was screwed to the pencil with a screw, but apparently it should have either been glued or screwed tighter. This screw came loose and the pencil flew away. I rolled up the logbook and put it in my pocket: it wouldn’t be of any use anyway, there was nothing to write,” Gagarin himself later said. The cosmonaut met with Yaroslavl Komsomol members. Source: GKU YAO GAYAO. AED storage. No. 1441 Became a pioneer at the age of 31. Having flown into space, Gagarin landed near the village of Smelovka (now Saratov region). The capsule in which the astronaut descended was literally stolen for souvenirs, and later a small museum was created from these items. In 1965, Gagarin himself came here. Then local residents organized a solemn meeting, presented the astronaut with a collective farm book and accepted him as an honorary pioneer. Tea with the Queen After his flight into space, Yuri Gagarin traveled to dozens of countries on a “peace mission,” including visiting. England and meeting with Queen Elizabeth II. During the tea party, guests were served tea with lemon. Gagarin drank it, scooped up a slice of lemon with a spoon and ate it, as any Soviet person would do. However, for the English court this was a clear violation of etiquette. To remove the awkwardness, the queen found an elegant way out by inviting everyone to “drink tea the Gagarin style.” Elizabeth herself also took her lemon out of the cup and ate it: the rules of British court etiquette of that time did not allow members of the royal family to be photographed with commoners. But Elizabeth II elegantly circumvented this ban here too, declaring that Gagarin was not an earthly person, but a heavenly, almost celestial being, and convinced everyone that there would be no violation if they took a joint photo. In April 1964, Gagarin. Activist of the Yaroslavl region Tutunya of the Lenin Communist Youth Union (VLKSM) spoke at the rally Source: GKU YAO GAYAO. AED storage. No. 1440 Spare buttons and untied shoelaces After his visit to England, Gagarin always carried a box of spare buttons with him to sew them onto his uniform after each meeting with fans. Avid fans tried not only to touch, hug or kiss their idol, but also to take something as a souvenir. Most often, buttons from the uniform were found. After the first flight, Gagarin was solemnly greeted in Moscow on Rua Square. Newsreel footage shows Gagarin's shoelace untied as he walked to the First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Nikita Khrushchev. Later, in an interview with the BBC, Khrushchev’s son Sergei, who was also present at the ceremony, said that in fact it was not lace, but stocking stuffing: “Previously, socks were sewn without elastic bands and stocking stuffers were put on. on the calves so that the socks do not slip down. This elastic band loosened on one of Gagarin’s legs, and the iron buckle hit his leg very painfully.” Gagarin - a sex symbol After his flight into space, Yuri Gagarin became a real sex symbol: girls ran up to him on the street, at receptions, at ceremonial meetings. During the cosmonaut's visit to England, 23-year-old Olivia Bryden broke through the crowd and kissed him on the cheek. Movie stars could not resist Gagarin's charm. So, during a visit to the Soviet Union, actress Gina Lollobrigida was asked who she would like to meet. Her name was Gagarina. “At least a little bit, every woman on the planet was in love with his smile and mischievous look. And I was no exception,” she recalled. Gagarin at the wedding of Tereshkova's understudy Irina Solovyova Source: family archive of Irina Solovyova and Sergei Kiselyov French actress Brigitte Bardot claimed that she allegedly had a short relationship with the Soviet cosmonaut. However, the facts suggest the opposite. Yuri Gagarin was in the French capital only twice with two-day visits. And the second time he came to Paris with his wife. There were rumors about the cosmonaut’s affair with Edita Piekha and Svetlana Svetlichnaya. But, according to the recollections of contemporaries, Gagarin was an exemplary family man. The future cosmonaut met his first and only love, Valentina Goryacheva, while still a cadet at a flight school. The wedding took place in 1957. Having become a world celebrity, Yuri Gagarin tried to spend all his free time with his wife and two daughters. When Gagarin died in 1968, his wife Valentina was not yet 33 years old, but she never remarried. The eldest of his daughters, Elena, became an art historian and now heads the State Historical and Cultural Reserve "Moscow Kremlin". The youngest, Galina, is a scientist, Doctor of Economics, professor at the Russian University of Economics. Plekhanov The name lives in people People's love for Yuri Gagarin was expressed in the desire to name their…
