It was early morning on April 12, 1961, when a carpenter’s son who held the rank of lieutenant in the Soviet Air Force, Yuri Gagarin Alekseyevich, aged 27 years, helped by wearing outer space. Accompanied by a backup Cosmonaut, Germany Titov, he was escorted by bus to the Site No. 1 in Tyuratam Missile Test Range, now called the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the lonely desert in Kazakhstan.
That morning there was no speech. Gagarin’s just say good-bye, then tied tightly into a small round capsule called Vostok, placed at the end of modified intercontinental ballistic missile R-7, originally designed to launch nuclear warheads. Yuri Gagarin successfully penetrate the outer space on Vostok-1 spacecraft. This spacecraft previously has conducted seven test missions, including carrying animals and equipment, even, several times of them have failed. However, the Vostok-1 then declared ready to take the first man to the space.
Gagarin sang and whistled while performing the examination in a last few minutes.There is also no dramatic countdown. At 9:06:59 AM, rocket expert of the Soviet Union, Sergei Korolev, pressing the launch button, and the R-7 shot up from the runway. Gagarin shouted, “Poyekhali (Let’s go)!”
Rocket drove 500 meters per second at the initial push, Gagarin still had time to joke. “T plus 100, how are you?” said Korolev, who control all the maneuvering rockets. “I’m fine,” said Gagarin, “how are you?” Korolev was not worried about whether Gagarin would survive or not. He was just worried Gagarin famine conditions when landing back on earth. ”In the valve, there is a dinner and breakfast?”Said Korolev tried to remind Gagarin.
”Yes,” Gagarin replied.
“You’ve got sausages, sweets and jam for tea,” continued Korolev this time with a tone of humor.” Sixty-three pieces is enough to make you get a lot of fat. When you come back today, eat anything! ”
Gagarin replied Korolev calmly. “Most important is to have sausage for friends and drink Moonshine (liquor),”said Gagarin.
Scientists that were recording the conversation between Gagarin and Korolev said “Damn, Tools (recorder) is recording everything, jerk,” they said.
After sliding for 11 minutes and 16 seconds from the top surface of the earth, Vostok-1 break away from the rocket. Spacecraft entered the orbit of the earth. Yuri Gagarin tied to the seat belt in the ejection seat inside the pressurized cabin measuring 2.3 meters. Vostok capsules with several tanks of oxygen and nitrogen reserves, antennas, and optical devices to view the earth. Unlike the space capsule of the United States, such as Mercury, Vostok pilots are not burdened with the duty to control the spacecraft. Gagarin’s more like just a passenger. But in emergencies, he could also control the aircraft manually.
Three minutes later, the rocket separated from the main booster. Vostok capsule is now sliding at a speed of 6,000 meters per second. The silence in the control room only broken by the operator sound that every 30 seconds saying, “normal flight.” That situation changed in the ninth minute when the spacecraft reaches orbit. Operator drowned by shouts of Mikhail Marov, one researcher engineer bellow Korolev.
Marov still remember when Gagarin spoke slowly and calmly. “I could see rows of clouds. I could see everything. It’s very beautiful,” he said, reports to the control room. About 40 minutes later, Vostok sped over the United States. Half an hour later, Korolev turned retro rockets, and the Vostok capsule glide back to earth.
The process of re-entry, when the capsules re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, almost turned into disaster. The security tape that connects the Vostok capsule with the service module failed regardless. The capsule began to spin and vibrate, making unprotected part heats up due to air rubbed. “Everything went smoothly,” Gagarin said calmly to Korolev.
Gagarin almost lost consciousness when the temperature inside the capsule rose to dangerous levels. “I was in the clouds of fire that sped fast towards the earth.” Ten minutes later, the security tape was burned and two modules separate.
Capsule’s door open, Gagarin ejected and down slowly with the aid of a parachute from a height of 7000 meters. USSR initially worried, if Gagarin landed, he was still in the Vostok capsule, causing other hazards. In fact, the chair thrower is running fine for six times of the Vostok mission.
Gagarin landed near the community of Smelovka, near Saratov in southern Russia. Two villagers watched as Gagarin was landing on it. He tried to reassure residents, “Do not be afraid, I just like you, the Russians who came down from heaven, and I need a phone to talk to Moscow!”
Gagarin’s flight news spread around the world. Two days later, he became the center of attention at a military parade in Moscow as part of the propaganda of the Cold War from the Soviet Union.
A few weeks after Gagarin’s flight, on May 25, 1961, U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s speech announcing his country’s determination to send humans to the moon and return safely to earth before the decade ended. Space race began.
If Gagarin was alive today, he’d be surprised to know Korolev’s intercontinental ballistic missile has been developed as artificial Soyuz rocket, lifting the Russians, Americans, and Astronauts to outer space from five other agencies to the international space station. A total of 520 men and women from 38 countries have slid into space for five decades, after the first man enjoy the journey that lasted 108 minutes on space.
