On April 23rd 1967 Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov launched into space aboard the ill-fated Soyuz -1 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Vladimir Komarov
The mission was doomed before lift-off but put into motion anyway to appease the leader of Russia, Leonid Brezhnev. Vladimir Komarov went ahead with the doomed flight knowing full well that death awaited him and the knowledge that if he refused, Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin would likely have to go in his place.
The capsule hit the ground at roughly 90mph dragging a partly deployed chute.
Exactly fifty years ago, on May 5th of 1961, Alan Shepard became the second person — and first American — to enter space, just three weeks after Yuri Gagarin orbited Earth. The following amazing letter was written by Shepard to his parents two years previous, and marks the very first announcement of his plans to volunteer for the "Man in Space" program. In fact the very same day, just hours after penning it, Shepard and a group of other specially selected pilots travelled to Washington, where they were briefed about Project Mercury by NASA for the first time.
He was chosen as one of the Mercury Seven just over two months later, at which point he began the training that would ultimately see him take the Freedom 7 spacecraft to an altitude of 187 kilometres.
Transcript
1/29/59
Dear Mother and Daddy —
Thanks so much for your recent note, Daddy. I appreciate also you sharing the commission on my insurance premium.
We are enjoying our time here very much and like the new addition to our house. It makes it much more livable. Room for guests — so come on down!
Present plans are to be up for Ann's wedding in April. No details as yet but will keep you posted.
I am driving to Washington this afternoon for a briefing and for consideration in the "Man in Space" program. I am letting you know right away since I am not sure how much publicity or press releases will be involved. Basically, about 100 of the country's top pilots have been selected to go to Washington to be briefed on the plans for putting a man in space some time during 1961. We are to be given a chance to volunteer for or reject the opportunity after the briefing. Thereafter, all volunteers will go through a rigorous elimination process until a handful are selected. The entire program of space travel is a fascinating subject and I'm very pleased to be associated with it!
I assure you that I will analyze the entire picture based upon my past flight experience. I intend to do it very carefully of course — and will most certainly volunteer for it. There is no reason for expression of fear but merely gratitude to be considered for this very important contribution to science and the country. Will keep you posted.
Please make no announcements or statements at this time should the occasion arise or even if it doesn't arise!
America's first manned space mission lasted just 15 minutes and 22 seconds. The Mercury spacecraft, manned by Alan B. Shepard Jr., reached an altitude of 116 miles and a speed of 5180 miles per hour. Shepard arrived back safely 302 miles from Cape Canaveral. But America was still behind in the space race. Shepard only briefly hopped into space, but Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had already made a full orbit of the earth in the Vostok 1.
Alan B. Shepard, Jr., on the U.S. Navy carrier Champlain, Freedom 7 Spacecraft in the background, after completing the first manned suborbital spaceflight. JSC/NASA
On this day,50 years ago, Yuri Gagarin was about to see what no one else in all of Earth's history had ever seen:
The Earth from Space.
Launch of the Vostock 1 April 12th 1961
Yuri's control panel.
He took his first solo
flight in 1955.
Like any good pilot, Yuri enjoyed a well-engineered, fast car.
In November 1957, at the age of 23, Yuri graduated with top-ranking honors from Orenburg and became a lieutenant in the Soviet Air Force. It was also on this day in his new officer's greatcoat that he married his beautiful Valya.
When word came that Yuri was the cosmonaut chosen to attempt the dangerous voyage into outer space, he and Valya talked all night. With trembling lips she asked him, "Why you?" By morning she would say, "If you are sure of yourself go. Everything will be all right."
Yuri's Flightpath
Before going into Space ,Yuri had a message for the world:
"Dear friends, both known and unknown to me, fellow Russians, and people of all countries and continents, in a few minutes a mighty spaceship will carry me into the far-away expanses of space. What can I say to you in these last minutes before the start? At this instant, the whole of my life seems to be condensed into one wonderful moment. Everything I have experienced and done till now has been in preparation for this moment. You must realize that it is hard to express my feeling now that the test for which we have been training long and passionately is at hand. I don't have to tell you what I felt when it was suggested that I should make this flight, the first in history. Was it joy? No, it was something more than that. Pride? No, it was not just pride. I felt great happiness. To be the first to enter the cosmos, to engage single handed in an unprecedented duel with nature - could anyone dream of anything greater than that? But immediately after that I thought of the tremendous responsibility I bore: to be the first to do what generations of people had dreamed of; to be the first to pave the way into space for mankind. This responsibility is not toward one person, not toward a few dozen, not toward a group. It is a responsibility toward all mankind - toward its present and its future. Am I happy as I set off on this space flight? Of course I'm happy. After all, in all times and epochs the greatest happiness for man has been to take part in new discoveries. It is a matter of minutes now before the start. I say to you, 'Until we meet again,' dear friends, just as people say to each other when setting out on a long journey. I would like very much to embrace you all, people known and unknown to me, close friends and strangers alike. See you soon!"
Accounts of his first words vary,but I like these: to a woman and a girl near where his capsule landed (12 April 1961) The woman asked: "Can it be that you have come from outer space?" to which Gagarin replied: "As a matter of fact, I have!"
Recently a film was made about Gagarin's historic flight using footage shot from the International Space Station combined with recordings of Yuri's actual radio transmissions during the spaceflight.It gives you a chance to see what he saw and listen to his voice as he saw it:
First Orbit - Thanks Wayne!
Vostock 1 Monument Engels,Russia
On March 27, 1968, at age 34, Yuri Gagarin was killed when the jet he was test piloting crashed. His death was mourned by the world, as his ashes were buried alongside other Soviet heroes in the Kremlin Wall.
In July of 1971, the astronauts of the Apollo 15 mission visited the moon and left behind a plaque in memory of the 14 men, Russian and American, that had died leading mankind into space.
In honor of his great contributions to space exploration, a crater on the moon was named after him.
Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin had made his mark on history.
