50 Year Aniversary of Yuri Gagarins first orbit.
By: Steve Adams. G0KVZ
As presented to the Vange Amateur Radio Society 14th Apr 2011
The Aniversary
50 Years ago (12th April 1961) Yuri Gagarin made history in becoming the first man in space.
Having trained with twenty other potential cosmonauts he was identified as the best candidate. He was 27 years old when he made this remarkable journey, and became the first human being in space .
During the flight he did not have access to the controls, as the scientists were concerned that the effects of weightlessness would impare the cosmonauts ability, although he did carry an envelope with codes to enable manual override if the systems failed.
When referring to this fact, he joked that he wasn't sure if he has the first man in space, or the last dog.
As he was considered to be such an important national hero, and was never allowed to participate in more space flights, but he continued to operate as a test pilot. He was killed during a test flight of a MIG jet fighter eight years after achieving international fame.
This aniversary was also marked by the release of a 108 minute film, that was created by astronaut Paolo Nespoli, and documentary film maker Christopher Riley This work has been made freely available by www.theatticroom.com, and may be downloaded from www.firstorbit.org, or alternatively viewed at YouTube using this link: YouTube.
The BBC World Service broadcast this news item featuring world famous scientists on the day that this orbit took place, and it has been preserved and is available HERE.