Yuri Gagarin: The man who fell to Earth

[n2doc]

Fifty years ago, Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. It was a wondrous achievement - so why did the Russians try to mount a major cover-up on the cosmonaut's return?

By Paul Rodgers

Anna Takhtarova and her granddaughter, Rita, were weeding potatoes near the village of Smelovka on 12 April 1961 when a man in a strange orange suit and a bulging white helmet approached across the field. The forest warden's wife crossed herself but the girl was intrigued. "I'm a friend, comrades. A friend," shouted the young man, removing his headgear. Takhtarova looked at him curiously. "Can it be that you have come from outer space," she asked. "As a matter of fact, I have," replied Yuri Gagarin.

This story of Gagarin's return to Earth after orbiting the planet, the most important flight since the Wright brothers' at Kitty Hawk, was widely disseminated, not least because of its symbolism – a Soviet hero being welcomed home by his fellow peasants, a wise mother and a child of the future. It is probably true in essence, though the details changed with each retelling. But some facts were hidden. One was kept secret for more than a decade, except for an extraordinary occasion when Gagarin risked everything to tell the truth to a man he held in the highest regard – a man who was a Cold War enemy: the Royal Navy's top test pilot.

The first cosmonaut's remarkable accomplishment, 50 years ago this month, still reverberates around the world. Without his spur, Nasa might never have reached for the Moon, the space shuttle might fly only between the pages of sci-fi novels and the International Space Station might be just an idea among disappointed space enthusiasts.

more

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/yuri-gagarin-the-man-who-fell-to-earth-2257505.html

[stevedeshazer]

1. Thanks, interesting read. n/t

[1620rock]

2. Wow, that was indeed a good read. I remember the huge newspaper

headlines of the time. Thanks for posting.