![]() Because of his controversial past, Chief Designer Korolev was unknown in the West and to all but insiders in the USSR until his death in 1966.īorn in the Ukraine in 1906, Korolev was part of a scientific team that launched the first Soviet liquid-fueled rocket in 1933. However, to those who worked on the Vostok program and earlier on Sputnik (which launched the first satellite into space in 1957), the successes were attributable chiefly to the brilliance of one man: Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. ![]() To Soviet propagandists, the Soviet conquest of space was evidence of the supremacy of communism over capitalism. Titov made 17 orbits and spent more than 25 hours in space. By that time, the Soviet Union had already made another leap ahead in the “space race” with the August 1961 flight of cosmonaut Gherman Titov in Vostok 2. space program until February 1962, when astronaut John Glenn made three orbits in Friendship 7. Moreover, Gagarin had orbited Earth, a feat that eluded the U.S. The triumph of the Soviet space program in putting the first man into space was a great blow to the United States, which had scheduled its first space flight for May 1961. Monuments were raised to him across the Soviet Union and streets renamed in his honor. He was awarded the Order of Lenin and given the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The only statement attributed to Gagarin during his one hour and 48 minutes in space was, “Flight is proceeding normally I am well.”Īfter his historic feat was announced, the attractive and unassuming Gagarin became an instant worldwide celebrity. Vostok 1 orbited Earth at a maximum altitude of 187 miles and was guided entirely by an automatic control system. During the flight, the 27-year-old test pilot and industrial technician also became the first man to orbit the planet, a feat accomplished by his space capsule in 89 minutes. ![]() On April 12, 1961, aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin becomes the first human being to travel into space.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |