Today marks a special day.
I may be jumping the gun a little but it has just turned midnight here and I think it’s a day to celebrate.
On 12 April, 1961 a man took space flight from the pages of science fiction and made it real.
Charge your shot glasses with a belt of vodka and raise them to the stars and say “za vashe zdorovye’”. Cheers, Yuri Gagarin.
Gaf
Agreed. The Soviet leadership were effectively sending a barely roadworthy Lada across Siberia. One does wonder if Yuri was simply the first one to make it back alive…
It doesn’t minimise the guts it took for him to make the launch in the first place. If it was me at that time, it would be a hearty “NYET, Comrade”. Somehow I don’t think he had that option though…
That being said, let’s not forget that the Russians actually have a manned space program at this point in time. Albeit at a tremendous human cost.
Gaf
That appears to be the case (see number 4 in the above link.) And yeah, it makes their bravery all the more impressive since they were largely aware of the dangers involved.