We all know who the first person was to step on the moon (unless you’re a moon landing doubter). Few people know however, who the first person to visit space was. This accomplishment goes to Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. On April 12th, 1961, 8 years before the moon landing, Yuri made a 108 minute orbital flight in space, in his Vostok 1 spacecraft at the young age of 27. Yuri did not actually pilot the spacecraft because at the time, the human impact of gravity loss was somewhat unknown, so scientists weren’t even sure if he could pilot such a thing in space, so the craft had autopilot configured in advance. For other engineering reasons, the spacecraft never landed back on soil in one piece, and Yuri had to eject after re-entering the atmosphere. Folklore claims Yuri said when entering space, “I don’t see any God up here…” however that was never copied on any communication transcript, and was a false story created by former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. To recognize him for being the first man to explore space, Neil Armstrong left a medal honoring Yuri on the moon during their moonwalk.
Sadly, Yuri died only a few years later in 1968 when his MiG-15UTI fighter jet crashed, also killing his flight instructor. He would not live long enough to see the moon landing. He was only 34 at the time of his death, and was extremely accomplished, including creating and defending his engineering thesis, helping him graduate cum laude from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. He had graduated only a month before his plane crash. His death is a conspiracy in Russia as people believe he was intentionally killed, while the KGB claims it was due to outdated weather information and external fuel tanks that were not removed before flight that should have been. In the 2000’s, a new theory emerged that a vent was left open which caused oxygen deprivation, causing the pilots to pass out and lose control of the plane. His remains are kept at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis in Moscow, Russia.
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