The First Flight into Space.

On  April 12,1961Yuri Gagarin made the first human flight in space.12 April 2011 will be the 50th anniversary of this event.

Russian government decided to make this year the Year of Russian Cosmonautics  to commemorate Yuri Gagarin’s first  flight into space.
 My report is devoted to the first human flight made by Gagarin in 1961.

The space race begins

In the late 1950s there  was a time of great optimism for the Soviet Union. Stalin had died in 1953 and the new leader, Nikita Kruschev, ushered in a period of unprecedented openness.

The Soviets also hoped to make an impact on the world stage.

When they declared their intention of sending a satellite into space in 1956, nobody believed it could be done, especially the Americans.

But a secret team of rocket scientists headed by the legendary Russian rocket designer, Sergei Korolev, had already been working on the Sputnik project for over a year.

When the first Sputnik satellite overcame terrestrial gravity and flew into space in October 1957, the Soviet leadership planned an even more spectacular mission to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution.

One suggestion was to send up a satellite that would broadcast the Communist International anthem. But Korolev had another idea.

In November 1957, he successfully launched the dog Laika into orbit. She did not return, but Korolev had proved that it was possible to send living things into space.

 The race to put a man into space began.

Son of a peasant

After the dog's  journey, there were nearly 3,500 applications to the Russian Space Program from would-be cosmonauts . They said: "You don't have to save me - just send me to space."

Over 2,000 Russian military pilots were considered. Around 200 survived the first test, but only 20 were selected for intensive training. But only six men were given  a chance of making the first flight.

As training began, two men quickly came out on top- Yuri Gagarin and Gherman Titov.

Both pilots were subjected to totally unexpected experiences - but physical endurance was not the only factor.

The man’s ability to withstand the loneliness of space was tested in a specially-constructed isolation chamber.

The main factor to choose between the two precedents was their social background.

"The first cosmonaut in the world is in space"

Gagarin in space

The air force command recommended Senior Lieutenant Gagarin for the first space flight with Gherman Titov as stand-in.

On April 12, 1961, after years of rocket development and 11 months of intensive cosmonaut training, the first manned space flight was about to take place.

Gagarin was superbly prepared for flight, both physically and technologically - on the night before his flight while others paced and worried, "Cosmonaut One" slumbered.

When he was asked how he could sleep so peacefully on the eve of the launching, Yuri answered: "Would it be right to take off if I did not rest? It was my duty to sleep so I slept."

Gagarin reported to Korolev at the testing ground and entered the capsule - a spherical part of the spaceship about 2 meters in diameter, protected by an ablative material for re-entry.

Wearing his protective suit, the pilot was strapped into an ejection seat equipped with the necessary communications gear and parachute.

Even when a temporary problem was discovered with the capsule's hatch some minutes before blast-off, Gagarin maintained his characteristic cheerfulness and never stopped smiling as the hatch closed.

He was heard quietly whistling a song about the Motherland as Korolev ordered the launch.

In an interview, Gagarin described the event: "At seven past nine Moscow time I felt the powerful rocket boosters. Everything was vibrating, and then, very slowly, I took off."

Confident as ever, Gagarin shouted "Let's go!" as he began the journey that would take him round the earth and back again.

"I felt the pressure of the g-forces on my body," Gagarin said a few months later. "They pushed me right down into my seat. It was difficult to move my arms. I knew it wouldn't be long until the rocket left the earth's gravitational pull and I was in orbit."

When it was obvious that Gagarin had made it into orbit, the Kremlin ordered the Russian news agency, TASS to make a prepared broadcast.

The official announcement said simply: "The first cosmonaut in the world is in space."

Two further announcements had been prepared in advance. One asked to help in rescuing a cosmonaut who had fallen to earth outside Soviet territory. And the other announced his death.

Back to Earth

The odds for Gagarin surviving the launch had been calculated at just 50-50, but the odds on his returning were not so favourable.

As his ship re-entered the earth's atmosphere, Gagarin encountered a serious problem. His capsule failed to separate properly from its carrier rocket and was spinning out of control.

Disorientated, Gagarin failed to follow instructions from ground control. Though he was told not to eject too early, he did, and from an undetermined height.

A tractor driver Jakob Lashenko was working in the fields when he was astonished to see a figure descending from the sky.

A few miles away, two schoolgirls rushed outside when Gagarin's capsule fell to Earth.

"It was a huge ball, about two or three meters high. It fell, then it bounced and then it fell again. There was a huge hole where it hit first time, " said one.

The details of Gagarin's parachute landing had to be concealed. The flight could qualify as a world record only if the pilot stayed inside the capsule all the way to touchdown.

. As a pilot of the spaceship Vostok 1, he proved that man could endure the rigors of lift-off, re-entry, and weightlessness.

A Space Victory

Yuri Gagarin - the world's first cosmonaut

After the flight, the Soviet Union paid its official thanks to the man who had become its most famous son.

Gagarin's victorious six-hour parade through Red Square took  place.

     As a result of his historic flight Gagarin became an international hero and legend. He died on March 27, 1968 when the MiG-15 airplane he was piloting crashed near Moscow. 

                                     Gagarin and Saratov Region.

The name of Gagarin is closely connected with Saratov Region. Yuri Gagarin studied at the industrial college in Saratov from 1951 to 1955.

He was a brilliant student. His favourite  subject was Physics.

When he had free time he was fond of going to the theaters and museums. Also he liked to spend his free time in the park Lipki.

While studying  in the college Yuri went in for sports. Especially he liked to play basketball.

In his fourth year at school he was offered the chance to join a flying club. And so the realization of his dream to become a pilot began. He took his first solo flight in 1955. He was frequently praised for his ability to handle a plane and his skill in making a smooth landing; "He'll be a wonderful pilot," his instructor Dmitry Pavlovich Martyanov said.

On April, 1960 the first group of cosmonauts selected for intensive training arrived in Engels

for parachuting practice. Gagarin made about 40 parachute jumps there.

An obelisk was set up near the village Smelovka, in our region, where Gagarin landed after his historic flight.

Meetings, concerts, motor-race shows, air-craft shows are held there on Cosmonautics day

every year.

The year 2011 has been declared the Year of Cosmonautics, and the 50th anniversary of Gagarin’s flight will be celebrated not only by the state but also by a large number of public organizations. And this is not only because this event half a century ago remains a significant one for our society and for its collective memory and self-esteem. The Russian Space Program remains one of the science-intensive sectors for which Russia has every right to be proud and where we not only have past achievements but also promising prospects for the future.

Our country has the only space station in the world, more launch vehicles than any other country and, of course, the only “real (long-term) experience” living and working in space. A lot of countries are involved in cooperative space projects with Russia.

I’m sure that we’ll be proud not only of our past achievements in the space but of the future ones as well.