Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (Russian: Ю́рий Алексе́евич Гага́рин; 9 March 1934 - 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961.
Orbiting astronaut plays flute duet with Jethro Tull founder (that is, Ian Anderson - N.Beltov)
"It is really different to play up here," Coleman said during an earlier interviewwith National Public Radio. "I've been having the nicest time up in our Cupola. I float around in there. A lot of the times I play with my eyes closed."During the NPR interview, the mission flight engineer played Bluenose by the late Canadian folk singer Stan Rogers, a colleague's favourite song.
and here is the video with music ...
Tonight, Ian Anderson and I would like to honour Yuri Gagarin for his brave journey 50 years ago and we would like to celebrate the role that humans play in the exploration of our Universe ... past, present, and future, by sharing some music between Earth and Space.
the beginning of the video is very cool, as Cady's flute floats down, Cady catches it, and so on.
Cosmonaut Crashed Into Earth 'Crying In Rage'
Russayev asked, Why not refuse? According to the authors, Komarov answered: "If I don't make this flight, they'll send the backup pilot instead." That was Yuri Gagarin. Vladimir Komarov couldn't do that to his friend. "That's Yura," the book quotes him saying, "and he'll die instead of me. We've got to take care of him." Komarov then burst into tears.
The Space Race was risky and the only thing that got a lot of Cosmonauts and Astronauts through it was comraderie. And no one cared so little for their space-farers as the Soviet Union. While Yuri was a hero so many more died in botched technical errors that were brought on by the sclerotic military control of that state. Celebrate the victories, but mourn those lost - it was a challenge that mankind conquered.
The link and the text from Papal Bull do not match. In any case, Gagarin's accomplishment is rightly honoured as it is a human milestone; good on NASA for doing the right thing here.
I dunno, apparently it was [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spaceflight-related_accidents_and_i... dangerous[/url] to be an astronaut than cosmonaut at times. Between 1986 and 2003, space shuttle disasters caused the deaths of 13 Americans and one Israeli national.
And the Sovs weren't the only ones to cover-up rocket launch failures during the cold war era. The Americans were good at keeping secrets as well.
The Sovs did achieve a number of space firsts which did not put human lives at risk for the sake of flag and country and techno prowess, like the first unmanned satellite to orbit the moon and so on. A manned moon shot was considered risky even then, but the Americans had to be first no matter. They almost lost three more during the Apollo 13 mission.
Russian interest and research into space and space flight pre-dates the USSR. They caught western politicians with their pants down when Sputnik was launched. The Nazis and their corporate friends underestimated the Soviets similarly in the years leading up to the war of annihilation against Soviet communism. The Russians tended to be viewed by the fascist west in general as an inferior people living in a backwards Asian country. They knew it was backwards, because that's the way the Romanovs preferred things to be for a long time in Russia with tens of millions kept dirt-poor and down on their knees as far as basic rights and democracy were concerned.
I can't help but think that if the U.S. had put the first person in space that there'd be non stop coverage of the 50th anniversary.
Well the whole issue has already been framed in a US-friendly way. And long ago, too. The Soviets had a truckload of firsts - including what is arguably the most important one (of the first human in space) - and the Merricans would have us believe that the only one that matters is the moon race. What happened before July 21, 1969 has been erased from history.
However, there must be some nerdy NASA science guys and gals who could give a shit about Cold War battles and still retain the wonder, and innocence, of the dream of space travel, and friendship, and exploration without thought of gain. bravo.
