History lessons. What is the Gagarin spacecraft called?

Only a little more than half a century ago, new horizons came to mankind. And today no one is surprised that people on Earth's orbit do not only live, but also conduct research. The cosmonaut 's profession became just as ordinary as any other. No one even tries to remember their names and surnames. Although the name of the first person in space, and the name of the spacecraft Gagarin, is remembered and known to all the inhabitants of the planet to this day. It was such an amazing first flight.

On the way to the stars

Today the name of Yuri Gagarin for all is inseparably linked with the cosmos. And perhaps, it's hard to even imagine that someone else could carry out this legendary flight. The same applies to the Vostok-1 ship itself, although due to the arms race designers had to abandon a number of fundamental decisions. It did not provide an emergency rescue system at launch, there was no spare braking installation and a soft landing system for the ship.

Special demands were made on the first cosmonaut detachment. In addition to good health and high moral qualities, it was required that their growth was not more than 170 cm, and weight - up to 75 kg. This is due to the fact that Gagarin's spacecraft simply could not accommodate a heavier and taller passenger. As a result, the management, and the general designer himself, for a long time could not choose a candidate. And only before the very start, Sergei Korolev preferred Gagarin. His double was assigned to German Titov.

Legendary flight

April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin made the first ever human flight into space. This fact became a milestone in the development of modern civilization. On that day, in all the languages of the world, journalists and ordinary citizens repeated what the Gagarin spacecraft is called. "Vostok-1" became as legendary as his pilot.

And this despite the fact that before the first cosmonaut were set very simple tasks. Yuri Gagarin needed to successfully enter the Earth's orbit, make around it 1 revolution and land at a given point. In addition, it was necessary to maintain a detailed diary of his observations and sensations during the entire flight. True, not with all the tasks the first spacecraft Gagarin managed successfully. So, he climbed 100 km above the planned orbit, and during the decline due to friction the air currents heated up so that the metal melted. In addition, the first cosmonaut landed instead of the planned place near Stalingrad in the Saratov region. During the flight there was a mass of other extraordinary situations that could lead to the death of the pilot and the complete failure of the mission.

Life after

Since that day, the whole world has become aware of what the Gagarin spacecraft is called. And Yury Alekseevich himself became a real legend during his lifetime. Everyone wanted to meet him and shake hands with the first "heavenly man." As a result, fearing to lose the first cosmonaut, the command for a long time does not allow Gagarin to rise again.

But the ship "Vostok-1" was repeatedly upgraded and up to 1963 it was successfully exploited. On it still went into space Herman Titov and Valentina Tereshkova. And then, after the next series of ships was developed, it was exhibited in 1965 at VDNH. What was the surprise of the foreign media, who before knew only what the Gagarin spacecraft was called. He surpassed all the boldest assumptions of foreign designers and science fiction writers.