The first people in space. The first man's escape into space

Who are the first people in space? The second half of the twentieth century is marked by many events. One of the most grandiose was the discovery by man of outer space. The Soviet Union had a leading role in this qualitative leap, which humanity accomplished, beginning to master the cosmos. Despite the strongest rivalry between the world's leading powers, the USSR and the US, the first people in space were from the Soviet Union, which caused fits of impotent anger in the rival country.

1961 year

The twelfth of April, 1961 is a date that is known to any schoolboy. On this day, the first manned flight into space. It was then that all the people of the Earth learned from the astronaut that our planet was really round. It was then, on April 12, the first man in space visited. The year 1961 was forever in the history of earthlings.

The first man in space is from the Soviet Union!

In those years there was a tough rivalry between the USSR and the USA. Both there and there actively sought to develop outer space. In the US, also preparing to fly into space. But it so happened that the cosmonaut from the Soviet Union was the first to fly. He was Yuri Gagarin. Experiments have already been carried out, and the dogs, the famous Belka and Strelka, flew into space, but not man.
The whole world applauded the first cosmonaut, despite all US attempts to lower the value of his flight.

How it was

The spaceship Vostok-1 started at 9.75 from the Baikonur cosmodrome, on board of which was Yuri Gagarin. His flight lasted only a short time, only 108 minutes. It can not be said that it was completely smooth. During the flight abnormal situations arose: a communication failure occurred; The tightness sensor, which did not detach the aggregate compartment, did not work; There was also a wedging of the spacesuit.

But the astronaut's optimism and technology as a whole did not disappoint. He landed, catapulted to Earth. But because of a failure in the braking system, the device did not descend in the planned area (110 kilometers from Stalingrad), but in Saratov, near the city of Engels.

It is because of this that the United States has long tried to impose its opinion on the world that the flight could not be called complete. However, the attempts were unsuccessful. Gagarin was met in many countries as a hero. He was awarded a huge number of various awards in different countries around the world.

Yuri Gagarin: a short biography

He was born on March 9, 1934 in the village of Klushino in the Gzhatsky district (now Gagarinsky district of the Smolensk region) in a simple peasant family. There he survived a year and a half of the occupation of the fascist troops, when the whole family was driven out of the house and was forced to huddle in the dugout. At this time the boy did not study, and only after the liberation of the Red Army classes in the school resumed.
Gagarin graduated with honors from the vocational school and entered the Saratov Industrial Technical School. In 1954, he first came to the Saratov air club, and in 1955, after graduation, made his first flight. In total there were 196 of them.

Then he graduated from the military aviation school and served as a fighter pilot. And in 1959 he wrote a statement that he was included in the group of candidates for cosmonauts.

Alexey Gagarin passed away very early, at the age of 34. But for a short life he left a great memory in the hearts of many people who remembered him as a man who first visited extraterrestrial space.

The first woman in space is from the Soviet Union!

After the flight of Yuri Gagarin this direction began to develop even more actively. Man and space beckoned to each other with renewed vigor. Scientists have lit up now that there was a woman. Persistence and intelligence helped the fair sex representative Valentina Tereshkova. June 16, 1963, starting on the spaceship Vostok-6, visited the first woman in space, having become famous since then for the whole world.

Valentina Tereshkova: short biography

She was born on March 6, 1937 in the Tutaevsky district of the Yaroslavl region in an ordinary family. Her father was a tractor driver and died at the front, and my mother worked at a weaving factory. In 1953, Valya graduated from seven classes and got a bracelet at the Yaroslavl plant. In parallel, she was educated in the evening school.
In 1959, young Tereshkova began to practice parachuting and performed about a hundred jumps.

With cosmonautics, she linked her fate in 1962, when it was decided to send a woman into space. Of the many candidates, only five candidates were selected. After enlisting in the squadron cosmonaut Valentina began to strengthen training and education. And a year later it was her chosen for the flight.

The first cosmonaut in the open space

Alexei Leonov was the first to leave the spaceship in open extraterrestrial space. This was March 18, 1965. At that time, there were no rescue systems for astronauts. It was impossible to dock or from one ship to another. You could only rely on yourself and on the technique that flew with him. Alexey Arkhipovich decided on this, thereby embodying the dream of the legendary Tsiolkovsky, who offered to use the sluice chamber to go into outer space.

And again the USSR was ahead of the USA. They, too, wanted to realize this. But the first man's entry into space was carried out by a Soviet man.

How it was

First they wanted to send the animal to the open space, but later abandoned the idea. After all, the main task, which is to find out how man behaves in space, would not be solved. In addition, the animal could not later tell about their impressions.

Various assumptions were on the lips of the public about the man's exit into open extraterrestrial space. And, in spite of the fact that the first people in space have already visited, there was absolutely no certainty as to how the man behaves outside the ship.

The composition of the crew was selected in the most careful way. In addition to excellent physical data, cohesion and harmony of the entire team was required. Astronauts were Belyaev and Leonov, two complementary each other in their qualities of a person.
The astronaut was overboard for twelve minutes, during which he flew five times from the ship and returned back. The problem arose when he needed to return to the cockpit. The suit in a vacuum swelled so hard that he could not squeeze into the hatch. After a series of unsuccessful attempts, Leonov decided against the instructions to swim inward with his head, and not with his feet. He succeeded.

Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov: brief biography

He was born on May 30, 1934 in a Siberian village, near the city of Kemerovo. His father was a miner, and his mother was a teacher.

Alexei grew up in a large family and was the ninth child. Even at the school desk he began to be interested in aviation equipment, and after high school he entered the school of pilots. Then he graduated from the school of fighter pilots. And in 1960, withstood a rigorous selection, was enlisted in the astronauts.

Leonov carried out his flight in 1965. From 1967 to 1970 he led the lunar group of astronauts. In 1973, he was selected for a joint flight with US astronauts, when for the first time in history they docked spacecraft.

Alexei Leonov is an international member of the astronaut team, academician of RAA and co-chairman of the association of space flight participants.

Man and space

Touching upon the theme of the cosmos, it is impossible not to mention such people as SP Korolev and KE Tsiolkovsky. They are not the first people in space and have never been there. However, in many respects thanks to their efforts and works, a man still reached it.

Sergei Pavlovich - the creator of rocket and space technology of the Soviet Union. It was on his initiative that the first artificial Earth satellite and Vostok-1 with Yuri Gagarin were sent on board. When the cosmonaut died, in his jacket found a photo of Sergei Pavlovich.

Konstantin Eduardovich - a self-taught scientist, is considered the founder of theoretical cosmonautics. He is the author of many scientific and fantastic works, he propagandized ideas of space exploration.