“Being an early cosmonaut required real bravery.”
As a kid back then, we all hated the Russians, but I had a grudging respect for Gargarin. Very brave man!
Astronauts on both sides respected each other. They knew the score on the reliability of the machines they were shoe horned into.
In retrospect, would you have sat on top of a Redstone Rocket like Al Shepard did?!
Those guys were a different breed.