The Space Age Begins: 12 April 1961

Various ^ | 10 April 2004 | Various

[B-Chan]

The Space Age began 43 years ago today.

Man's First Flight Into Space: Vostok 1, 12 April 1961. Crew: Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin [1934-1968]

“Three press releases were prepared, one for success, two for failures. It was only known ten minutes after burnout, 25 minutes after launch, if a stable orbit had been achieved.

The payload included life-support equipment and radio and television to relay information on the condition of the pilot. The flight was automated; Gagarin's controls were locked to prevent him from taking control of the ship. A key was available in a sealed envelope in case it became necessary to take control in an emergency. After retrofire, the service module remained attached to the Sharik reentry sphere by a wire bundle. The joined craft went through wild gyrations at the beginning of reentry, before the wires burned through. The Sharik, as it was designed to do, then naturally reached aerodynamic equilibrium with the reentry shield positioned correctly.

Gagarin ejected after reentry and descended under his own parachute, as was planned. However for many years the Soviet Union denied this, because the flight would not have been recognized for various FAI world records unless the pilot had accompanied his craft to a landing. Recovered April 12, 1961 8:05 GMT. Landed Southwest of Engels Smelovka, Saratov.”

THE FIRST MANNED SPACE MISSION

Date: 1961 April 12
Designation: Vostok 1
Flight Crew: Yuri Gagarin
Spacecraft: Vostok 3KA
Payload: Vostok 3KA s/n 3
Mass: 4,725 kg
Nation: USSR
Launch Site: Baikonur
Launch Vehicle: Vostok 8K72K
Duration: 0.075 days
Perigee: 169 km
Apogee: 315 km
Inclination: 65.0 deg
Period: 89.3 min.

The Launch of Vostok 1

[B-Chan]

Space Celebration Circles Globe By James Bernard Frost

Apr. 10, 2004

In 10,000 years, will humans still be partying on the Fourth of July? Probably not. Bastille Day? Doubt it. The day humans first left their home planet? If we're still around to party, probably so.

On April 12, space advocates will mark the fourth annual Yuri's Night, a global celebration of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's 108-minute orbit around the Earth in 1961. The founders hope that a show of global unity toward a common goal, space exploration, will move the planet away from current military preoccupations to something more constructive.

They also simply want to remind us, said Loretta Hidalgo, a co-founder of the event, "that space is cool."

Currently the Yuri's Night website proclaims that 71 parties are staged to take place in 32 countries on seven continents and one planet. The parties tend to bring together an unusual blend of young, urban hipsters and older engineering types for a night of speeches, visual effects and electronic music. "It's pretty funny seeing space geeks mixing it up with the young and the beautiful," said Loretta Hidalgo, a co-founder of the event. "In Los Angeles, we see our share of space-inspired fashion. There are a lot of silver bikinis."

George Whitesides, the event's other co-founder and executive director of the National Space Society, explained the concept: "In the late '90s, bands like the Beastie Boys were putting together benefits like the Tibetan Freedom Festival. Young people came to hear the music, but left with a solid understanding of the political situation in Tibet. With Yuri's Night we're trying to do the same thing, only with space."

Yuri's Night sounds like a good time for young partygoers, but do members of the space community really enjoy themselves? Chris Lewicki, flight director for the Mars Exploration Rover Mission, who has been involved with Yuri's Night from the outset, said, "(When I attended my first Yuri's Night) in 2001, it was odd being around a bunch of ravers -- that wasn't exactly my crowd in college -- but like Loretta (the co-founder) had envisioned, we all enjoyed it. "When you're involved in day-to-day operations, it's easy to take space exploration for granted. Yuri's Night is a chance to re-energize. It gives us back the sense of excitement and childlike wonder that should accompany frontier exploration. Basically, it reminds us that what we're doing is totally cool."

In many locations, the early-evening VIP events will bring out celebrities. In Los Angeles, Ray Bradbury, author of several science-fiction books including The Martian Chronicles, will be speaking at the Encounter Restaurant and Bar. At the Space Needle in Seattle, Donna Shirley, retired manager of the Mars Exploration Team, will be commenting on the importance of human exploration. She will also be touting Paul Allen's new Science Fiction Museum, which is set to open in June. And at the Crosby Observatory in Orlando, Florida, space shuttle commander Rick Searfoss will be in attendance.

While the early-evening events of Yuri's Night are designed to provide intellectual inspiration, the later events feature space-inspired music. In Stockholm, Swedish organizers are shipping in a couple of Muscovite DJs for a late-night "World Space Party." "The two DJs we're bringing in have been active (in Russia) since the very beginning (of the club scene) when there was only Soviet march music available on vinyl," said Stockholm party organizer Jonas Norberg. "On screens around the dance floor we'll be showing old black-and-white Soviet documentaries about Yuri's trip to space. We expect over a thousand people to attend." In Los Angeles, Jason Bentley, who did the music for the Matrix movies, will be spinning until 2 a.m.

While the larger parties bring out a younger crowd of space wannabes, smaller gatherings of people more entrenched in the international space community are being held in some unusual places. At the South Pole, the wintering-over crew plans to toast Yuri at midnight. In Star City, Russia -- the site where Yuri trained for his mission -- American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts will be gathering at Shep's Bar (named after the first space station commander, Bill Shepard) for the festivities. And at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, an international crew of residents who are simulating a two-week stay on Mars will celebrate Yuri's Night in the Hab. Stephanie Wallace, a member of the research station's soon-to-be-inserted Crew 28, said, "I believe (the Mars event) will involve funny hats, Yuri's Night T-shirts and vodka consumption."

Events take place at various locations on April 12. Proceeds go to benefit the Space Generation Foundation. [

Source]

[Koblenz]

I always thought Neil Armstrong would be remembered more than Yuri in the distant future...

[B-Chan]

Armstrong is the Christopher Columbus of space. Gagarin is more like the first caveman to venture out onto the sea on a log raft. Both men are true heroes.

[struwwelpeter]

Here in the Ukraine one finds strange heiroglyphics connected to this Gargarin cult everywhere, but nothing about landing on the moon.

When my girlfriend is grumpy, she'll try to bring up about how the US faked the whole thing. My response: "And the Soviets helped us keep this secret for 30 years?"

[My Dog Likes Me]

I agree.

Yuri was very brave. I read somewhere that he liked a drink, so here's to him on his anniversary!

[struwwelpeter]

Gargarin cult

That should read, "Gagarin cult". Proshu proshchenie.

Of course, from reading Russian aviation journals, one gets the impression that the Russians invented the Space Shuttle, the C-130, C-141, C-5, F-15, while the Americans merely copied Russian designs. As if with all their myriad layers of security (and the US's plethora of traitors), the US could steal a single secret from them. Right.

[archy]

That should read, "Gagarin cult". Proshu proshchenie.

I am Eagle!

[Makedonski]

Have you read a Russian Aviation Journals??

I have read a number of Russian aviation books that while focus on their aircraft more they know what is what and who is who.

The Russians do have some fine transport planes and helicopters which are nothing more than flying heavy duty trucks and nothing more at a reasonable price.

Almost all Russian aviation journals would say American planes are more fuel efficient and have better electronics.

[Wilhelm Tell]

Reportedly, Gagarin said "Po'ehali!" (Let's go!) as the rocket took flight. All these years later and we are still going. I wonder if, 500 years from now, some people will look up in the night sky, see a bright blue-white dot and think about their grand-parents who came from the Old World "over there" who were among the first to breathe the cool Martian air. Or will people be living in caves again, having forgotten about civilization?

[Dark Knight]

The real space age began Oct. 4 1957 with Sputnik 1.

Man went into space Apr. 12 1961. It was a great achievement, but came years laters, after dogs and other animals gave their lives to test space for man.

Of course, as a publicity day and fundraiser, this is as good as any other. And we should recognize the Russians had the first two major milestones in the space race.

DK

[TomSmedley]

Actually, Gagarin was the first successful man in space. He followed a number of fatalities, including at least one woman who cooked in her capsule. Transcripts of her last radio conversation are "out there" and truly hair-raising.

[DBrow]

The space age started with Sputnik, especially the way it went- the US had been loudly proclaiming that it would orbit an artificial sattelite for years. They picked the orbit, they picked the transmitting frequency (460 MHz, iirc, which at the time few citizens could monitor). They set up an international ring of monitoring stations to report back on what the thing was doing. They planned it to be part of the Internatinal Geophysical Year. Much hoopla, but they were unable to actually put a bird in orbit and had some spectacular pad blowups.

Then, suddenly, there was Sputnik, in orbit and beeping away right over the Heartland of America, at a freq between two ham bands (so any ham could pick it up, and lots of newspapers worldwide would provide free monitoring- in fact, ham tents at county fairs across the US tuned in on Sputnik). What a surprise, and how embarrasing to the US and all the boasts that now seemed quite silly. The US would not achieve orbit for quite some time. The US kicked into panic mode to catch up.

A great filk song, copywrighted material:

Surprise

Written by Leslie Fish


Remember the fifties, those fat complacent days
When the future seemed a century away?
Then up went Sputnik, gave the world a butt-kick,
And made it clear tomorrow starts today.


Beep beep, boop boop, hello there! (Gazhupa!)
Sputnik sails giggling through the sky. (hey! hey! hey!)
Red flags, red faces, jump in the race as
The space age begins with a surprise. (surprise!)


You generals once thought Von Braun a waste of cash
And that Goddard needed treatment really bad.
Then that global shot put gave you the hot foot
and beep beep, you're blasted off the pad.

Chorus

Done for a threat, propaganda, or prestige,
The point is, the thing was in the sky.
It made generals frown and put money down
And meet that bet or know the reason why.

Chorus

That's how it started, all those years ago,
The push that got us climbing into space.
Cynic beginnings bring forth big winnings,
But look at all we've gotten from that race.

Chorus

The project wore out and spiraled back to earth
On re-entry it burned up very soon
Hey, land, goodbye to that upstart of the sky
And in twelve more years a man walked on the moon.

Chorus


Several posts earlier talk about Russian technology and how superior ours is-

First orbiting sattelite
First animals in space
First dog* in orbit
First human to orbit
First photorecon sat
First photos of far side of moon
First EVA
First ground photos of Venus
First samples retrieved from moon

Buran was capable of automated flight; Shuttle requires an awake human to land (big levers to be thrown). This means that Buran could be sent up empty for rescue missions, and could be piloted down from the ground in case of accident that disabled the crew.

Ever see pictures of the early Russian space capsules? They were quite roomy. Even Gagarin could truly float. I was in a mockup of a Mercury and believe me, it was very cramped.

Not too shabby a record. Plus, Gagarin didn't need to pee his pants to keep mission schedule.

*I still feel sad that Laika (intentioally) burned up on reentry.

[Dark Knight]

Thanks for the info, I was born with the biggest birthday candle ever, so every year on my B day there's a story about the beginning of the space age. I'm downloading a Surprise MP3 now, so my hat's off to you!

DK

[Petronski]

Buran was capable of automated flight...

It was designed for it, sure, but apparently it worked so well they stopped trying after, what, one try?

[NCC-1701]

"..First orbiting sattelite
First animals in space
First dog* in orbit
First human to orbit
First photorecon sat
First photos of far side of moon
First EVA
First ground photos of Venus
First samples retrieved from moon..."

And the good ole U S of A was the FIRST to land humans on the surface of the moon. Apollo's 11, 12,14, 15, 16, & 17.

This is also the 34th anniversary of the nearly fatal flight of Apollo 13. May I add another first for America: the first time a deep-space abort and rescue was performed and done on the firsrt time it happened. A successful failure to be sure.

[DBrow]

You are welcome, DK.

Try to find and buy one of Leslie's tapes or CD's too, lots of good stuff there and I'd like to see her be rewarded for her work.

[DBrow]

Yeah, one automated flight then they quit. The entire Russian space effort ran out of money.

We got them going again by being "partners", we provided cash and they provided the core of the space station, plus lots of boost for resupply.

[NCC-1701]

BTW, this is also the 23rd anniversary of the first flight of OUR manned shuttle, The Columbia on STS-1 with John Young and Robert Crippen aboard. Vostok 1 and Yuri Gagarin lead the way.

[Junior]

*I still feel sad that Laika (intentioally) burned up on reentry.

The ground crew had rigged a system that euthenized the dog before she burned up. It was considered more humane.

[DBrow]

Still, though, it is too bad. I know it was important to find out if us mammals can survive in microgravity, Laika gave us much knowlege (what if stomach contents creep up the esophagus into the lungs, for instance).

A few months later they orbited a dog and brought it down safely, which is important for manned flight (!).

I was also a big fan of Ham, to me the first American in space. Ham had a long career after his flight.

Another thing- Laika went 23,000 miles per hour and could not stick her head out the window with her tounge hanging out.