Событие великой исторической важности: первый полёт в космос

Аn event of great historic importance The first flight into space Foteeva Alina

For me trip to space is something unbelievable. I can’t even imagine how much courage it takes to do this, and it is beyond my understanding how brave the person must be to do this for the first time on the whole planet.

On the 12th of April 1961 the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who was aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, became the first human to travel into space. He was born in Smolensk region in 1934. When he made the first space trip he was 27 years old. He spent 89 minutes in space, orbited the Earth in the ship guided by automatic control system. The speed of a spaceship was over 17 thousand miles per hour. After this historic event Gagarin became a worldwide hero, was awarded the Order of Lenin and given the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Even monuments were erected in his honour. Yuri Gagarin was the icon of the young people, everyone admired him. After Gagarin’s space voyage it seemed like everyone wanted to become a cosmonaut.

  We all know about the constant competition between the USSR and the USA. In that time the USA was planning the first space flight for May 1961, but Gagarin was the first. For that time it was a big leap of the Soviet Union and the sign of its supremacy over the USA. It reflected the scientific and technical breakthrough of the USSR. Only in February 1962 astronaut John Glenn made three orbits around the Earth.

Unfortunately, Yuri Gagarin was died in a jet test flight in 1968. His ashes were placed in the Kremlin wall.