posted 05-01-2006 08:34 AM            

On April 12, 1961, all ears were turned to radios as Union Radio director Yuri Levitan, in his famous voice that became a symbol of Soviet victories, said: "the Soviet Union has orbited Earth's ever-first satellite vehicle, the Vostok, with a man onboard. The Vostok is piloted by Major Yury Alekseyevich Gagarin, a citizen of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics."

Thus TASS, the official Soviet news agency, announced forty-five years ago what even today, in an era when space flights are treated as something useful and necessary but no longer fascinating, still sends powerful echoes throughout Earth's space history...

posted 05-02-2006 10:15 PM               

1. The orbit was 50 miles higher than planned;
   
2. The reserves were one week (all other sources say 10 days); and
   
3. The landing mode lie caused major ripples for everything the Soviets said for years afterward.

posted 04-12-2010 11:16 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by kyra:
The landing mode lie caused major ripples for everything the Soviets said for years afterward.

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Every year as the anniversary of the first human spaceflight approaches, I receive calls inquiring about the validity of Yuri Gagarin’s claim as the first human in space. The legitimate questions focus on the fact that Gagarin did not land inside his spacecraft. The reasoning goes that since he did not land inside his spacecraft, he disqualified himself from the record books. This might seem to be a very reasonable argument, but Gagarin remains the first man in space. The justification for Gagarin remaining in that position lies in the organization that sets the standards for flight...