WHAT HAPPNED TO YURI GAGARIN?
The life of Yuri Gagarin changed in many ways in the 108 minute s he spent orbiting the Earth on 12 April 1961. The most significant change was that he was now the first man to have gone into space, the Vostok 1 rocket having launched him to a maximum altitude of 327km (203 miles). The name Yuri Gagarin became known across the globe he now looked down upon. Of less international significance, but important to him, Gagarin was promoted from senior lieutenant to major while still in the air. It ’s also likely, but not confirmed, that his wife Valentina Gagarina was rather upset with him because he had told her his flight would be two days later.
That last point reflects a recurring theme in the life of Gagarin: a willingness to obscure the truth for the greater good or national security. He appears to have been a true patriot and believer in the Soviet cause, at least in these years. At the age of just 27 when this historic launch took place, he was a young man with much to look for ward to. Less than seven years later he would be dead in a tragic plane crash around which there are still many unanswered questions.
ORIGINS
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a man born of relatively humble beginnings, although not necessarily as humble as Soviet propaganda liked to make out. Born in 1934, he grew up in Klushino near Gzhatsk on a collective farm. His father Alexey Ivanovich Gagarin maintained many of the buildings in the community as a carpenter; his
