Yuri+Gararin+(USSR)+orbits+the+earth

= **Yuri Gagarin Orbits the Earth** =

= = ==Overview== Yuri Gagarin was the first person in the world to orbit the world via spacecraft. He was born in a small community outside of Moscow on March 9, 1934. He was a farmer at first, but became interested in flying after a WWII plane crashed near his community and he conversed with the pilot after assisting him in his crash. He joined the Russian Air Force in 1955 and soon became a fighter pilot. Secretly, the government was organizing interviews with potential space pilots. Yuri was the best suited and became appointed to the first manned space orbit.

Central Issue
Yuri Gagarin’s spacecraft, the Vostok 1, lifted off on April 12, 1962, becoming the first human to orbit the earth. His space craft consisted of a spherical eight foot diameter capsule. Traveling 27,400 kilometers per hour, this mission only took 108 minutes. At his highest point he was 327 km about the earth. Gagarin was in no control of his spacecraft; it was controlled by a computer program sending radio signals to the capsule. He was a given a key placed in a sealed envelope to manually override the system if something went wrong. After minor complications during his reentry, he parachuted into a village nearby Moscow.

==Conclusion / Historical Significance== Yuri Gagarin was instantly a worldwide hero by being the first man into earths orbit. The project was kept a secret; it was not publicly announced until midway through his orbit to ensure the project was a success. His problematic reentry was not publicly announced until 30 years from his expedition. He had a great desire to make another orbit but he was viewed as a nation treasure and a tool of propaganda to the world, so he was ineligible for another mission. He died on March 27, 1968 after his MiG-15 fighter crash landed, killing him and one other passenger. He is known to the world as “The Columbus of Outer Space” for his daring and heroic fetes as a space pilot.