To the Moon and Back chapter sampler

The First Man in Space

astronauts would have to endure in space, so they were trained for extreme conditions. Gagarin excelled in all areas of training and was eventually selected for the first manned flight into outer space. On 12 April 1961 Yuri Gagarin, wearing a Soviet astronaut’s bright orange spacesuit and a giant ‘fish- bowl’ space helmet, bade each of the ground crew farewell with a hug, and then climbed the stairs to the spacecraft perched on top of the 30-metre rocket. He waved to the crowd below and yelled, ‘See you soon!’ Gagarin strapped himself into his seat and waited, while final checks were made. After about an hour he joked through the intercom: ‘What do the doctors say, is my heart still beating?’ ‘Your pulse is 64, breathing 24, everything is normal!’ Ground Control replied. ‘Roger, that means I am still alive!’ announced Gagarin. There was no dramatic countdown, no ‘three, two, one, blast-off!’ The controller simply pressed the button, firing the giant engines which began to roar. The spacecraft began to shudder. Gagarin yelled, ‘Let’s go!’ (or in Russian, Poyekhali! ). The spacecraft rose slowly into the air. The first giant booster rocket broke away and fell back to Earth. When the second-stage rocket fired, it propelled the spacecraft even faster. Gagarin was pushed so hard against his seat that he couldn’t speak.

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