Yuri Gagarin was born on 9 March 1934, in the village of Klushino, some 100 miles (161 km) West of Moscow, situated near the town of Gzhatsk (now named Gagarin in his honour) in the Smolensk Region. His father, Alexei Ivanovich, was a collective farmer, and his mother, Anna Timofeyevna, was a dairymaid. He started school in 1941 but his schooling was interrupted by the Nazi invasion. The Gagarin's house was occupied, and family had to live in a dug-out. When the Germans retreated, they took two of Yuri's sisters, but they were released after the War.
The Gagarin family moved to Gzhatsk after the War, where Yuri re-commenced school. (The name Gagarin incidentally derives from the Soviet word for wild duck.). His favorite subject was arithmetic, and he also developed a keenness for science.
On finishing school in 1950, Yuri enrolled in a foundryman's school at Lyubertsky, near Moscow, and also attended evening classes. Students at the school combined factory work and study while they prepared for jobs in Soviet industry. After a year however, Gagarin was accepted as a student at a four year technical school where he could finish his secondary education while he also studied foundry work. His new school was in Saratov the Volga river, and had a good flying school and an airfield nearby.
As soon as he was eligible, during his fourth year at Saratov, he enrolled at the flying school, the Saratov Aero Club, where he studied the theory of flight and other aviation subjects at night. His course included a parachute jump, which he made from the wing of a training plane. After his first successful jump, an instructor gave him a ride in a Yak- 18 fighter plane.'That first flight 'he later recalled 'filled me with pride and gave meaning to my whole life.'
In the Spring of 1955, he graduated with honours as a foundryman-technician, and also received his ground school diploma from the flying school. He was determined to become a pilot, and instead of going to work as a foundryman, he spent the summer at an aviation camp, where he learned to fly the Yak-18. At the end of the Summer, he became an aviation cadet at the Orenburg Pilot Training School, graduating two years later as a pilot, first-class. He then joined the Soviet Air Force and served as a fighter-pilot.
His first posting was at Orenburg, where he met his future wife, Valya (Valentine) a nursing student. She apparently made regular visits to watch him marching but couldn't always see him, as he was not allowed to march in the front ranks because he was too short! His lack of height was to cause him further problems when he was assigned to flying MIG fighters, and had to resort to using a cushion to reach the controls!
Gagarin was promoted to Lieutenant in late 1957, and married Valya that November. Soon afterwards, he volunteered for a tour of duty in the Arctic, while Valya completed nursing school in Moscow. After graduating, she joined him for the Arctic winter. The following spring, she gave birth to their first child, a 71b 7OZ (3.4 kg) daughter, Lena. (Lena, or Yelena, diminutive Lenochka.)
In late 1959, 'if such a group exists'Lieutenant Gagarin applied for admission to the astronaut training group . He was called up, along with several dozen other candidates before a strict medical board. He passed all the tests, and on his 26th birthday (i.e. 9 March 1960), he was transferred to the cosmonaut team. The work was so secret that he wasn't even allowed to tell Valya. He joined the CPSU in the Summer of 1960.
On 7 March 1961, his second daughter, was born. 'It's Spring, so let's give her a Spring name - Galya ' said Gagarin. (Galya is the diminutive of Galchonok - young Daw. Various reports give differing names - Galochka, Galinka and Galina.) Shortly afterwards, Gagarin told Valya that he was not only training for flights into space, but had been chosen as the first man to fly.
The flight into space- and history - began when Vostok I was launched on 12 April 1961. Gagarin made a single revolution of the Earth before returning after a flight lasting I hour and 48 minutes.
Upon his return, Gagarin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and also received the Order of Lenin. He made many tours of the World, and was showered with honours and awards in recognition of his great feat. A crater on the lunar farside was named in his honour, and during a visit to London, he was presented with a Gold Medal from the British Interplanetary Society.
In the years that followed, Gagarin served as a tutor to the other cosmonauts, and became the official deputy to Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kamanin, the chief of the Soviet space programme commission. In 1963, he became Commander of the Cosmonaut Detachment, and served as CapCom for the Vostok 3 and 4 missions, as well as technical director for Vostok 6. In addition, he was made responsible for all projects connected with lunar exploration. He began studying at the Zhakovsky Military Air Academy in September 1961, and graduated in February 1968. He also co-wrote a book with Vladimir Lebedev entitled 'Psychology and Space.'
Valya later wrote that during holidays from the training, Gagarin 'would enjoy having people round. When listening to funny stories, he could not hold back his ringing and infectious laughter. The boys were drawn to him and good-naturedly called him "Gagara" (Loon!).'
Gagarin insisted that he would make a second, maybe third spaceflight, and this, coupled with his responsibility for lunar projects, led many people to believe that he would lead the Soviet lunar landing team. Apparent confirmation came from Valentina Tereshkova when, during a visit to Havana, she told the Cubans 'The Moon team has already been picked. Major Gagarin is head of it, and I am on it.
Gagarin headed the technical commission of the Soviet Water skiing federation in Cuba and was also a member of the Komsomol Central Committee, as well as head of the Soviet-Cuban Friendship Society. In addition, he served on the Council of the Union of the Supreme Soviet from 1962-66, and the Council of Nationalities of the Supreme Soviet from 1966-68. In 1967, he became the first foreigner to be awarded the title of Hero of the People's Republic of Bulgaria during a visit to that country. His wife currently works as an assistant in one of the big-medical laboratories at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre.
In August 1966, Gagarin began taking an active part in the space programme again, when he was assigned as back-up to Vladimir Komarov, the pilot of Soyuz 1, launched on 23 April 1967. Komarov was killed during the return to Earth, and Gagarin was assigned to fly the first manned mission to the moon, Soyuz 3. Normal crewing policy dictated that he should fly the mission anyway, but of all the cosmonauts, Gagarin would have had the greatest influence in restoring confidence in the Soyuz spacecraft. As events turned out however, he was never to fly to space again.
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