the forgotten astronaut

[drychlick]

He was the the fast man to go where no man has gone before! But if you was in the usa you was not know it! Yuri Gagarin went in to space on April 12 1961! but i was looking for any book on his life but i can not find any! Could it be becase he was from the Soviet Union? and not the usa? if any 1 know of any book on him please let me know! thank you love DR

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Start with his Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin. There are some books in English listed in Further reading and in References.

The article itself might cite references about the particular aspects of his life that you are interested in. Refer to those specific sources, in the References section, for more information. Those references may themselves be books, or they may in turn refer to books, that suit your needs.

Not exactly an answer wrapped in a bow, I know, but I hope it helps.

 

[B.J.]

He was the the fast man to go where no man has gone before! But if you was in the usa you was not know it!

Everyone I know is *quite* familiar with Gagarin's flight. There's even a world-wide celebration every year called Yuri's Night.

 

[MANT!]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKs6ikmrLgg&feature=watch-now-button&wide=1[/yt]

 

[iguana_tonante]

Yeah, he's pretty much forgotten, so difficult to find anything about him...

Wait.. what?

Yuri Gagarin is a huge celebrity worldwide. His name is instantly recognized almost everywhere, and he's probably the most famous astronaut (well, cosmonaut) of all times, second only to Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Streets, squares, ships, entire towns are named after him.

I am baffled how could anyone, especially if even remotely interested in science and space, not know that.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Wikipedia has a long page on the forgotten astronauts. Oh, wait... You mean Gagarin.

 

[Dukhat]

I am baffled how could anyone, especially if even remotely interested in science and space, not know that.

The OP's grammar might give you a clue about that.

 

[Mysterion]

Yeah, how come no one remembers poor Vladimir Illyushin?

 

[MacLeod]

Yuri Gagarin's name is well known as the first human in sapce, if you want an almost forgotton astraunaut, who was the third Astronaut on the Apollo 11 flight. Everyone has heard of Amrstrong and Aldrin, but I suspect quite a few peopel would know that Michael Collins was the Command Module Pilot who satyed in the Lunar Orbiter whilst Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the surface.

 

[iguana_tonante]

^ Tru dat. The factoid that stuck on most in my mind is that Collins was born in Rome, Italy. Silly, but still.

 

[Mysterion]

Yuri Gagarin's name is well known as the first human in sapce, if you want an almost forgotton astraunaut, who was the third Astronaut on the Apollo 11 flight. Everyone has heard of Amrstrong and Aldrin, but I suspect quite a few peopel would know that Michael Collins was the Command Module Pilot who satyed in the Lunar Orbiter whilst Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the surface.

something I've wondered about: The Apollo 11 landing was not a 100% sure thing, a lot could have gone wrong. what if Armstrong and Aldrin had ended up stranded on the lunar surface? What would it have been like for Mike Collins to make that trip back to Earth alone for four days?

(Trivia: Nixon's speechwriters had a speech ready for this sort of eventuality.)

 

[Shatnertage]

Checking out WorldCat, Yuri Gagarin: The First Man in Space is currently available on at the Phoenix public library.

If you want to own a copy, there are several Gagarin biographies available for purchase on Amazon.com.

 

[ITL]

Yuri Gagarin's name is well known as the first human in sapce, if you want an almost forgotton astraunaut, who was the third Astronaut on the Apollo 11 flight. Everyone has heard of Amrstrong and Aldrin, but I suspect quite a few peopel would know that Michael Collins was the Command Module Pilot who satyed in the Lunar Orbiter whilst Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the surface.

something I've wondered about: The Apollo 11 landing was not a 100% sure thing, a lot could have gone wrong. what if Armstrong and Aldrin had ended up stranded on the lunar surface? What would it have been like for Mike Collins to make that trip back to Earth alone for four days?

(Trivia: Nixon's speechwriters had a speech ready for this sort of eventuality.)

Yeah, I've wondered that as well. As it was, Armstrong had to wing it right at the last minute to get a good landing. What a guy!

 

[drychlick]

thank you all for your help! you are very nice to help me out love dr

 

[brian577]

According to a recent poll he is tied with James T. Kirk as the number 6th most popular space hero. Not forgotten at all.
http://www.spacefoundation.org/news/story.php?id=1038

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

According to a recent poll he is tied with James T. Kirk as the number 6th most popular space hero. Not forgotten at all.
http://www.spacefoundation.org/news/story.php?id=1038

A pretty America-centric poll at that. Gagarin only sixth, but Gene Kranz is second? Any such poll should probably feature either Armstrong first and Gagarin second or the other way around.

Gagarin is also the only Russian listed there, totally omitting people like Alexei Leonov (first person to conduct a spacewalk), or Valentina Tereshkova (first woman in space).

Then again, a similar poll conducted in Russia would probably list Armstrong as sixth with the first five positions held by cosmonauts. Silly nationalism.

 

[diankra]

Yuri Gagarin's name is well known as the first human in sapce, if you want an almost forgotton astraunaut, who was the third Astronaut on the Apollo 11 flight. Everyone has heard of Amrstrong and Aldrin, but I suspect quite a few peopel would know that Michael Collins was the Command Module Pilot who satyed in the Lunar Orbiter whilst Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the surface.

something I've wondered about: The Apollo 11 landing was not a 100% sure thing, a lot could have gone wrong. what if Armstrong and Aldrin had ended up stranded on the lunar surface? What would it have been like for Mike Collins to make that trip back to Earth alone for four days?

(Trivia: Nixon's speechwriters had a speech ready for this sort of eventuality.)

Collins writes about the possibility in his autobiography: he says that he'd have been able to cope with it during the flight, but knew that once home he'd feel like a marked man for the rest of his life.
If anything, what would have been even more difficult to cope with would have been if there was a problem on a Gemini EVA. If the pilot couldn't get back into the craft, the commander would have had to cut him loose (as the capsule couldn't reenter safely with the door open). The relevant astronauts all doubt that they could actually have brought themselves to do that.

Re: Redshirt.... I dunno. The astronauts tend to say that the flight controllers were the real commanders, so as head of the flight control team on dozens of flights, Kranz deserves a bit of recognition. But it would have been less Us-centric if Korolyev had made the list too (I mean, Mike Griffin? if you're going to pick a NASA administrator, at least go for james Webb!)

 

[Mysterion]

Collins writes about the possibility in his autobiography: he says that he'd have been able to cope with it during the flight, but knew that once home he'd feel like a marked man for the rest of his life.

I think there's a novel there somewhere.

If anything, what would have been even more difficult to cope with would have been if there was a problem on a Gemini EVA. If the pilot couldn't get back into the craft, the commander would have had to cut him loose (as the capsule couldn't reenter safely with the door open). The relevant astronauts all doubt that they could actually have brought themselves to do that.

Yeah, that'd suck pretty hard all righty.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

something I've wondered about: The Apollo 11 landing was not a 100% sure thing, a lot could have gone wrong. what if Armstrong and Aldrin had ended up stranded on the lunar surface? What would it have been like for Mike Collins to make that trip back to Earth alone for four days?

(Trivia: Nixon's speechwriters had a speech ready for this sort of eventuality.)

American Public Media did a radio drama based on the premise called "Moon Graffiti." The last moments of Armstrong and Aldrin are dramatized, and Nixon's speech is read. It doesn't look at Collins' return alone, though.

James Michener does that with a fiction mission in Space, where the Apollo 18 Command Module returns to Earth alone after the Lunar Module crashes back to the moon's surface.

 

[Mysterion]

something I've wondered about: The Apollo 11 landing was not a 100% sure thing, a lot could have gone wrong. what if Armstrong and Aldrin had ended up stranded on the lunar surface? What would it have been like for Mike Collins to make that trip back to Earth alone for four days?

(Trivia: Nixon's speechwriters had a speech ready for this sort of eventuality.)

American Public Media did a radio drama based on the premise called "Moon Graffiti." The last moments of Armstrong and Aldrin are dramatized, and Nixon's speech is read. It doesn't look at Collins' return alone, though.

James Michener does that with a fiction mission in Space, where the Apollo 18 Command Module returns to Earth alone after the Lunar Module crashes back to the moon's surface.

Thanks. I'll give that a listen, and take a look at Michener's book.