It is joked about Gagarin's flight that the cosmonaut was preparing for it only to spend 108 minutes outside the USSR. We do not agree, but just in case, once again studied all the details of the flight and decided to share with you the most unexpected details about the first man in space.
Gagarin almost died?
The first seconds of takeoff would have been dangerous for any astronaut. If there had been any serious failure, the parachute would not have been able to be used because the landing altitude was too low. An alternative solution was found quickly: next to the rocket stretched a grid on which Gagarin in case of an emergency situation would have to land with a catapult.
How did you land after the flight?
The voice was as hollow as a barrel. My grandmother helped Yuri Gagarin to remove the hermetic mask-she pressed a button. And when the smiling face was revealed, we were finally convinced that this was a man.
Margarita Nurkanova
These are the memories of the granddaughter of Anna Takhtarova-a woman who first saw the "alien", frightened, almost ran away from him, but finally recognized the man, fed him milk and bread. Gagarin in proof that he was "from the ship", showed his parachute and told what was what. He then even wrote letters to Takhtarova. All of them are stored in the school where little Rita studied.
The fact that Gagarin landed with a catapult and parachute, it became known only 25 years after the flight. No one should have known that the cosmonaut had returned to Earth on a ship. Although foreign journalists asked about this directly, Yuri Alekseevich refused to speak.
Was there a flight at all?
After all, according to the standards of the International aviation Federation (FAI), a space flight was considered only if the cosmonaut started and landed on the same aircraft. They say that cosmonaut Valery Golovin's excessive verbosity on this occasion cost his life…