Yuri Gagarin anniversary

[Rasputin]

46 years ago today, Yuri Gagarin made the first manned space orbit around Earth. This was a huge event as it sped up the space race and pushed the limits of man-made vessels in space. As a Russian astronaut, Gagarin was used by the Khrushchev administration to promote communism and to further his military agendas, though in the long run, these attempts did not succeed and Khrushchev was eventually removed from office in 1964. Gagarin died in a plane crash in 1968.

Google even got into the spirit by making their home page link to his name. Any thoughts on this pioneer of the Space Age?

 

[Jimmy]

I thought he had some mental problems after returning from space...maybe i was wrong.

Well he was indeed a pioneer a pioneer of the "Space Race" back in the days were Russia and America were trying to surpass each other to see who had the better technology!

 

[Rasputin]

Yeah. I've always wanted to go into space someday, but the fact that 5% of spaceships never make it back has always been a fear to me. To think, this guy did it when space ships were first being made... it's like being the first person to drive a car, for Pete's sake. He deserves a lot more credit.

 

[Koloth]

Particularly when the Soviets were not as interested in safety as NASA. Correction, the Soviets called them Cosmonauts. I also noticed that Google had a special image linked to searches on Gagarin.

At the moment, it seems, that NASA has been going backward. The Space Shuttles really need to be replaced.

 

[BustaMo]

Atta boy Yuri. I remember when I was in 9th grade I had my hopes on being an astronaut someday so I could go to Mars and the Moon and all that jazz. I think think it'd be freak'n awesome, but it's one of those far off things I think.