Everyone knows about a significant date - April 12, 1961. There are many stories about the great astronaut Yuri Gagarin. This article tells about the place where the spacecraft landed with the first man flying around the Earth.
A bit of history
The satellite ship "Vostok" with Yuri Gagarin on board took off to a height of 327 kilometers. Then he girded the whole globe and made no landings in the Smelovka village of the Saratov Region, 26 kilometers from the city of Engels. It is this place of Gagarin's landing that will be described in our article.
April 12, 1961 a significant event occurred. This day was unremarkable for many people. Someone was going to work, someone was resting, everyone was doing their usual business. And no one suspected that this day would remain in their memory. At 10 hours 02 minutes, the radio announcer said: “Attention! Says Moscow! A man in space! ” This wonderful spring day has become a holiday for all of humanity, because it is:
- Starry day of the Earth.
- The beginning of the space age.
This memorable date went down in the history of civilization in that the Soviet pilot Yu. A. Gagarin completed his first space flight on the Vostok spacecraft. 108 minutes of flight in the vastness of the galaxy completely changed the life of the astronaut. The pilot of the fighter aviation regiment overnight became the most famous person in the world. And the fact that he belongs to our nation causes a feeling of pride in his native Fatherland. The ship "Vostok" circled the globe, and this momentous event simply shocked the whole world. After all, the history of space did not know this yet!
Interesting Facts
The Vostok launch vehicle with a pilot-piloted ship was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It is very symbolic that the landing site of Yu. A. Gagarin is not far from Saratov. Namely, in this city 6 years ago, a young man graduated with honors from the Industrial College. In addition, the so-called “winged youth” of the future cosmonaut began here, because he studied at the DOSAAF flying club and made his first successful and independent flight on the Yak-18 aircraft. In total, Yuri Gagarin completed 196 flights.
The landing of the first astronaut was not planned on the Saratov land. It was expected that it will be in the region of Kazakhstan. But the range and flight time of the spacecraft changed as a result of the fact that Gagarin’s orbit was 40 km higher than the calculated one due to a malfunction in the vehicle’s braking system. At an altitude of 7 thousand kilometers, the pilot-cosmonaut ejected from the cockpit and descended to Earth by parachute.
Official sources said that Gagarin’s landing site was planned. In fact, he landed autonomously from the "East". This happened two kilometers from the Volga River. Thanks to the excellent parachute training, Gagarin did not descend into the waters of the great river, along which huge ice floes were floating at that time.
The place where the spacecraft landed was kept secret for some time. But soon it became known about him - this is the village of Smelovka.
What did people see on April 12, 1961?
That day everything went on as usual. And neither the city of Engels, nor the nearby settlements, nor Saratov itself was famous for anything special. The landing site of Gagarin became instantly known throughout the world.
Residents of the village Smelovka heard two explosions. Then they saw 2 parachutes coming down from the sky. At that moment, they did not suspect that a great event of a truly global scale had happened. This moment gave rise to the holiday - Cosmonautics Day, which began to be celebrated on April 12.
Gagarin's life after a space flight
For his selfless feat, the first astronaut who made one revolution around the Earth was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. When he parachuted down to Earth, the landing site of Gagarin became well-known. After his first space flight, which caused great interest around the world, the young man became a world celebrity. He was invited by public organizations and heads of various countries, including foreign ones.
In all, during his life he visited about 30 states, including:
- Czechoslovakia.
- Finland
- England
- Bulgaria
- Egypt.
- To Canada.
- India
- Ceylon.
Gagarin was engaged in social and political work in the territory of the Soviet Union, was a deputy of the Supreme Council, a member of the Komsomol Central Committee, and president of the Society of Soviet-Cuban Friendship. He once graduated from the Air Force Engineering Academy. Zhukovsky, he worked at the CPC (Cosmonaut Training Center) and was intensely preparing for a new flight into space.
The death of the astronaut
In 1968, in March, Yuri Gagarin died in a plane crash in the Vladimir Region while performing a training flight on a MiG-15 aircraft under the guidance of an experienced instructor V. Seregin. The reasons and circumstances of that sad accident that claimed the life of a wonderful person have not yet been clarified. He was only 34 years old. So suddenly the fate of the pilot-cosmonaut broke off. Since then, Gagarin’s landing site has become memorable. Activities that were carried out in connection with his death:
- Nationwide mourning.
- Renaming in his honor the streets and squares, some settlements, including his hometown - Gzhatsk (Gagarin).
- Installation of monuments.
True or not?
There is still a debate: on the territory of which collective farm the spacecraft landed:
- The Leninist Way.
- Collective farm named "Shevchenko".
The previously nameless, and now the “Gagarin Field”, that’s exactly what Gagarin’s landing site is called, the photo of which you see in the article. Most likely, this is only a formal place. There is another version, according to which, the real territory where a space unit with a person on board came into contact with the earth is a landfill near the village of Podgornoye. The location of this place is located a little north of the fields of the above collective farms.
What happened after the spacecraft landed?
The astronaut’s cabin, on which the actual descent to Earth occurred, resembles a ball in shape. After he landed, he was carefully examined. The metal case was heavily melted, and the porthole was completely smoked. It seemed incredible that a person could be here.
Where there was a landing place for Gagarin, or rather his descent vehicle, a sign was installed with the inscription: "Do not touch 04/12/61." Soon it was gone, most likely, the locals took it as a keepsake, and the column stood for another year. A few days before the anniversary of the significant flight, a cement pedestal with a plaque was made next to the column.
What did Gagarin's landing site look like before?
In 1965, an obelisk with a height of 27 meters was installed on the "Gagarinsky Field". It is a type of rocket soaring into the sky. By the way, this obelisk is a small copy of the Conquerors of the Universe monument. It was built in Moscow in 1964, on Prospekt Mira, in honor of the achievements of the Soviet people in space exploration. The height of the monument reaches 107 meters.
In 1981, on the pedestal for the 20th anniversary of the first space flight around the Earth at the base of the obelisk, a sculpture of cosmonaut Yu. A. Gagarin appeared. On one side of the pedestal, which is lined with gray marble, there is a metal plate with the inscription: "On April 12, 1961, the world's first cosmonaut Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin landed here." This is what Gagarin’s landing site looked like, the address of which is known to everyone.
Over time, a park was planted around the monument dedicated to the first space flight. The architectural complex on the Gagarinsky Pole, that is, the landing site of the first cosmonaut, was included in tourist maps and became a favorite route for tourists and guests of our country.
"Gagarin field" in our time
In 2011, in honor of the 50th anniversary, the landing site of Gagarin (photos of the sculptural monument are attached) was supplemented by stands with bas-reliefs of the sculptor A. Rozhkov. They depict prominent figures in space exploration, such as:
- K. Tsiolkovsky is the scientific founder of astronautics.
- S. Korolev - designer of domestic rocket science.
The memorial complex also includes a composition of 12 portraits of astronauts. These are the people who have contributed to the development of domestic science:
- G. Titov.
- V. Tereshkova.
- K. Feoktistov.
- P. Popovich.
- S. Savitskaya.
- A. Leonov and others
The memorial began to be called so: "Gallery of Cosmonautics." Everyone who comes to Saratov, the landing site of Gagarin simply must visit. After all, here you can enjoy not only the beauty of a wonderful architectural monument, but also natural compositions. At the obelisk with a rocket directed upward, a park is broken. The slope of the ravine is decorated with an elm avenue, and the neat asphalt road leading to the "Cosmonautics Gallery" is planted with poplars with a pyramidal crown. This place is often visited by newlyweds to lay flowers at the monument dedicated to the first flight into space.
