Each of us knows the name of Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin. Having made a flight into space for the first time in world history, he became the most famous and recognizable person on the planet. Millions of beauties dreamed about him, but in his thoughts there was always one and only woman - his faithful wife Valentine. Who is she, the wife of Gagarin?
Faithful companion of the first astronaut
Not much is known about the other half of Yuri Alekseevich. She, unlike the wives of other famous people, has never exposed her life to the public and to this day has carefully avoided communicating with journalists. Valentina Ivanovna Gagarina has always been distinguished by increased modesty. While her star husband conquered the universe, she provided him with a reliable family rear, raising two little daughters. But Valentina was not destined to enjoy family happiness for a long time. When Yuri Alekseevich died, she was only 32 years old. Being beautiful, Valentina Ivanovna never got married anymore. Focusing on work and family, she forever remained faithful to her only and beloved spouse.
Meeting her husband
Gagarina Valentina Ivanovna (in girlhood - Goryacheva) was born on December 15, 1935 in Orenburg. Vali's father, Ivan Stepanovich, was a chef and from childhood taught his daughter to cook deliciously. In addition to culinary abilities, the girl had a talent for sewing and knitting. After graduating from high school, Valya Goryacheva began to work by telegraph. Like many girls, in her free time she ran to dances. It was there that Valentina met with the cadet of the Orenburg Flight School Yura Gagarin.
Valya Goryacheva subdued the guy with her beauty. Dark-haired, brown-eyed, with a chiseled figure, she always attracted the views of representatives of the opposite sex. But beauty did not stop her from being shy and timid. As the legendary astronaut wrote in his memoirs, in Valentin he liked everything: character, short stature, dark eyes, and a nose slightly covered with freckles. But Yuri Alekseevich at first did not make a special impression on the girl. Gagarin's wife recalled that he seemed to her big-headed and lop-eared. And the sticking-out hedgehog of short-cut hair was clearly not in his favor.
Romance, wedding and the birth of an older daughter
After the waltz, Yuri invited Valentina to ski next weekend, and the young people began to meet. But they were in no hurry with the wedding. Valentina entered the Orenburg Medical School, where she received the specialty of paramedic. Gagarin continued his studies. They got married 4 years after meeting. The wedding ceremony took place in Orenburg on October 27, 1957. After the wedding, Yuri Gagarin went to serve in the city of Zapolyarny, Murmansk Region, and his wife soon moved to him. It was there that on April 17, 1959, Valentina gave birth to her husband, daughter Elena.
Moving to Star City and the birth of a second daughter
Soon after the birth of the baby, Yuri Gagarin filed a report on his admission to the group of astronauts. The competition was huge: about 3 thousand pilots wrote statements with him. The future pioneer of the Universe successfully passed all tests and was enlisted in the detachment of Soviet cosmonauts. In the spring of 1960, he was transferred to Star City, located in the northeast of Moscow. Yuri Gagarin's wife moved after him. She got a job as a laboratory biochemist in the medical department of the Mission Control Center. A year later, on March 7, 1961, the second daughter Galina was born to the young spouses. The girl was born 2 days before her father’s 27th birthday and a month before his first space flight.
The day that changed life
While the astronaut Gagarin concentrated all his strength on training in order to successfully enter the Earth’s orbit, his wife was engaged in small daughters. She was a homebody, did not like noisy companies and provided Yuri Alekseevich with the family comfort that all men dream of. Gagarin’s preparation for the flight took place in an atmosphere of strictest secrecy, and Valentina was not dedicated to the course of affairs. The day of April 12, 1961 for her began in the usual way. The fact that her husband became the first astronaut on the planet, she learned not from himself, but from a neighbor. After the flight, Valentina had a chance to see Yuri Alekseevich only a few days later, when he was finally released home. Until that moment, she, like many Muscovites, was looking at her husband on Red Square, where the USSR Secretary General Nikita Khrushchev shook his hand. A huge crowd of people met Yuri with banners and showered with flowers. From that day on, cosmonaut Gagarin became a national hero and the property of the whole country.
Yuri Alekseevich was not sure about the successful outcome of his flight. Many years after his death, his wife accidentally stumbled upon a note addressed to her, which he wrote 2 days before going into outer space. In it, he asked Valentina not to be sad if anything happened to him, and to raise worthy people from the daughters. Gagarin Yuri Alekseevich advised his wife in the event of his death to arrange at his discretion. But in 1961, the note was not destined to fall into the hands of Valentina Ivanovna, because the flight and landing of the first cosmonaut of the Earth were successful. Gagarin hid a piece of paper and forgot about it. The young family had to pass a serious test of fame. And they did it well.
Life in the status of the wife of an astronaut
After April 1961, the fate of Valentina Ivanovna completely changed. Gagarin’s wife, being a modest and non-public person, could not get used to the close attention of the public to which her husband, she and children were subjected. Journalists and photographers chased a young couple, not only in their hometown, but also during a vacation at sea. They were often interviewed, shown on TV. Famous people visited the modest Gagarin's apartment: politicians, actors, astronauts. Valentina Ivanovna has always been a hospitable hostess.
Yuri Alekseevich disastrously lost a lot of work. In addition to employment, he was often invited abroad. There was very little time left to communicate with his family, so he tried to use every opportunity to be with Valentina, Helen and Galochka. He called the youngest daughter Chizhik, and the older - Professor. Arriving home, he always brought family gifts. With his wife, Yuri loved to skate.
Wife philosophically related to the work of Gagarin. She was engaged in raising her daughters and continued to work at the Mission Control Center. The young woman spent her free time knitting warm clothes for her husband and daughters. Trying to match the status of the wife of the first cosmonaut, Gagarina Valentina Ivanovna accompanied him on many foreign trips and at high receptions. But the publicity did not spoil her: she still remained that modest girl whom Yuri had once fallen in love with at first sight.
The death of Gagarin
The family idyll collapsed at one point. March 27, 1968, Yuri Alekseevich and his instructor Vladimir Seregin made a planned training flight on a fighter. Suddenly, the plane crashed into the ground and both pilots died. Gagarin's wife barely survived his death. She had small daughters in her arms, which she now had to bring to people on her own. Yuri Alekseevich left his family not such a big inheritance. During his "starry" life, he managed to earn only 2 apartments (in Moscow and Star City) and the old "Volga" 21 model. He received housing in the capital shortly before his death.
Further life of Valentina Ivanovna
The widow of Gagarin after the death of her husband in Moscow decided not to move. She remained to live in Star City, fearing that in the capital her daughters would not be allowed to pass. Married Valentina Ivanovna no longer married. She became isolated and stopped contacting reporters and people interested in her husband’s biography. For half a century after the death of Yuri Alekseevich, the name of his widow sounded in the media not so often. In 1981, Valentina Ivanovna published the book “108 minutes and a whole life”, dedicated to the memory of her husband. In addition, she several times published memories of her husband. Now the wife of Yuri Gagarin has long been retired. She continues to live all in the same apartment in Star City, where she once moved with her husband, does not refuse to meet the first people of the state, but still does not give interviews to journalists. Valentina Ivanovna is trying in every possible way to support the Museum of Yu. A. Gagarin, to which she transferred many of his personal belongings.
