DESCRIPTION : Here for sale is an exquisitely colorfuly illustrated HEBREW - ISRAELI - RUSSIAN book for youth regarding the SPACE RESEARCH which was at the publishing time , 1961 , In its first steps. The Hebrew-Russian book " TO THE PLANETS" is loaded with explanations accompanied by numerous colorful illustrations regarding Space, Planets, Spacecrafts, Galaxies, Satellites, Rockets, Propellants, Cosmonauts and Astronauts to name only a few. An hommage is given to GAGARIN and also to SHEPARD ( In a Russian book !!! ). Dated 1961. Hebrew. Original illustrated 

HC. Cloth spine.  7.5" x 10.5". 64 throughout illustrated pp . Very good used condition. Well kept ex library copy. Clean and tightly bound. Slight cover wear. ( Pls look at scan for accurate AS IS images ) .Book will be sent inside a protective packaging .

 

PAYMENTS : Payment method accepted : Paypal & All credit cards .

SHIPPMENT : SHIPP worldwide via  registered airmail is $ 29. Book will be sent inside a protective packaging . Will be sent  around 5-10 days after payment .  

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin [a] (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet Air Forces pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space, achieving a major milestone in the Space Race; his capsule, Vostok 1, completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961. Gagarin became an international celebrity and was awarded many medals and titles, including Hero of the Soviet Union, his nation's highest honour. Born in the village of Klushino near Gzhatsk (a town later renamed after him), in his youth Gagarin was a foundryman at a steel plant in Lyubertsy. He later joined the Soviet Air Forces as a pilot and was stationed at the Luostari Air Base, near the Norwegian border, before his selection for the Soviet space programme with five other cosmonauts. Following his spaceflight, Gagarin became deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre, which was later named after him. He was also elected as a deputy of the Soviet of the Union in 1962 and then to the Soviet of Nationalities, respectively the lower and upper chambers of the Supreme Soviet. Vostok 1 was Gagarin's only spaceflight but he served as the backup crew to the Soyuz 1 mission, which ended in a fatal crash, killing his friend and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. Fearing for his life, Soviet officials permanently banned Gagarin from further spaceflights. After completing training at the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy on 17 February 1968, he was allowed to fly regular aircraft. Gagarin died five weeks later when the MiG-15 training jet he was piloting with his flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin crashed near the town of Kirzhach. Contents 1 Early life 2 Soviet Air Force service 3 Soviet space programme 3.1 Selection and training 3.2 Vostok 1 4 After the Vostok 1 flight 5 Personal life 6 Death 7 Awards and honours 7.1 Medals and orders of merit 7.2 Tributes 7.3 Statues, monuments and murals 7.4 50th anniversary 8 Notes 9 References 9.1 Sources 10 Further reading 11 External links Early life Gagarin family home in Klushino Yuri Gagarin was born 9 March 1934 in the village of Klushino,[1] near Gzhatsk (renamed Gagarin in 1968 after his death).[2] His parents worked on a collective farm[3]—Alexey Ivanovich Gagarin as a carpenter and Anna Timofeyevna Gagarina as a dairy farmer.[4][b] Yuri was the third of four children. His older brother Valentin was born in 1924 and by the time Yuri was born was already helping with the cattle on the farm. His sister Zoya, born in 1927, helped take care of "Yura" and their youngest brother Boris, born in 1936.[6][7] Situated along the path of several invasions into Russia, Gagarin's hometown has been the site of many wars and conquests from foreign nations.[8] Like millions of Soviet Union citizens, his family suffered during the Nazi occupation of the Soviet Union during World War II. Klushino was occupied in November 1941 during the German advance on Moscow and a German officer took over the Gagarin residence. On the land behind their house, the family were allowed to build a mud hut measuring approximately 3 by 3 metres (10 by 10 ft), where they spent twenty-one months until the end of the occupation.[9] His two older siblings were deported by the Germans to Poland for slave labour in 1943 and did not return until after the war in 1945.[10][11] In 1946, the family moved to Gzhatsk, where Gagarin continued his secondary education.[9] Gagarin as an air cadet in the Saratov flying club c. 1954 In 1950, aged 16, Gagarin began an apprenticeship as a foundryman at a steel plant in Lyubertsy, near Moscow,[10][11] and enrolled at a local "young workers" school for seventh-grade evening classes.[12] After graduating in 1951 from both the seventh grade and the vocational school with honours in mouldmaking and foundry work,[12] he was selected for further training at the Saratov Industrial Technical School, where he studied tractors.[10][11][13] While in Saratov, Gagarin volunteered at a local flying club for weekend training as a Soviet air cadet, where he trained to fly a biplane, and later a Yak-18.[11][13] He earned extra money as a part-time dock labourer on the Volga River.[9] Soviet Air Force service In 1955, Gagarin was accepted to the First Chkalovsky Higher Air Force Pilots School in Orenburg.[14][15] He initially began training on the Yak-18 already familiar to him and later graduated to training on the MiG-15 in February 1956.[14] Gagarin twice struggled to land the two-seater trainer aircraft, and risked dismissal from pilot training. However, the commander of the regiment decided to give him another chance at landing. Gagarin's flight instructor gave him a cushion to sit on, which improved his view from the cockpit, and he landed successfully. Having completed his evaluation in a trainer aircraft,[16] Gagarin began flying solo in 1957.[10] On 5 November 1957, Gagarin was commissioned a lieutenant in the Soviet Air Forces having accumulated 166 hours and 47 minutes of flight time. He graduated from flight school the next day and was posted to the Luostari Air Base close to the Norwegian border in Murmansk Oblast for a two-year assignment with the Northern Fleet.[17] On 7 July 1959, he was rated Military Pilot 3rd Class.[18] After expressing interest in space exploration following the launch of Luna 3 on 6 October 1959, his recommendation to the Soviet space programme was endorsed and forward by Lieutenant Colonel Babushkin.[17][19] By this point, he had accumulated 265 hours of flight time.[17] Gagarin was promoted to the rank of senior lieutenant on 6 November 1959,[18] three weeks after he was interviewed by a medical commission for qualification to the space programme.[17] Soviet space programme Selection and training See also: Vostok programme Gagarin's Vostok 3KA capsule and an effigy of him on display at the RKK Energiya museum in 2010 Gagarin's selection for the Vostok programme was overseen by the Central Flight Medical Commission led by Major General Konstantin Fyodorovich Borodin of the Soviet Army Medical Service. He underwent physical and psychological testing conducted at Central Aviation Scientific-Research Hospital, in Moscow, commanded by Colonel A.S. Usanov, a member of the commission. The commission also included Colonel Yevgeniy Anatoliyevich Karpov, who later commanded the training centre, Colonel Vladimir Ivanovich Yazdovskiy, the head physician for Gagarin's flight, and Major-General Aleksandr Nikolayevich Babiychuk, a physician flag officer on the Soviet Air Force General Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Air Force.[20] The commission limited their selection to pilots between 25 and 30 years old. The chief engineer of the programme Sergei Korolev also specified that candidates, to fit in the limited space in the Vostok capsule, should weigh less than 72 kg (159 lb) and be no taller than 1.70 metres (5 ft 7 in) in height;[21][22] Gagarin was 1.57 metres (5 ft 2 in) tall.[23] From a pool of 154 qualified pilots short-listed by their Air Force units, the military physicians chose 29 cosmonaut candidates, of which 20 were approved by the Credential Committee of the Soviet government. The first twelve including Gagarin were approved on 7 March 1960 and eight more were added in a series of subsequent orders issued until June.[20][c] Gagarin began training at the Khodynka Airfield in downtown Moscow on 15 March 1960. The training regimen involved vigorous and repetitive physical exercises which Alexei Leonov, a member of the initial group of twelve, described as akin to training for the Olympic Games.[24] In April 1960, they began parachute training in Saratov Oblast and each completed about 40 to 50 jumps from both low and high altitude, over both land and water.[25] Gagarin was a candidate favoured by his peers. When they were asked to vote anonymously for a candidate besides themselves they would like to be the first to fly, all but three chose Gagarin.[26] One of these candidates, Yevgeny Khrunov, believed that Gagarin was very focused and was demanding of himself and others when necessary.[27] On 30 May 1960, Gagarin was further selected for an accelerated training group, known as the Vanguard Six or Sochi Six,[28][d] from which the first cosmonauts of the Vostok programme would be chosen. The other members of the group were Anatoliy Kartashov, Andriyan Nikolayev, Pavel Popovich, German Titov, and Valentin Varlamov. However, Kartashov and Varlamov were injured and replaced by Khrunov and Grigoriy Nelyubov.[30] As several of the candidates selected for the programme including Gagarin did not have higher education degrees, they were enrolled into a correspondence course programme at the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. Gagarin enrolled in the programme in September 1960 and did not earn his specialist diploma until early 1968.[31][32] Gagarin was also subjected to experiments that were designed to test physical and psychological endurance including oxygen starvation tests in which the cosmonauts were locked in an isolation chamber and the air slowly pumped out. He also trained for the upcoming flight by experiencing g-forces in a centrifuge.[30][33] Psychological tests included placing the candidates in an anechoic chamber in complete isolation; Gagarin was in the chamber on 26 July – 5 August.[34][25] In August 1960, a Soviet Air Force doctor evaluated his personality as follows: Modest; embarrasses when his humor gets a little too racy; high degree of intellectual development evident in Yuriy; fantastic memory; distinguishes himself from his colleagues by his sharp and far-ranging sense of attention to his surroundings; a well-developed imagination; quick reactions; persevering, prepares himself painstakingly for his activities and training exercises, handles celestial mechanics and mathematical formulae with ease as well as excels in higher mathematics; does not feel constrained when he has to defend his point of view if he considers himself right; appears that he understands life better than a lot of his friends.[26] The Vanguard Six were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961[30] and entered a two-day examination conducted by a special interdepartmental commission led by Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kamanin, the overseer of the Vostok programme. The commission was tasked with ranking the candidates based on their mission readiness for the first human Vostok mission. On 17 January, they were tested in a simulator at the M. M. Gromov Flight-Research Institute on a full-size mockup of the Vostok capsule. Gagarin, Nikolayev, Popovich, and Titov all received excellent marks on the first day of testing in which they were required to describe the various phases of the mission followed by questions from the commission.[27] On the second day, they were given a written examination following which the special commission ranked Gagarin as the best candidate for the first mission. He and the next two highest-ranked cosmonauts, Titov and Nelyubov, were sent to Tyuratam for final preparations.[27] Gagarin and Titov were selected to train in the flight-ready spacecraft on 7 April. Historian Asif Siddiqi writes of the final selection:[35] In the end, at the State Commission meeting on April 8, Kamanin stood up and formally nominated Gagarin as the primary pilot and Titov as his backup. Without much discussion, the commission approved the proposal and moved on to other last-minute logistical issues. It was assumed that in the event Gagarin developed health problems prior to liftoff, Titov would take his place, with Nelyubov acting as his backup. Vostok 1 Main article: Vostok 1 Poyekhali! MENU 0:00 Gagarin's voice Problems playing this file? See media help. On 12 April 1961, at 6:07 am UTC, the Vostok 3KA-3 (Vostok 1) spacecraft was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome. Aboard was Gagarin, the first human to travel into space, using the call sign Kedr (Russian: Кедр, Siberian pine or cedar).[36] The radio communication between the launch control room and Gagarin included the following dialogue at the moment of rocket launch: Korolev: Preliminary stage ... intermediate... main... LIFT-OFF! We wish you a good flight. Everything's all right. Gagarin: Off we go! Goodbye, until [we meet] soon, dear friends.[37][38] Gagarin's farewell to Korolev using the informal phrase Poyekhali! (Поехали!, 'Off we go!')[e] later became a popular expression in the Eastern Bloc that was used to refer to the beginning of the Space Age.[41][42] The five first-stage engines fired until the first separation event, when the four side-boosters fell away, leaving the core engine. The core stage then separated while the rocket was in a suborbital trajectory, and the upper stage carried it to orbit. Once the upper stage finished firing, it separated from the spacecraft, which orbited for 108 minutes before returning to Earth in Kazakhstan.[43] Gagarin became the first human to orbit the Earth.[44] An April 1961 newsreel of Gagarin arriving in Moscow to be greeted by First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev "The feeling of weightlessness was somewhat unfamiliar compared with Earth conditions. Here, you feel as if you were hanging in a horizontal position in straps. You feel as if you are suspended", Gagarin wrote in his post-flight report.[45] He also wrote in his autobiography released the same year that he sang the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows" ("Родина слышит, Родина знает") during re-entry.[46] Gagarin was recognised as a qualified Military Pilot 1st Class and promoted to the rank of major in a special order given during his flight.[18][46] At about 7,000 metres (23,000 ft), Gagarin ejected from the descending capsule as planned and landed using a parachute.[47] There were concerns Gagarin's spaceflight record would not be certified by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), the world governing body for setting standards and keeping records in the field, which at the time required that the pilot land with the craft.[48] Gagarin and Soviet officials initially refused to admit that he had not landed with his spacecraft,[49] an omission which became apparent after Titov's subsequent flight on Vostok 2 four months later. Gagarin's spaceflight records were nonetheless certified and again reaffirmed by the FAI, which revised its rules, and acknowledged that the crucial steps of the safe launch, orbit, and return of the pilot had been accomplished. Gagarin continues to be internationally recognised as the first human in space and first to orbit the Earth.[50] After the Vostok 1 flight Gagarin in Warsaw, 1961 Gagarin's flight was a triumph for the Soviet space programme and he became a national hero of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc, as well as a worldwide celebrity. Newspapers around the globe published his biography and details of his flight. He was escorted in a long motorcade of high-ranking officials through the streets of Moscow to the Kremlin where, in a lavish ceremony, Nikita Khrushchev awarded him the title Hero of the Soviet Union. Other cities in the Soviet Union also held mass demonstrations, the scale of which were second only to the World War II Victory Parades.[51] Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova (seated to his right) signing autographs at a youth forum in 1964 Gagarin gained a reputation as an adept public figure and was noted for his charismatic smile.[52][53][54] On 15 April 1961, accompanied by officials from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, he answered questions at a press conference in Moscow reportedly attended by 1,000 reporters.[55] Gagarin visited the United Kingdom three months after the Vostok 1 mission, going to London and Manchester.[52][56] While in Manchester, despite heavy rain, he refused an umbrella, insisted that the roof of the convertible car he was riding in remain open, and stood so the cheering crowds could see him.[52][57] Gagarin toured widely abroad, accepting the invitation of about 30 countries in the years following his flight.[58] In just the first four months, he also went to Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, and Iceland.[59] Because of his popularity, US president John F. Kennedy barred Gagarin from visiting the United States.[40] In 1962, Gagarin began serving as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union,[60] and was elected to the Central Committee of the Young Communist League. He later returned to Star City, the cosmonaut facility, where he spent several years working on designs for a reusable spacecraft. He became a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Forces on 12 June 1962, and received the rank of colonel on 6 November 1963.[18] On 20 December, Gagarin became Deputy Training Director of the cosmonaut training facility.[61] Soviet officials, including Kamanin, tried to keep Gagarin away from any flights, being worried about losing their hero in an accident noting that he was "too dear to mankind to risk his life for the sake of an ordinary space flight".[62] Kamanin was also concerned by Gagarin's drinking and believed the sudden rise to fame had taken its toll on the cosmonaut. While acquaintances say Gagarin had been a "sensible drinker", his touring schedule placed him in social situations in which he was increasingly expected to drink alcohol.[10][13] Gagarin with U.S. Vice President Hubert Humphrey, French Prime Minister Georges Pompidou and the Gemini 4 astronauts at the 1965 Paris Air Show Two years later, he was re-elected as a deputy of the Soviet Union but this time to the Soviet of Nationalities, the upper chamber of legislature.[60] The following year, he began to re-qualify as a fighter pilot[63] and was backup pilot for his friend Vladimir Komarov on the Soyuz 1 flight after five years without piloting duty. Kamanin had opposed Gagarin's reassignment to cosmonaut training; he had gained weight and his flying skills had deteriorated. Despite this, he remained a strong contender for Soyuz 1 until he was replaced by Komarov in April 1966 and reassigned to Soyuz 3.[64] The Soyuz 1 launch was rushed due to implicit political pressures[65] and despite Gagarin's protests that additional safety precautions were necessary.[66] Gagarin accompanied Komarov to the rocket before launch and relayed instructions to Komarov from ground control following multiple system failures aboard the spacecraft.[67] Despite their best efforts, Soyuz 1 crash landed after its parachutes failed to open, killing Komarov instantly.[68] After the Soyuz 1 crash, Gagarin was permanently banned from training for and participating in further spaceflights.[69] He was also grounded from flying aircraft solo, a demotion he worked hard to lift. He was temporarily relieved of duties to focus on academics with the promise that he would be able to resume flight training.[70] On 17 February 1968, Gagarin successfully defended his aerospace engineering thesis on the subject of spaceplane aerodynamic configuration and graduated cum laude from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.[32][70][71] Personal life Gagarin and Göran Sedvall at the 1964 Swedish bandy final Gagarin at Palaly Airport in Sri Lanka in 1961 after being garlanded by Olympian Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam. Gagarin and his wife Valentina at a concert in Moscow in 1964. Gagarin was a keen sportsman and played ice hockey as a goalkeeper.[72] He was also a basketball fan and coached the Saratov Industrial Technical School team, as well as being a referee.[73] In 1957, while a cadet in flight school, Gagarin met Valentina Goryacheva at the May Day celebrations at the Red Square in Moscow.[74] She was a medical technician who had graduated from Orenburg Medical School.[11][13][75] They were married on 7 November of the same year,[11] the same day Gagarin graduated from his flight school, and they had two daughters.[76][77] Yelena Yurievna Gagarina, born 1959,[77] is an art historian who has worked as the director-general of the Moscow Kremlin Museums since 2001;[78][79] and Galina Yurievna Gagarina, born 1961,[77] is a professor of economics and the department chair at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow.[78][80] Following his rise to fame, at a Black Sea resort in September 1961, he was reportedly caught by his wife during a liaison with a nurse who had aided him after a boating incident. He attempted to escape through a window and jumped off a second floor balcony. The resulting injury left a permanent scar above his left eyebrow.[10][13] Some sources have said that Gagarin commented during his flight, "I don't see any God up here," though no such words appear in the verbatim record of his conversations with Earth stations during the spaceflight.[81] In a 2006 interview, Gagarin's friend Colonel Valentin Petrov stated that Gagarin never said these words and that the quote originated from Khrushchev's speech at the plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU about the state's anti-religion campaign, saying "Gagarin flew into space, but didn't see any god there".[82] Petrov also said Gagarin had been baptised into the Orthodox Church as a child, and a 2011 Foma magazine article quoted the rector of the Orthodox Church in Star City saying, "Gagarin baptized his elder daughter Yelena shortly before his space flight; and his family used to celebrate Christmas and Easter and keep icons in the house".[83] Death Plaque indicating Gagarin's interment in the Kremlin Wall On 27 March 1968, while on a routine training flight from Chkalovsky Air Base, Gagarin and flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin died when their MiG-15UTI crashed near the town of Kirzhach. The bodies of Gagarin and Seryogin were cremated and their ashes interred in the walls of the Kremlin.[84] Wrapped in secrecy, the cause of the crash that killed Gagarin is uncertain and became the subject of several theories.[85][86] At least three investigations into the crash were conducted separately by the Air Force, official government commissions, and the KGB.[87][88] According to a biography of Gagarin by Jamie Doran and Piers Bizony, Starman: The Truth Behind the Legend of Yuri Gagarin, the KGB worked "not just alongside the Air Force and the official commission members but against them."[87] The KGB's report, declassified in March 2003, dismissed various conspiracy theories and instead indicated the actions of airbase personnel contributed to the crash. The report states that an air-traffic controller provided Gagarin with outdated weather information and that by the time of his flight, conditions had deteriorated significantly. Ground crew also left external fuel tanks attached to the aircraft. Gagarin's planned flight activities needed clear weather and no outboard tanks. The investigation concluded Gagarin's aircraft entered a spin, either due to a bird strike or because of a sudden move to avoid another aircraft. Because of the out-of-date weather report, the crew believed their altitude was higher than it was and could not react properly to bring the MiG-15 out of its spin.[88] Another theory, advanced in 2005 by the original crash investigator, hypothesizes that a cabin air vent was accidentally left open by the crew or the previous pilot, leading to oxygen deprivation and leaving the crew incapable of controlling the aircraft.[85] A similar theory, published in Air & Space magazine, is that the crew detected the open vent and followed procedure by executing a rapid dive to a lower altitude. This dive caused them to lose consciousness and crash.[86] On 12 April 2007, the Kremlin vetoed a new investigation into the death of Gagarin. Government officials said they saw no reason to begin a new investigation.[89] In April 2011, documents from a 1968 commission set up by the Central Committee of the Communist Party to investigate the accident were declassified. The documents revealed that the commission's original conclusion was that Gagarin or Seryogin had manoeuvred sharply, either to avoid a weather balloon or to avoid "entry into the upper limit of the first layer of cloud cover", leading the jet into a "super-critical flight regime and to its stalling in complex meteorological conditions".[90] A MiG-15UTI, the same type as Gagarin was flying when he was killed Alexei Leonov, who was also a member of a state commission established to investigate Gagarin's death, was conducting parachute training sessions that day and heard "two loud booms in the distance". He believes that a Sukhoi Su-15 was flying below its minimum altitude and, "without realizing it because of the terrible weather conditions, he passed within 10 or 20 meters of Yuri and Seregin's plane while breaking the sound barrier". The resulting turbulence would have sent the MiG-15UTI into an uncontrolled spin. Leonov said the first boom he heard was that of the jet breaking the sound barrier and the second was Gagarin's plane crashing.[91] In a June 2013 interview with Russian television network RT, Leonov said a report on the incident confirmed the presence of a second aircraft, an "unauthorized" Su-15, flying in the area. However, as a condition of being allowed to discuss the declassified report, Leonov was barred from disclosing the name of the Su-15 pilot who was 80 years old and in poor health as of 2013.[92] According to some conspiracy theories, Gagarin's death was ordered by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, who supposedly was jealous of Gagarin's popularity, overshadowing him at public events.[93][94][95][96][97] Awards and honours Medals and orders of merit Yuri Gagarin with awards. On 14 April 1961, Gagarin was honoured with a 12-mile (19 km) parade attended by millions of people that concluded at the Red Square. After a short speech, he was bestowed the Hero of the Soviet Union,[98][99] Order of Lenin,[98] Merited Master of Sports of the Soviet Union[100] and the first Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.[99] On 15 April, the Soviet Academy of Sciences awarded him with the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal, named after the Russian pioneer of space aeronautics.[101] Gagarin had also been awarded four Soviet commemorative medals over the course of his career.[18] He was honoured as a Hero of Socialist Labor (Czechoslovakia) on 29 April 1961,[102][103] and Hero of Socialist Labor (Bulgaria, including the Order of Georgi Dimitrov) the same year.[18] On the eighth anniversary of the beginning of the Cuban Revolution (26 July), President Osvaldo Dorticos of Cuba presented him with the first Commander of the Order of Playa Girón, a newly created medal.[104] Gagarin was also awarded the 1960 Gold Air Medal and the 1961 De la Vaulx Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Switzerland.[105] He received numerous awards from other nations that year, including the Star of the Republic of Indonesia (2nd Class), the Order of the Cross of Grunwald (1st Degree) in Poland, the Order of the Flag of the Republic of Hungary, the Hero of Labor award from Democratic Republic of Vietnam,[18] the Italian Columbus Day Medal,[106] and a Gold Medal from the British Interplanetary Society.[107][108] President Jânio Quadros of Brazil decorated Gagarin on 2 August 1961 with the Order of Aeronautical Merit, Commander grade.[109] During a tour of Egypt in late January 1962, Gagarin received the Order of the Nile[110] and the golden keys to the gates of Cairo.[58] On 22 October 1963, Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova were honoured with the Order of Karl Marx from the German Democratic Republic.[111] Tributes The date of Gagarin's space flight, 12 April, has been commemorated. Since 1962, it has been celebrated in the USSR and most of its former territories as Cosmonautics Day.[citation needed] Since 2000, Yuri's Night, an international celebration, is held annually to commemorate milestones in space exploration.[112] In 2011, it was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight by the United Nations.[113] Yuri Gagarin statue at the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London A number of buildings and locations have been named for Gagarin. The Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City was named on 30 April 1968.[114] The launch pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome from which Sputnik 1 and Vostok 1 were launched is now known as Gagarin's Start. Gagarin Raion in Sevastopol, Ukraine, was named after him during the period of the Soviet Union. The Russian Air Force Academy was renamed the Gagarin Air Force Academy in 1968.[115] A street in Warsaw, Poland, is called Yuri Gagarin Street.[116] The town of Gagarin, Armenia was renamed in his honour in 1961.[117] In 1961 the Olympic sports training center in Chernihiv in Ukraine, was named Stadion Yuri Gagarin and the 25 May 1964, Gagarin in person attended the stadium. Gagarin has been honoured on the Moon by astronauts and astronomers. During the American space programme's Apollo 11 mission in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left a memorial satchel containing medals commemorating Gagarin and Komarov on the Moon's surface.[118][119] In 1971, Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin left the small Fallen Astronaut sculpture at their landing site as a memorial to the American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts who died in the Space Race; the names on its plaque included Yuri Gagarin and 14 others.[120][121] In 1970, a 262 km (163 mi) wide crater on the far side was named after him.[122] Gagarin was inducted as a member of the 1976 inaugural class of the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico.[123] Gagarin is memorialised in music; a cycle of Soviet patriotic songs titled The Constellation Gagarin (Созвездье Гагарина, Sozvezdie Gagarina) was written by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov in 1970–1971.[124] The most famous of these songs refers to Gagarin's poyekhali!: in the lyrics, "He said 'let's go!' He waved his hand".[41][124] He was the inspiration for the pieces "Hey Gagarin" by Jean-Michel Jarre on Métamorphoses, "Gagarin" by Public Service Broadcasting, and "Gagarin, I loved you" by Undervud.[125] Russian ten-ruble commemorating Gagarin in 2001 Vessels have been named for Gagarin; Soviet tracking ship Kosmonavt Yuri Gagarin was built in 1971[126] and the Armenian airline Armavia named their first Sukhoi Superjet 100 in his honour in 2011.[127] Two commemorative coins were issued in the Soviet Union to honour the 20th and 30th anniversaries of his flight: a one-ruble coin in copper-nickel (1981) and a three-ruble coin in silver (1991). In 2001, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, a series of four coins bearing his likeness was issued in Russia; it consisted of a two-ruble coin in copper-nickel, a three-ruble coin in silver, a ten-ruble coin in brass-copper and nickel, and a 100-ruble coin in silver.[128] In 2011, Russia issued a 1,000-ruble coin in gold and a three-ruble coin in silver to mark the 50th anniversary of his flight.[129] In 2008, the Kontinental Hockey League named their championship trophy the Gagarin Cup.[130] In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Gagarin was ranked as the sixth-most-popular space hero, tied with the fictional character James T. Kirk from Star Trek.[131] A Russian docudrama titled Gagarin: First in Space was released in 2013. Previous attempts at portraying Gagarin were disallowed; his family took legal action over his portrayal in a fictional drama and vetoed a musical.[132] Statues, monuments and murals Bust of Gagarin at Birla Planetarium in Kolkata, India There are statues of Gagarin and monuments to him located in the town named after him as well as in Orenburg, Cheboksary, Irkutsk, Izhevsk, Komsomolsk-on-Amur, and Yoshkar-Ola in Russia, as well as in Nicosia, Cyprus, Druzhkivka, Ukraine, Karaganda, Kazakhstan, and Tiraspol, Moldova. On 4 June 1980, Monument to Yuri Gagarin in Gagarin Square, Leninsky Avenue, Moscow, was opened.[133] The monument is mounted to a 38 m (125 ft) tall pedestal and is constructed of titanium. Beside the column is a replica of the descent module used during his spaceflight.[134] In 2011, a statue of Gagarin was unveiled at Admiralty Arch in The Mall in London, opposite the permanent sculpture of James Cook. It is a copy of the statue outside Gagarin's former school in Lyubertsy.[135] In 2013, the statue was moved to a permanent location outside the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.[136] In 2012, a statue was unveiled at the site of NASA's original spaceflight headquarters on South Wayside Drive in Houston. The sculpture was completed in 2011 by Leonov, who is also an artist, and was a gift to Houston commissioned by various Russian organisations. Houston Mayor Annise Parker, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were present for the dedication.[137][138] The Russian Federation presented a bust of Gagarin to several cities in India including one that was unveiled at the Birla Planetarium in Kolkata in February 2012.[139] In April 2018, a bust of Gagarin erected on the street in Belgrade, Serbia, that bears his name was removed, after less than a week. A new work was commissioned following the outcry over the disproportionately small size of its head which locals said was an "insult" to Gagarin.[140][141] Belgrade City Manager Goran Vesic stated that neither the city, the Serbian Ministry of Culture, nor the foundation that financed it had prior knowledge of the design.[142] In August 2019, the Italian artist Jorit painted Gagarin's face on the facade of a twenty-story building in the district of Odintsovo, Russia.[143][144] The mural is the largest portrait of Gagarin in the world.[citation needed] 50th anniversary 50th anniversary stamp of Ukraine The 50th anniversary of Gagarin's journey into space was marked in 2011 by tributes around the world. A film titled First Orbit was shot from the International Space Station, combining sound recordings from the original flight with footage of the route taken by Gagarin.[145] The Russian, American, and Italian crew of Expedition 27 aboard the ISS sent a special video message to wish the people of the world a "Happy Yuri's Night", wearing shirts with an image of Gagarin.[146] The Central Bank of the Russian Federation released gold and silver coins to commemorate the anniversary.[129] The Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft was named Gagarin with the launch in April 2011 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of his mission.[147][148] ***** Vostok 1 (Russian: Восто́к, East or Orient 1) was the first spaceflight of the Vostok programme and the first manned spaceflight in history. The Vostok 3KA space capsule was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 12, 1961, with Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin aboard, making him the first human to cross into outer space. The orbital spaceflight consisted of a single orbit around Earth which skimmed the upper atmosphere at 169 kilometers (91 nautical miles) at its lowest point. The flight took 108 minutes from launch to landing. Gagarin parachuted to the ground separately from his capsule after ejecting at 7 km (23,000 ft) altitude. Contents 1 Background 2 Crew 3 Medical exam 4 Preparations 4.1 Automatic control 4.2 April 11, 1961 5 Mission 5.1 Launch 5.2 Time in orbit 6 Reentry and landing 7 Reactions and legacy 7.1 Soviet reaction 7.2 American reaction 7.3 Other world reactions 7.4 World record 7.5 Legacy 8 See also 9 Note 10 Citations 11 References 12 External links Background[edit] Main article: Vostok programme The Space Race between the Soviet Union and the United States, the two Cold War superpowers, began just before the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, in 1957. Both countries wanted to develop spaceflight technology quickly, particularly by launching the first successful human spaceflight. The Soviet Union secretly pursued the Vostok programme in competition with the United States' Project Mercury. Vostok launched several precursor unmanned missions between May 1960 and March 1961, to test and develop the Vostok rocket family and space capsule. These missions had varied degrees of success, but the final two—Korabl-Sputnik 4 and Korabl-Sputnik 5—were complete successes, allowing the first manned flight. Crew[edit] See also Selection and training of the Vostok programme The Vostok 1 capsule was designed to carry a single cosmonaut. Yuri Gagarin, 27, was chosen as the prime pilot of Vostok 1, with Gherman Titov and Grigori Nelyubov as backups. These assignments were formally made on April 8, four days before the mission, but Gagarin had been a favourite among the cosmonaut candidates for at least several months.[10]:262,272 The final decision of who would fly the mission relied heavily on the opinion of the head of cosmonaut training, Nikolai Kamanin. In an April 5 diary entry, Kamanin wrote that he was still undecided between Gagarin and Titov.[11] "The only thing that keeps me from picking [Titov] is the need to have the stronger person for the one day flight."[12] Kamanin was referring to the second mission, Vostok 2, compared to the relatively short single-orbit mission of Vostok 1. When Gagarin and Titov were informed of the decision during a meeting on April 9, Gagarin was very happy, and Titov was disappointed.[13] On April 10, this meeting was reenacted in front of television cameras, so there would be official footage of the event. This included an acceptance speech by Gagarin.[14] As an indication of the level of secrecy involved, one of the other cosmonaut candidates, Alexei Leonov, later recalled that he did not know who was chosen for the mission until after the spaceflight had begun.[15] Medical exam[edit] Gagarin was examined by a team of doctors prior to his flight. One doctor gave her recollection of the events in an interview with Russia Today in April 2011: "Gagarin looked more pale than usual. He was unsociable and quiet, which was not like him at all. He would answer by nodding or a short 'yes' to all questions. Sometimes he would start humming some tunes. This was a different Gagarin. We geared him up, and hugged. And I said, 'Yuri, everything will be fine.' And he nodded back."[16] Preparations[edit] Model of the Vostok spacecraft with its upper stage, on display in Frankfurt Airport's "Russia in Space" exhibition Unlike later Vostok missions, there were no dedicated tracking ships available to receive signals from the spacecraft. Instead they relied on the network of ground stations, also called Command Points, to communicate with the spacecraft; all of these Command Points were located within the Soviet Union.[17] Because of weight constraints, there was no backup retrorocket engine. The spacecraft carried 10 days of provisions to allow for survival and natural orbital decay in the event the retrorockets failed. The letters "СССР" were hand-painted onto Gagarin's helmet by engineer Gherman Lebedev during transfer to the launch site. As it had been less than a year since U2 pilot Gary Powers was shot down, Lebedev reasoned that without some country identification, there was a small chance the cosmonaut might be mistaken for a spy on landing.[18] Automatic control[edit] Part of the Vostok 1 instrument panel prominently displaying the "Globus" navigation instrument The entire mission would be controlled by either automatic systems or by ground control. This was because medical staff and spacecraft engineers were unsure how a human might react to weightlessness, and therefore it was decided to lock the pilot's manual controls. In an unusual move, a code to unlock the controls was placed in an onboard envelope, for Gagarin's use in case of emergency.[10]:278 Prior to the flight, Kamanin and others told Gagarin the code (1-2-5) anyway.[19][20] April 11, 1961[edit] Electrocardiogram of Gagarin recorded April 11, 1961, at 19 hours and 35 minutes. Exhibited at the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow. At Baikonur Cosmodrome on the morning of April 11, 1961, the Vostok-K rocket, together with the attached Vostok 3KA space capsule, were transported several kilometers to the launch pad, in a horizontal position. Once they arrived at the launch pad, a quick examination of the booster was conducted by technicians to make sure everything was in order. When no visible problems were found, the booster was erected on LC-1.[21] At 10:00 (Moscow Time), Gagarin and Titov were given a final review of the flight plan.[21] They were informed that launch was scheduled to occur the following day, at 09:07 Moscow Time. This time was chosen so that when the capsule started to fly over Africa, which was when the retrorockets would need to fire for reentry, the solar illumination would be ideal for the orientation system's sensors.[22] At 18:00, once various physiological readings had been taken, the doctors instructed the cosmonauts not to discuss the upcoming missions. That evening Gagarin and Titov relaxed by listening to music, playing pool, and chatting about their childhoods.[15] At 21:50, both men were offered sleeping pills, to ensure a good night's sleep, but they both declined.[23] Physicians had attached sensors to the cosmonauts, to monitor their condition throughout the night, and they believed that both had slept well.[24] Gagarin's biographers Doran and Bizony say that neither Gagarin nor Titov slept that night.[25] Chief Designer Sergei Korolev did not sleep that night, due to anxiety caused by the imminent spaceflight.[22] Mission[edit] At 05:30 Moscow time, on the morning of April 12, 1961, both Gagarin and his backup Titov were woken.[26] They were given breakfast, assisted into their spacesuits, and then were transported to the launch pad.[27] Gagarin entered the Vostok 1 spacecraft, and at 07:10 local time (04:10 UTC), the radio communication system was turned on.[27] Once Gagarin was in the spacecraft, his picture appeared on television screens in the launch control room from an onboard camera. Launch would not occur for another two hours, and during the time Gagarin chatted with the mission's main CapCom, as well as Chief Designer Sergei Korolev, Nikolai Kamanin, and a few others.[27] Following a series of tests and checks, about forty minutes after Gagarin entered the spacecraft, its hatch was closed. Gagarin, however, reported that the hatch was not sealed properly, and technicians spent nearly an hour removing all the screws and sealing the hatch again.[2] According to a 2014 obituary, Vostok's chief designer, Oleg Ivanovsky, personally helped rebolt the hatch.[28] There is some disagreement over whether the hatch was in fact not sealed correctly, as a more recent account stated the indication was false.[citation needed] During this time Gagarin requested some music to be played over the radio.[29] Korolev was reportedly suffering from chest pains and worried, as up to this point the Soviet space launch rate was 50% (12 out of 24 launches had failed).[30] Two Vostoks had failed to reach orbit due to launch vehicle malfunctions and another two malfunctioned in orbit. Korolev was given a pill to calm him down.[31] Gagarin, on the other hand, was described as calm; about half an hour before launch his pulse was recorded at 64 beats per minute.[32] Launch[edit] Launch of Vostok 1 Poyekhali! MENU 0:00 Gagarin's voice Problems playing this file? See media help. 06:07 UT Launch occurred from the Baikonur Cosmodrome Site No.1. Korolev radioed, "Preliminary stage..... intermediate..... main..... lift off! We wish you a good flight. Everything is all right." Gagarin replied, "Let's roll! (Poyekhali!)."[33] 06:09 UT (T+ 119 s) The four strap-on boosters of the Vostok rocket used up the last of their propellant and dropped away from the core vehicle. 06:10 UT (T+ 156 s) The payload shroud covering Vostok 1 was released, uncovering a window at Gagarin's feet, with an optical orientation device Vzor (lit. "look" or "glance"). 06:12 UT (T+ 300 s) The rocket core stage used up its propellant and fell away from the capsule and final rocket stage. The final rocket stage ignited. 06:13 UT Gagarin reported, "...the flight is continuing well. I can see the Earth. The visibility is good.... I almost see everything. There's a certain amount of space under cumulus cloud cover. I continue the flight, everything is good." 06:14 UT Vostok 1 passed over central Russia. Gagarin reported, "Everything is working very well. All systems are working. Let's keep going!" 06:15 UT Three minutes into the burn of the final rocket stage, Gagarin radioed, "Zarya-1, Zarya-1, I can't hear you very well. I feel fine. I'm in good spirits. I'm continuing the flight..." Vostok 1 started to move out of radio range of the Baikonur ground station. 06:17 UT The rocket final stage shut down and Vostok 1 reached orbit. Ten seconds later the rocket separated from the capsule. Time in orbit[edit] Ground trace of Gagarin's complete orbit; the landing point is west of the takeoff point because of the Earth's eastward rotation. 06:18 UT (T+ 676 s) Gagarin reported, "The craft is operating normally. I can see Earth in the view port of the Vzor. Everything is proceeding as planned". Vostok 1 passed over the Soviet Union and moved on over Siberia. 06:21 UT Vostok 1 passed over the Kamchatka peninsula and out over the North Pacific Ocean. Gagarin radioed, "...the lights are on on the descent mode monitor. I'm feeling fine, and I'm in good spirits. Cockpit parameters: pressure 1; humidity 65; temperature 20; pressure in the compartment 1; first automatic 155; second automatic 155; pressure in the retro-rocket system 320 atmospheres...." 06:25 UT As Vostok 1 began its diagonal crossing of the Pacific Ocean from Kamchatka peninsula to the southern tip of South America, Gagarin requested information about his orbital parameters: "What can you tell me about the flight? What can you tell me?". The ground station at Khabarovsk didn't have his orbital parameters yet, and reported back, "There are no instructions from No. 20 [code name for Korolyov], and the flight is proceeding normally." (Ground control did not know until 25 minutes after launch that a stable orbit had been achieved.) 06:31 UT Gagarin transmitted to the Khabarovsk ground station, "I feel splendid, very well, very well, very well. Give me some results on the flight!". At this time, Vostok 1 was nearing the VHF radio horizon for Khabarovsk, and they responded, "Repeat. I can't hear you very well". Gagarin transmitted again, "I feel very good. Give me your data on the flight!" Vostok 1 then passed out of VHF range of the Khabarovsk ground station. 06:37 UT Vostok 1 continued on its journey as the sun set over the North Pacific. Gagarin crossed into night, northwest of the Hawaiian Islands. Out of VHF range with ground stations, communications continued via HF radio. 06:46 UT Khabarovsk ground station sent the message "KK" via telegraph (on HF radio to Vostok 1). This was a code meaning, "Report the monitoring of commands," a request for Gagarin to report when the spacecraft automated descent system had received its instructions from ground control. 06:48 UT Vostok 1 crossed the equator at about 170° West in a southeast direction, and began crossing the South Pacific. Gagarin transmitted over HF radio, "I am transmitting the regular report message: 9 hours 48 minutes (Moscow Time), the flight is proceeding successfully. Spusk-1 is operating normally. The mobile index of the descent mode monitor is moving. Pressure in the cockpit is 1; humidity 65; temperature 20; pressure in the compartment 1.2 ... Manual 150; First automatic 155; second automatic 155; retro rocket system tanks 320 atmospheres. I feel fine...." 06:49 UT Gagarin reported he was on the night side of the Earth. 06:51 UT Gagarin reported the sun-seeking attitude control system was switched on; this oriented Vostok 1 for retrofire. The automatic/solar system was backed up by a manual/visual system; either one could operate the two redundant cold nitrogen gas thruster systems, each with 10 kg (22 lb) of gas. 06:53 UT The Khabarovsk ground station sent Gagarin via HF radio, "By order of No. 33 (General Nikolai Kamanin), the transmitters have been switched on, and we are transmitting this: the flight is proceeding as planned and the orbit is as calculated." Vostok 1 was now known to be in a stable orbit; Gagarin acknowledged. 06:57 UT Vostok 1 was over the South Pacific between New Zealand and Chile as Gagarin radioed, "...I'm continuing the flight, and I'm over America. I transmitted the telegraph signal "ON". 07:00 UT Vostok 1 crossed the Strait of Magellan at the tip of South America. News of the Vostok 1 mission was broadcast on Radio Moscow.[34] 07:04 UT Gagarin sent another spacecraft status message, similar to the one at 06:48. This was not received by ground stations. 07:09 UT Gagarin sent another spacecraft status message, also not received by ground stations. 07:10 UT Vostok 1 passed over the South Atlantic, into daylight again. At this point, retrofire is 15 minutes away. 07:13 UT Gagarin sent a fourth spacecraft status message; Moscow received this partial message: "I read you well. The flight is going...." 07:18 UT Gagarin sent another spacecraft status message, not received by ground stations. 07:23 UT Gagarin sent another spacecraft status message, not received by ground stations. The automatic orientation system brought Vostok 1 into alignment for retrofire about 1 hour into the flight. Reentry and landing[edit] This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) The Vostok 1 capsule when it was on display at the RKK Energiya museum. The main capsule, seen in the center of this picture, is now on display at the Space Pavilion at the VDNKh. At 07:25 UT, the spacecraft's automatic systems brought it into the required attitude (orientation) for the retrorocket firing, and shortly afterwards, the liquid-fueled engine fired for about 42 seconds over the west coast of Africa, near Angola, about 8,000 kilometers (4,300 nautical miles) uprange of the landing point. The orbit's perigee and apogee had been selected to cause reentry due to orbital decay within 10 days (the limit of the life support system function) in the event of retrorocket malfunction. However, the actual orbit differed from the planned and would not have allowed descent until 20 days.[35] Ten seconds after retrofire, commands were sent to separate the Vostok service module from the reentry module (code name "little ball" (Russian: шарик, romanized: sharik)), but the equipment module unexpectedly remained attached to the reentry module by a bundle of wires. At around 07:35 UT, the two parts of the spacecraft began reentry and went through strong gyrations as Vostok 1 neared Egypt. At this point the wires broke, the two modules separated, and the descent module settled into the proper reentry attitude. Gagarin telegraphed "Everything is OK" despite continuing gyrations; he later reported that he did not want to "make noise" as he had (correctly) reasoned that the gyrations did not endanger the mission (and were apparently caused by the spherical shape of the reentry module). As Gagarin continued his descent, he remained conscious as he experienced about 8 g during reentry. (Gagarin's own report states "over 10 g".)[36] At 07:55 UT, when Vostok 1 was still 7 km (4.3 mi) from the ground, the hatch of the spacecraft was released, and two seconds later Gagarin was ejected. At 2.5 km (8,200 ft) altitude, the main parachute was deployed from the Vostok spacecraft. Two schoolgirls witnessed the Vostok landing and described the scene: "It was a huge ball, about two or three meters (6 to 9 feet) high. It fell, then it bounced and then it fell again. There was a huge hole where it hit the first time."[citation needed] Gagarin's parachute opened almost right away, and about ten minutes later, at 08:05 UT, Gagarin landed. Both he and the spacecraft landed via parachute 26 km (16 mi) south west of Engels, in the Saratov region at 51.270682°N 45.99727°E. A farmer and her daughter observed the strange scene of a figure in a bright orange suit with a large white helmet landing near them by parachute. Gagarin later recalled, "When they saw me in my space suit and the parachute dragging alongside as I walked, they started to back away in fear. I told them, don't be afraid, I am a Soviet citizen like you, who has descended from space and I must find a telephone to call Moscow!" [36][37] Reactions and legacy[edit] Soviet reaction[edit] Gagarin's flight was announced while Gagarin was still in orbit, by Yuri Levitan, the leading Soviet radio personality since the 1930s. Although normally, news of Soviet rocket launches would only be aired after the fact, Sergei Korolev wrote a note to the Party Central Committee, to convince them that the announcement should be made as early as possible: We consider it advisable to publish the first TASS report immediately after the satellite-spacecraft enters orbit, for the following reasons: (a) if a rescue becomes necessary, it will facilitate rapid organization of a rescue; (b) it precludes any foreign government declaring that the cosmonaut is a military scout.[38] The flight was celebrated as a great triumph of Soviet science and technology, demonstrating the superiority of the socialist system over capitalism. Moscow and other cities in the USSR held mass demonstrations, the scale of which was comparable to World War II Victory Parades. Gagarin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, the nation's highest honour. He also became an international celebrity, receiving numerous honours and awards.[39] April 12 was declared Cosmonautics Day in the USSR, and is celebrated today in Russia as one of the official "Commemorative Dates of Russia."[40] In 2011, it was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight by the United Nations.[41] Gagarin's informal reply Poyekhali! ("Let's roll!") became a historical phrase used to refer to the arrival of the Space Age in human history.[42] Later it was included in the refrain of a Soviet patriotic song written by Alexandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov (He said "Let's roll!" He waved his hand).[43] The Soviet press later reported that, minutes before boarding the spacecraft, Gagarin made a speech: "Dear friends, you who are close to me, and you whom I do not know, fellow Russians, and people of all countries and all continents: in a few minutes a powerful space vehicle will carry me into the distant realm of space. What can I tell you in these last minutes before the launch? My whole life appears to me as one beautiful moment. All that I previously lived through and did, was lived through and done for the sake of this moment." According to historian Asif Siddiqi, Gagarin actually "was essentially forced to utter a stream of banalities prepared by anonymous speechwriters" taped much earlier in Moscow.[10]:274 American reaction[edit] Officially, the U.S. congratulated the Soviet Union on its accomplishments.[44] Writing for The New York Times shortly after the flight, however, journalist Arthur Krock described mixed feelings in the United States due to fears of the spaceflight's potential military implications for the Cold War,[45] and the Detroit Free Press wrote that "the people of Washington, London, Paris and all points between might have been dancing in the streets" if it were not for "doubts and suspicions" about Soviet intentions.[46] Other US writers reported worries that the spaceflight had won a propaganda victory on behalf of communism. President John F. Kennedy was quoted as saying that it would be "some time" before the US could match the Soviet launch vehicle technology, and that "the news will be worse before it's better." Kennedy also sent congratulations to the Soviet Union for their "outstanding technical achievement."[47][48] Opinion pages of many US newspapers urged renewed efforts to overtake the Soviet scientific accomplishments.[46] Adlai Stevenson, then the US ambassador to the United Nations, was quoted as saying, "Now that the Soviet scientists have put a man into space and brought him back alive, I hope they will also help to bring the United Nations back alive," and on a more serious note urged international agreements covering the use of space[46] (which did not occur until the Outer Space Treaty of 1967). Other world reactions[edit] Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India praised the Soviet Union for "a great victory of man over the forces of nature"[47] and urged that it be "considered as a victory for peace." The Economist voiced worries that orbital platforms might be used for surprise nuclear attacks. The Svenska Dagbladet in Sweden chided "free countries" for "splitting up and frittering away" their resources, while West Germany's Die Welt argued that America had the resources to have sent a man into space first but was beaten by Soviet purposefulness. Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun urged "that both the United States and the Soviet Union should use their new knowledge and techniques for the good of mankind," and Egypt's Akhbar El Yom likewise expressed hopes that the cold war would "turn into a peaceful race in infinite space" and turn away from armed conflicts such as the Laotian Civil War.[46] World record[edit] The FAI rules in 1961 required that a pilot must land with the spacecraft to be considered an official spaceflight for the FAI record books.[10]:283 Although some contemporary Soviet sources stated that Gagarin had parachuted separately to the ground,[49] the Soviet Union officially insisted that he had landed with the Vostok; the government forced the cosmonaut to lie in press conferences, and the FAI certified the flight. The Soviet Union did not admit until 1971 that Gagarin had ejected and landed separately from the Vostok descent module.[10]:283 When Soviet officials filled out the FAI papers to register the flight of Vostok 1, they stated that the launch site was Baykonur at 47°22′00″N 65°29′00″E. In reality, the launch site was near Tyuratam at 45°55′12.72″N 63°20′32.32″E, 250 km (160 mi) to the south west of "Baykonur". They did this to try to keep the location of the Space Center a secret.[10]:284 In 1995, Russian and Kazakh officials renamed Tyuratam Baikonur. Legacy[edit] Commemorative monument, Vostok-1 landing site near Engels, Russia Four decades after the flight, historian Siddiqi wrote that Vostok 1 will undoubtedly remain one of the major milestones in not only the history of space exploration, but also the history of the human race itself. The fact that this accomplishment was successfully carried out by the Soviet Union, a country completely devastated by war just sixteen years prior, makes the achievement even more impressive. Unlike the United States, the USSR had to begin from a position of tremendous disadvantage. Its industrial infrastructure had been ruined, and its technological capabilities were outdated at best. A good portion of its land had been devastated by war, and it had lost about 25 million citizens ... but it was the totalitarian state that overwhelmingly took the lead [in the space race].[10]:282 The landing site is now a monument park. The central feature in the park is a 25 m (82 ft) tall monument that consists of a silver metallic rocketship rising on a curved metallic column of flame, from a wedge shaped, white stone base. In front of this is a 3 meter (9 foot) tall white stone statue of Yuri Gagarin, wearing a spacesuit, with one arm raised in greeting and the other holding a space helmet.[50][51][52] As of September 2018, the Vostok 1 re-entry capsule belongs to the S. P. Korolev RSC Energia Museum in Korolev City.[53] However, during the summer of 2018 it was on a temporary loan to the Space Pavilion at the VDNKh in Moscow. In 2011, documentary film maker Christopher Riley partnered with European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli to record a new film of what Gagarin would have seen of the Earth from his spaceship, by matching historical audio recordings to video from the International Space Station following the ground path taken by Vostok 1. The resulting film, First Orbit, was released online to celebrate the 50th anniversary of human spaceflight.[54]  ***** Rear Admiral Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot, and businessman. In 1961, he became the first American to travel into space, and in 1971, he walked on the Moon. A graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Shepard saw action with the surface navy during World War II. He became a naval aviator in 1946, and a test pilot in 1950. He was selected as one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts in 1959, and in May 1961 he made the first crewed Project Mercury flight, Mercury-Redstone 3, in a spacecraft he named Freedom 7. His craft entered space, but was not capable of achieving orbit. He became the second person, and the first American, to travel into space, and the first space traveler to manually control the orientation of his craft. In the final stages of Project Mercury, Shepard was scheduled to pilot the Mercury-Atlas 10 (MA-10), which was planned as a three-day mission. He named Mercury Spacecraft 15B Freedom 7 II in honor of his first spacecraft, but the mission was canceled. Shepard was designated as the commander of the first crewed Project Gemini mission, but was grounded in 1963 due to Ménière's disease, an inner-ear ailment that caused episodes of extreme dizziness and nausea. This was surgically corrected in 1969, and in 1971, Shepard commanded the Apollo 14 mission, piloting the Apollo Lunar Module Antares to the most accurate landing of the Apollo missions. At age 47, he became the fifth, the oldest, and the earliest-born person to walk on the Moon, and the only one of the Mercury Seven astronauts to do so. During the mission, he hit two golf balls on the lunar surface. Shepard was Chief of the Astronaut Office from November 1963 to July 1969 (the approximate period of his grounding), and from June 1971 until his retirement from the United States Navy and NASA on August 1, 1974. He was promoted to rear admiral on August 25, 1971, the first astronaut to reach that rank. Contents 1 Early life 2 Naval service 3 NASA career 3.1 Mercury Seven 3.2 Freedom 7 3.3 Project Gemini: Chief astronaut 3.4 Apollo program 4 Later years 5 Awards and honors 6 In media 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links Early life[edit] Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. was born on November 18, 1923, in Derry, New Hampshire,[1] to Alan B. Shepard Sr. and Pauline Renza Shepard (née Emerson).[2] He had a younger sister, Pauline, who was known as Polly.[3] He was one of many famous descendants of Mayflower passenger Richard Warren.[2] His father, Alan B. Shepard Sr., known as Bart, worked in the Derry National Bank, owned by Shepard's grandfather. Alan Sr. joined the National Guard in 1915 and served in France with the American Expeditionary Force during World War I.[4] He remained in the National Guard between the wars, and was recalled to active duty during World War II, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel.[5] Shepard attended Adams School in Derry, where his academic performance impressed his teachers; he skipped the sixth grade,[6] and proceeded to middle school at Oak Street School in Derry,[5] where he skipped the eighth grade.[6] He achieved the Boy Scouts of America rank of First Class Scout.[7] In 1936, he went to the Pinkerton Academy, a private school in Derry that his father had attended and where his grandfather had been a trustee. He completed years 9 to 12 there.[6] Fascinated by flight, he created a model airplane club at the Academy, and his Christmas present in 1938 was a flight in a Douglas DC-3.[8] The following year he began cycling to Manchester Airfield, where he would do odd jobs in exchange for the occasional ride in an airplane or informal flying lesson.[9][10] Shepard graduated from Pinkerton Academy in 1940. Because World War II was already raging in Europe, his father wanted him to join the Army. Shepard chose the Navy instead. He easily passed the entrance exam to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1940, but at sixteen was too young to enter that year. The Navy sent him to the Admiral Farragut Academy, a prep school for the Naval Academy, from which he graduated with the Class of 1941.[11] Tests administered at Farragut indicated an IQ of 145, but his grades were mediocre.[12] At Annapolis, Shepard enjoyed aquatic sports. He was a keen and competitive sailor, winning several races, including a regatta held by the Annapolis Yacht Club. He learned to sail all the types of boats the academy owned, up to and including USS Freedom, a 90-foot (27 m) schooner. He also participated in swimming, and rowed with the eight.[12] During his Christmas break in 1942, he went to Principia College to be with his sister, who was unable to go home owing to wartime travel restrictions. There he met Louise Brewer, whose parents were pensioners on the du Pont family estate, and, like Renza Shepard, were devout Christian Scientists.[13] Owing to the war, the usual four-year course at Annapolis was cut short by a year, and he graduated and was commissioned as an ensign on June 6, 1944, ranked 463rd in his class of 915. The following month he became secretly engaged to Louise.[14] In 1944, he received a Bachelor of Science degree at the United States Naval Academy.[15] Naval service[edit] "You know, being a test pilot isn't always the healthiest business in the world." —Shepard quoted at the New Mexico Museum of Space History[16] After a month of classroom instruction in aviation, Shepard was posted to a destroyer, USS Cogswell, in August 1944;[17] it was US Navy policy that aviation candidates should first have some service at sea.[9] At the time the destroyer was deployed on active service in the Pacific Ocean. Shepard joined it when it returned to the naval base at Ulithi on October 30.[18] After just two days at sea Cogswell helped rescue 172 sailors from the cruiser USS Reno, which had been torpedoed by a Japanese submarine, then escorted the crippled ship back to Ulithi. The ship was buffeted by Typhoon Cobra in December 1944, a storm in which three other destroyers went down, and battled kamikazes in the invasion of Lingayen Gulf in January 1945.[19] USS Cogswell in 1945 Cogswell returned to the United States for an overhaul in February 1945. Shepard was given three weeks' leave, in which time he and Louise decided to marry. The ceremony took place on March 3, 1945, in St. Stephen's Lutheran Church in Wilmington, Delaware. His father, Bart, served as his best man. The newlyweds had only a brief time together before Shepard rejoined Cogswell at the Long Beach Navy Yard on April 5, 1945.[20] After the war, they had two children, both daughters: Laura, born in 1947,[21] and Julie, born in 1951.[22] Following the death of Louise's sister in 1956, they raised her five-year-old niece, Judith Williams—whom they renamed Alice to avoid confusion with Julie—as their own, although they never adopted her.[23][24] They eventually had six grandchildren.[25] On Shepard's second cruise with Cogswell, he was appointed a gunnery officer, responsible for the 20 mm and 40 mm antiaircraft guns on the ship's bow. They engaged kamikazes in the Battle of Okinawa, where the ship served in the dangerous role of a radar picket. The job of the radar pickets was to warn the fleet of incoming kamikazes, but because they were often the first ships sighted by incoming Japanese aircraft, they were also the most likely ships to be attacked. Cogswell performed this duty from May 27, 1945, until June 26, when it rejoined Task Force 38. The ship also participated in the Allied naval bombardments of Japan, and was present in Tokyo Bay for the Surrender of Japan in September 1945. Shepard returned to the United States later that month.[18][26] Shepard as a student aviator in 1946 In November 1945, Shepard arrived at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi in Texas, where he commenced basic flight training on January 7, 1946.[27] He was an average student, and for a time faced being "bilged" (dropped) from flight training and reassigned to the surface navy. To make up for this, he took private lessons at a local civilian flying school—something the Navy frowned on—earning a civil pilot's license.[28] His flying skills gradually improved, and by early 1947 his instructors rated him above average. He was sent to Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida for advanced training. His final test was six perfect landings on the carrier USS Saipan. The following day, he received his naval aviator wings, which his father pinned on his chest.[29] Shepard was assigned to Fighter Squadron 42 (VF-42), flying the Vought F4U Corsair. The squadron was nominally based on the aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, but the ship was being overhauled at the time Shepard arrived, and in the meantime the squadron was based at Naval Air Station Norfolk in Virginia. He departed on his first cruise, of the Caribbean, on Franklin D. Roosevelt with VF-42 in 1948. Most of the aviators were, like Shepard, on their first assignment. Those who were not were given the opportunity to qualify for night landings on a carrier, a dangerous maneuver, especially in a Corsair, which had to bank sharply on approach. Shepard managed to persuade his squadron commander to allow him to qualify as well. After briefly returning to Norfolk, the carrier set out on a nine-month tour of the Mediterranean Sea. He earned a reputation for carousing and chasing women. He also instituted a ritual of, whenever he could, calling Louise at 17:00 (her time) each day.[30] Normally sea duty alternated with periods of duty ashore. In 1950, Shepard was selected to attend the United States Naval Test Pilot School at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland.[31] As a test pilot he conducted high-altitude tests to obtain information about the light and air masses at different altitudes over North America; carrier suitability certification of the McDonnell F2H Banshee; experiments with the Navy's new in-flight refueling system; and tests of the angled flight deck.[15] He narrowly avoided being court-martialed by the station commander, Rear Admiral Alfred M. Pride, after looping the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and making low passes over the beach at Ocean City, Maryland, and the base; but Shepard's superiors, John Hyland and Robert M. Elder, interceded on his behalf.[32] Shepard's 105th F4U sortie on USS Franklin D. Roosevelt Shepard's next assignment was to VF-193, a night fighter squadron flying the Banshee, that was based at Naval Air Station Moffett Field, California. The squadron was part of Commander James D. "Jig Dog" Ramage's Air Group 19. Naval aviators with experience in jet aircraft were still relatively rare, and Ramage specifically requested Shepard's assignment on the advice of Elder, who commanded VF-193's sister squadron, VF-191. Ramage made Shepard his own wingman,[33] a decision that would save Ramage's life in 1954, when his oxygen system failed and Shepard talked him through a landing.[34] As squadron operations officer, Shepard's most important task was imparting his knowledge of flying jets to his fellow aviators to keep them alive. He served two tours on the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany in the western Pacific. It set out on a combat tour off Korea in 1953, during the Korean War, but the Korean Armistice Agreement ended the fighting in July 1953, and Shepard did not see combat.[35] Rear Admiral John P. Whitney requested Shepard's services as an aide de camp, but Shepard wanted to fly. Therefore, at Shepard's request, Ramage spoke to the admiral on his behalf, and Shepard was instead sent back to Patuxent.[36] He flight tested the McDonnell F3H Demon, Vought F-8 Crusader, Douglas F4D Skyray and Grumman F-11 Tiger.[37] The Vought F7U Cutlass tended to go into an inverted spin during a snap roll. This was not unusual; many aircraft did this, but normally if the pilot let go of the stick the aircraft would correct itself. When he attempted this in the F7U, Shepard found this was not the case. He was unable to break out of the spin and was forced to eject. In 1957, he was project test pilot on the Douglas F5D Skylancer. Shepard did not like the plane, and gave it an unfavorable report. The Navy canceled orders for it, buying the F8U instead. He also filed an unfavorable report on the F11F after a harrowing incident in which the engine failed during a high-speed dive. Fortunately, he managed to restart the engine.[38] Shepard was an instructor at the Test Pilot School, and then entered the Naval War College at Newport, Rhode Island.[39] He graduated in 1957, and became an Aircraft Readiness Officer on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet.[40] By this time he had logged more than 3,600 hours of flying time, including 1,700 hours in jets.[41] NASA career[edit] Mercury Seven[edit] Main article: Mercury Seven The Mercury Seven astronauts with a USAF F-106. From left to right: M. Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Virgil I. Grissom, Walter M. Schirra, Alan B. Shepard and Donald K. Slayton. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite. This shattered American confidence in its technological superiority, creating a wave of anxiety known as the Sputnik crisis. Among his responses, President Dwight D. Eisenhower launched the Space Race. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was established on October 1, 1958, as a civilian agency to develop space technology. One of its first initiatives was publicly announced on December 17, 1958. This was Project Mercury,[42] which aimed to launch a man into Earth orbit, return him safely to the Earth, and evaluate his capabilities in space.[43] NASA received permission from Eisenhower to recruit its first astronauts from the ranks of military test pilots. The service records of 508 graduates of test pilot schools were obtained from the United States Department of Defense. From these, 110 were found that matched the minimum standards:[44] the candidates had to be younger than 40, possess a bachelor's degree or equivalent and to be 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 m) or less. While these were not all strictly enforced, the height requirement was firm, owing to the size of the Project Mercury spacecraft.[45] The 110 were then split into three groups, with the most promising in the first group.[46] The first group of 35, which included Shepard, assembled at the Pentagon on February 2, 1959. The Navy and Marine Corps officers were welcomed by the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Arleigh Burke, while the United States Air Force officers were addressed by the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, General Thomas D. White. Both pledged their support to the Space Program, and promised that the careers of volunteers would not be adversely affected. NASA officials then briefed them on Project Mercury. They conceded that it would be a hazardous undertaking, but emphasized that it was of great national importance. That evening, Shepard discussed the day's events with fellow naval aviators Jim Lovell, Pete Conrad and Wally Schirra, all of whom would eventually become astronauts. They were concerned about their careers, but decided to volunteer.[47][48] The briefing process was repeated with a second group of 34 candidates a week later. Of the 69, six were found to be over the height limit, 15 were eliminated for other reasons, and 16 declined. This left NASA with 32 candidates. Since this was more than expected, NASA decided not to bother with the remaining 41 candidates, as 32 candidates seemed a more than adequate number from which to select 12 astronauts as planned. The degree of interest also indicated that far fewer would drop out during training than anticipated, which would result in training astronauts who would not be required to fly Project Mercury missions. It was therefore decided to cut the number of astronauts selected to just six.[49] Then came a grueling series of physical and psychological tests at the Lovelace Clinic and the Wright Aerospace Medical Laboratory.[50] Only one candidate, Lovell, was eliminated on medical grounds at this stage, and the diagnosis was later found to be in error;[51] thirteen others were recommended with reservations. The director of the NASA Space Task Group, Robert R. Gilruth, found himself unable to select only six from the remaining eighteen, and ultimately seven were chosen.[51] Shepard was informed of his selection on April 1, 1959. Two days later he traveled to Boston with Louise for the wedding of his cousin Anne, and was able to break the news to his parents and sister.[52][53] The identities of the seven were announced at a press conference at Dolley Madison House in Washington, D.C., on April 9, 1959:[54] Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, and Deke Slayton.[55] The magnitude of the challenge ahead of them was made clear a few weeks later, on the night of May 18, 1959, when the seven astronauts gathered at Cape Canaveral to watch their first rocket launch, of an SM-65D Atlas, which was similar to the one that was to carry them into orbit. A few minutes after liftoff, it spectacularly exploded, lighting up the night sky. The astronauts were stunned. Shepard turned to Glenn and said: "Well, I'm glad they got that out of the way."[56] Freedom 7[edit] Main article: Mercury-Redstone 3 Shepard in the Freedom 7 capsule before launch Faced with intense competition from the other astronauts, particularly John Glenn, Shepard quit smoking and adopted Glenn's habit of taking a morning jog, although he did not go so far as to give up the cocktails or the philandering.[57] On January 19, 1961, Robert R. Gilruth, the director of NASA's Space Task Group, informed the seven astronauts that Shepard had been chosen for the first American crewed mission into space.[58] Shepard later recalled Louise's response when he told her that she had her arms around the man who would be the first man in space: "Who let a Russian in here?"[59] During training he flew 120 simulated flights.[60] Although his flight was originally scheduled for April 26, 1960,[61] it was postponed several times by unplanned preparatory work, initially to December 5, 1960, then mid-January 1961,[62] March 6, 1961,[63] April 25, 1961,[64] May 2, 1961, and finally to May 5, 1961.[65] On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space, and the first to orbit the Earth.[66] It was another body blow to American pride.[63] When Shepard heard the news he slammed his fist down on a table so hard a NASA public relations officer feared he might have broken his hand.[67] On May 5, 1961, Shepard piloted the Mercury-Redstone 3 mission and became the second person, and the first American, to travel into space.[68] He named his spacecraft, Mercury Spacecraft 7, Freedom 7.[63] It was launched atop a Redstone rocket. According to Gene Kranz in his book Failure Is Not an Option, "When reporters asked Shepard what he thought about as he sat atop the Redstone rocket, waiting for liftoff, he had replied, 'The fact that every part of this ship was built by the lowest bidder.'"[69] Unlike Gagarin's 108-minute orbital flight in a Vostok spacecraft three times the size of Freedom 7,[66] Shepard stayed on a suborbital trajectory for the 15-minute flight, which reached an altitude of 101.2 nautical miles (116.5 statute miles; 187.4 kilometers), and then fell to a splashdown 263.1 nautical miles (302.8 statute miles; 487.3 kilometers) down the Atlantic Missile Range.[70] Unlike Gagarin, whose flight was strictly automatic, Shepard had some control of Freedom 7, spacecraft attitude in particular.[71] Shepard's launch was seen live on television by millions.[72] Marine Corps HUS-1 helicopter from HMR-262 retrieves Freedom 7 from the Atlantic Freedom 7 on display at the U.S. Naval Academy, it is now displayed at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston Something not seen at the time by the public was Shepard's pre-launch "emergency". Because the entire journey was only expected to take fifteen minutes, Shepard's suit did not have any provision for elimination of bodily wastes. After being strapped into the capsule's seat, launch delays kept him in that suit for eight hours; Shepard's endurance gave out before launch, and he was forced to empty his bladder into the suit, which shorted out the medical sensors attached to it to track the astronaut's condition in flight. After Shepard's flight, NASA called in the space suit's manufacturer, B. F. Goodrich, and by the time of John Glenn's Mercury-Atlas 6 orbital flight the following year, a liquid waste collection feature had been built into the suit.[73] After a dramatic Atlantic Ocean recovery, Shepard observed that he "... didn't really feel the flight was a success until the recovery had been successfully completed. It's not the fall that hurts; it's the sudden stop."[74] Splashdown occurred with an impact comparable to landing a jet aircraft on an aircraft carrier. A recovery helicopter arrived after a few minutes, and the capsule was lifted partly out of the water to allow Shepard to leave by the main hatch. He squeezed out of the door and into a sling hoist, and was pulled into the helicopter, which flew both the astronaut and spacecraft to the aircraft carrier USS Lake Champlain. The whole recovery process took just eleven minutes.[75] Shepard was celebrated as a national hero, honored with ticker-tape parades in Washington, New York and Los Angeles, and received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal from President John F. Kennedy.[76] He was also awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.[77] Shepard served as capsule communicator (CAPCOM) for Glenn's Mercury-Atlas 6 orbital flight, which he had also been considered for,[78] and Carpenter's Mercury-Atlas 7.[79] He was the backup pilot for Cooper for the Mercury-Atlas 9 mission,[80] nearly replacing Cooper after Cooper flew low over the NASA administration building at Cape Canaveral in an F-106.[81] In the final stages of Project Mercury, Shepard was scheduled to pilot the Mercury-Atlas 10 (MA-10), which was planned as a three-day mission.[82] He named Mercury Spacecraft 15B Freedom 7 II in honor of his first spacecraft, and had the name painted on it,[83] but on June 12, 1963, NASA Administrator James E. Webb announced that Mercury had accomplished all its goals and no more missions would be flown.[82] Shepard went as far as making a personal appeal to President Kennedy, but to no avail.[84] Project Gemini: Chief astronaut[edit] Shepard and his wife Louise meet First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, President John F. Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson at the South Portico of the White House Project Gemini followed on from Project Mercury, taking its name from the fact that it carried two men instead of just one.[85] After the Mercury-Atlas 10 mission was canceled, Shepard was designated as the commander of the first crewed Gemini mission, with Thomas P. Stafford chosen as his pilot.[86] In late 1963, Shepard began to experience episodes of extreme dizziness and nausea, accompanied by a loud, clanging noise in the left ear. He tried to keep it secret, fearing that he would lose his flight status, but was aware that if an episode occurred in the air or in space it could be fatal. Following an episode during a lecture in Houston, where he had recently moved from Virginia Beach, Virginia, Shepard was forced to confess his ailment to Slayton, who was now Director of Flight Operations, and seek help from NASA's doctors.[87] The doctors diagnosed Ménière's disease, a condition in which fluid pressure builds up in the inner ear. This syndrome causes the semicircular canals and motion detectors to become extremely sensitive, resulting in disorientation, dizziness, and nausea. There was no known cure, but in about 20 percent of cases the condition went away by itself. They prescribed diuretics in an attempt to drain the fluid from the ear. They also diagnosed glaucoma. An X-ray found a lump on his thyroid, and on January 17, 1964, surgeons at Hermann Hospital made an incision on his throat and removed 20 percent of his thyroid.[88][89] The condition caused Shepard to be removed from flight status. Grissom and John Young flew Gemini 3 instead.[90] Shepard was designated Chief of the Astronaut Office in November 1963.[91] He thereby became responsible for NASA astronaut training. This involved the development of appropriate training programs for all astronauts and the scheduling of training of individual astronauts for specific missions and roles. He provided and coordinated astronaut input into mission planning and the design of spacecraft and other equipment to be used by astronauts on space missions.[83] He also was on the selection panel for the NASA Astronaut Group 5 in 1966.[92] He spent much of his time investing in banks, wildcatting, and real estate. He became part owner and vice president of Baytown National Bank and would spend hours on the phone in his NASA office overseeing it. He also bought a partnership in a ranch in Weatherford, Texas, that raised horses and cattle.[93] During this period, his secretary had several head shot photographs taken of Shepard, posed with various expressions on his face. She would post these on the door to his private office, with a sign which said "Mood of the Day". Visitors could then look at the photo to decide whether it was a good time to talk to him.[94] Tom Wolfe characterized Shepard's dual personalities as "Smilin' Al" and the "Icy Commander".[95] "Inside his locker", Wolfe wrote, "he kept Smilin' Al of the Cape!" Then Al looked like a different human being, as if he had removed his ice mask. He would come out of the airplane with his eyes dancing. A great goomba-goomba grin would take over his face. You halfway expected to see him start snapping his fingers, because everything about him seemed to be asking the question: "Where's the action?" If he then stepped into his Corvette—well, then, there you had it: the picture of the perfect Fighter Jock Away from Home.[95] Apollo program[edit] Main article: Apollo 14 The crew of Apollo 14: Edgar Mitchell, Shepard and Stuart Roosa In 1968, Stafford went to Shepard's office and told him that an otologist in Los Angeles had developed a cure for Ménière's disease. Shepard flew to Los Angeles, where he met with William F. House. House proposed to open Shepard's mastoid bone and make a tiny hole in the endolymphatic sac. A small tube was inserted to drain excess fluid. The surgery was conducted in early 1969 at St. Vincent's Hospital in Los Angeles, where Shepard checked in under the pseudonym of Victor Poulos.[83][96] The surgery was successful, and he was restored to full flight status on May 7, 1969.[83] Shepard and Slayton put Shepard down to command the next available Moon mission, which was Apollo 13 in 1970. Under normal circumstances, this assignment would have gone to Cooper, as the backup commander of Apollo 10, but Cooper was swept aside. A rookie, Stuart Roosa, was designated the Command Module Pilot. Shepard asked for Jim McDivitt as his Lunar Module Pilot, but McDivitt, who had already commanded the Apollo 9 mission, balked at the prospect, arguing that Shepard did not have sufficient Apollo training to command a Moon mission. A rookie, Edgar Mitchell, was designated the Lunar Module Pilot instead.[97][98] Shepard in front of the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle during training for Apollo 14 When Slayton submitted the proposed crew assignments to NASA headquarters, George Mueller turned them down on the grounds that the crew was too inexperienced. So Slayton asked Jim Lovell, who had been the backup commander for Apollo 11, and was slated to command Apollo 14, if his crew would be willing to fly Apollo 13 instead. He agreed to do so, and Shepard's inexperienced crew was assigned to Apollo 14.[97][98] Neither Shepard nor Lovell expected there would be much difference between Apollo 13 and Apollo 14,[97] but Apollo 13 went disastrously wrong. An oxygen tank explosion caused the Moon landing to be aborted and nearly resulted in the loss of the crew. It became a joke between Shepard and Lovell, who would offer to give Shepard back the mission each time they bumped into each other. The failure of Apollo 13 delayed Apollo 14 until 1971 so that modifications could be made to the spacecraft. The target of the Apollo 14 mission was switched to the Fra Mauro formation, the intended destination of Apollo 13.[99] Shepard made his second space flight as Commander of Apollo 14 from January 31 to February 9, 1971. It was America's third successful lunar landing mission. Shepard piloted the Lunar Module Antares to the most accurate landing of the entire Apollo program.[100] He became the fifth and, at the age of 47, the oldest man to walk on the Moon, and the only one of the Mercury Seven astronauts to do so.[101][102] This was the first mission to broadcast extensive color television coverage from the lunar surface, using the Westinghouse Lunar Color Camera. (The same color camera model was used on Apollo 12 and provided about 30 minutes of color telecasting before it was inadvertently pointed at the Sun, ending its usefulness.) While on the Moon, Shepard used a Wilson six-iron head attached to a lunar sample scoop handle to drive golf balls.[100] Despite thick gloves and a stiff spacesuit, which forced him to swing the club with one hand, Shepard struck two golf balls, driving the second, as he jokingly put it, "miles and miles and miles".[103] Shepard poses next to the American flag on the Moon during Apollo 14 For this mission Shepard was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal[104] and the Navy Distinguished Service Medal. His citation read: The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Distinguished Service Medal to Captain Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. (NSN: 0-389998), United States Navy, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service in a position of great responsibility to the Government of the United States, as Spacecraft Commander for the Apollo 14 flight to the Fra-Mauro area of the Moon during the period 31 January 1971 to 9 February 1971. Responsible for the on-board control of the spacecraft command module Kittyhawk and the lunar module Antares in the gathering of scientific data involving complex and difficult instrumentation positing and sample gathering, including a hazardous two-mile traverse of the lunar surface, Captain Shepard, by his brilliant performance, contributed essentially to the success of this vital scientific moon mission. As a result of his skillful leadership, professional competence and dedication, the Apollo 14 mission, with its numerous tasks and vital scientific experiments, was accomplished in an outstanding manner, enabling scientists to determine more precisely the Moon's original formation and further forecast man's proper role in the exploration of his Universe. By his courageous and determined devotion to duty, Captain Shepard rendered valuable and distinguished service and contributed greatly to the success of the United States Space Program, thereby upholding the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.[77] Following Apollo 14, Shepard returned to his position as Chief of the Astronaut Office in June 1971. In July 1971 President Richard Nixon appointed him as a delegate to the 26th United Nations General Assembly, a position in which he served from September to December 1971.[83] He was promoted to rear admiral by Nixon on August 26, 1971, the first astronaut to reach this rank, although McDivitt had previously been promoted to brigadier general in the Air Force.[105][106] He retired from both NASA and the Navy on July 31, 1974.[83] Later years[edit] Shepard in 1995 Shepard was devoted to his children. Frequently Julie, Laura and Alice were the only astronauts' children at NASA events. He taught them to ski and took them skiing in Colorado. He once rented a small plane to fly them and their friends from Texas to a summer camp in Maine. He doted on his six grandchildren as well. After Apollo 14 he began to spend more time with Louise, and started taking her with him on trips to the Paris Air Show every other year, and to Asia.[107] Louise heard rumors of his affairs.[108] The publication of Tom Wolfe's 1979 book The Right Stuff made them public knowledge, but she never confronted him about it,[109] nor did she ever contemplate leaving him.[107] After Shepard left NASA, he served on the boards of many corporations. He also served as president of his umbrella company for several business enterprises, Seven Fourteen Enterprises, Inc. (named for his two flights, Freedom 7 and Apollo 14).[110] He made a fortune in banking and real estate.[111] He was a fellow of the American Astronautical Society and the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, a member of Rotary, Kiwanis, the Mayflower Society, the Order of the Cincinnati, and the American Fighter Aces, an honorary member of the board of directors for the Houston School for Deaf Children, and a director of the National Space Institute and the Los Angeles Ear Research Institute.[83] Together with the other surviving Mercury astronauts, and Betty Grissom, Gus Grissom's widow, in 1984 Shepard founded the Mercury Seven Foundation, which raises money to provide college scholarships to science and engineering students. It was renamed the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation in 1995. Shepard was elected its first president and chairman, positions he held until October 1997, when he was succeeded by former astronaut Jim Lovell.[83] In 1994, he published a book with two journalists, Jay Barbree and Howard Benedict, called Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon. Fellow Mercury astronaut Deke Slayton is also named as an author. The book included a composite photograph showing Shepard hitting a golf ball on the Moon. There are no still images of this event; the only record is TV footage.[103] The book was turned into a TV miniseries in 1994.[112] Shepard was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 1996 and died from complications of the disease in Pebble Beach, California, on July 21, 1998.[113][114] He was the second astronaut who had walked on the Moon to die, Jim Irwin being the first, in 1991.[101] Shepard's widow Louise resolved to cremate his remains and scatter the ashes, but she died from a heart attack on August 25, 1998, at 17:00, the time at which he had always called her. They had been married for 53 years. The family decided to cremate them both, and their ashes were scattered together by a Navy helicopter over Stillwater Cove, in front of their Pebble Beach home.[115][116] Awards and honors[edit] Shepard was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor by President Jimmy Carter on October 1, 1978.[117] He also received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement in 1981;[118] the Langley Gold Medal on May 5, 1964; the John J. Montgomery Award in 1963; the Lambert trophy; the SETP Iven C. Kincheloe Award;[119] the Cabot Award; the Collier Trophy;[120] and the City of New York City Gold Medal for 1971.[83] He was awarded honorary degrees of Master of Arts from Dartmouth College in 1962, D.Sc. from Miami University in 1971, and Doctorate of Humanities from Franklin Pierce College in 1972.[83] He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1977,[121] the International Space Hall of Fame in 1981,[16][122] and the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame on May 11, 1990.[123][124] Shepard's memorial stone in Derry, New Hampshire; his ashes were scattered at sea The Navy named a supply ship, USNS Alan Shepard (T-AKE-3), for him in 2006.[125] The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord, New Hampshire, is named after Shepard and Christa McAuliffe.[126] In 1996, the entirety of I-565 (which passes in front of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, home to both the Saturn V Dynamic Test Vehicle and a full-scale vertical Saturn V replica) was designated the "Admiral Alan B. Shepard Highway" in his honor.[127][128] Interstate 93 in New Hampshire, from the Massachusetts border to Hooksett, is designated the Alan B. Shepard Highway,[129] and in Hampton, Virginia, a road is named Commander Shepard Boulevard in his honor.[130] His hometown of Derry has the nickname Space Town in honor of his career as an astronaut.[131] Following an act of Congress, the post office in Derry was designated the Alan B. Shepard Jr. Post Office Building.[132] Alan Shepard Park in Cocoa Beach, Florida, a beach-side park south of Cape Canaveral, is named in his honor.[133] The City of Virginia Beach renamed its convention center, with its integral geodesic dome, the Alan B. Shepard Convention Center. The building was later renamed the Alan B. Shepard Civic Center, and was razed in 1994.[134] At the time of the Freedom 7 launch, Shepard lived in Virginia Beach.[135] Shepard's high school alma mater in Derry, Pinkerton Academy, has a building named after him, and the school team is called the Astros after his career as an astronaut.[136] Alan B. Shepard High School, in Palos Heights, Illinois, which opened in 1976, was named in his honor. Framed newspapers throughout the school depict various accomplishments and milestones in Shepard's life. Additionally, an autographed plaque commemorates the dedication of the building. The school newspaper is named Freedom 7 and the yearbook is entitled Odyssey.[137] Blue Origin's suborbital space tourism rocket, the New Shepard, is named after Shepard.[138] In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Shepard was ranked as the ninth most popular space hero (tied with astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Gus Grissom).[139] In 2011, NASA honored Shepard with an Ambassador of Exploration Award, consisting of a Moon rock encased in Lucite, for his contributions to the U.S. space program. His family members accepted the award on his behalf during a ceremony on April 28 at the U.S. Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Maryland, where it is on permanent display.[140] On May 4, 2011, the U.S. Postal Service issued a first-class stamp in Shepard's honor, the first U.S. stamp to depict a specific astronaut. The first day of issue ceremony was held at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.[141] Each year, the Space Foundation, in partnership with the Astronauts Memorial Foundation and NASA, present the Alan Shepard Technology in Education Award for outstanding contributions by K–12 educators or district-level administrators to educational technology. The award recognizes excellence in the development and application of technology in the classroom or to the professional development of teachers. The recipient demonstrates exemplary use of technology either to foster lifelong learners or to make the learning process easier.[142] In media[edit] 1965 British TV series Thunderbirds – the character of Alan Tracy was named after him.[143] 1983 film The Right Stuff – played by Scott Glenn.[144] 1998 HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon – played by Ted Levine.[145] 2001 opening montage, Star Trek: Enterprise.[146] 2002 film Race to Space – played by Mark Moses.[147] 2005 BBC TV series Space Race – played by Todd Boyce. 2007–2012 BioWare video game series Mass Effect – main protagonist Commander Shepard is named after him.[148] 2015 ABC TV series The Astronaut Wives Club – played by Desmond Harrington.[149] 2016 film Hidden Figures – played by Dane Davenport.[150] 2020 Disney+ TV Series The Right Stuff – played by Jake McDorman.[151] ******  .   ebay3677