902 Is A 2010 Civilian Model Ford Explorer That Was The Main Car For Nearly 9 Years, The Village Acquired A 2019 FPIU In Late 2019. Unit 902 Is A Spare And Utilized By The Villages Part Time Police Officer

2015 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Art and Agriculture Online Viewer's Choice entries on display in the headquarters' South Building, Thursday, Dec 10, 2015, in Washington, D.C.

Themes were expressed by employees from across the department and the contest was open to full-time and part-time USDA employees. Artistic expression is a creative outlet that is vital for an individual to grow and develop. USDA Photo by Lance Cheung.

Gateshead College is a further education college in the town of Gateshead, England. Established on November 15, 1955 at Durham Road in Low Fell, Gateshead. It was opened by the Duke of Edinburgh. The original campus was closed as part of a planned move in January 2008. The college moved into a £39 million new main site located at the Baltic Quayside in Gateshead. Also opened during the move was the Academy for Sport based at Gateshead International Stadium and in Team Valley the Skills Academy for Automotive, Engineering, Manufacturing and Logistics. Also in Team Valley, the Skills Academy for Construction opened in summer 2008.

 

More than £75million has been spent developing six campuses, for academic and vocational courses. Based in the North East of England, Gateshead College offers further education to 16- to 18-year-olds, higher education, apprenticeships, part-time adult learning and training for employers.

 

The Baltic Campus, based on the Gateshead quayside, has a range of facilities including:

 

Baltic Salon and Spa

Gym and aerobics studio

200 seat performance theatre

Learning Resource Centre

Sound proofed music rehearsal and recording studios

Refectory, bistro, training kitchens and restaurant

Art and design studios

ICT Suite

Shop

Japanese garden

Gateshead College develops training and facilities to support the North East's bid to become a hub for sustainability.[citation needed] The College has also established a reputation[citation needed] for working in partnership with many organisations including the Chamber of Commerce, Nissan, sports teams including Gateshead Thunder and the Newcastle Vipers, and The Sage Gateshead and was chosen founder college for the National Skills Academy for Creative and Cultural Skills.

 

The College administers the Government's Plugged in Places project, through its Charge Your Car project. Gateshead College also established Zero Carbon Futures in 2011, to deliver a range of local and national programmes designed to advance the region as a European leader in the production of low carbon vehicles

 

Gateshead is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, The Glasshouse International Centre for Music and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. The town shares the Millennium Bridge, Tyne Bridge and multiple other bridges with Newcastle upon Tyne.

 

Historically part of County Durham, under the Local Government Act 1888 the town was made a county borough, meaning it was administered independently of the county council.

 

In the 2011 Census, the town had a population of 120,046 while the wider borough had 200,214.

 

History

Gateshead is first mentioned in Latin translation in Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People as ad caput caprae ("at the goat's head"). This interpretation is consistent with the later English attestations of the name, among them Gatesheued (c. 1190), literally "goat's head" but in the context of a place-name meaning 'headland or hill frequented by (wild) goats'. Although other derivations have been mooted, it is this that is given by the standard authorities.

 

A Brittonic predecessor, named with the element *gabro-, 'goat' (c.f. Welsh gafr), may underlie the name. Gateshead might have been the Roman-British fort of Gabrosentum.

 

Early

There has been a settlement on the Gateshead side of the River Tyne, around the old river crossing where the Swing Bridge now stands, since Roman times.

 

The first recorded mention of Gateshead is in the writings of the Venerable Bede who referred to an Abbot of Gateshead called Utta in 623. In 1068 William the Conqueror defeated the forces of Edgar the Ætheling and Malcolm king of Scotland (Shakespeare's Malcolm) on Gateshead Fell (now Low Fell and Sheriff Hill).

 

During medieval times Gateshead was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Durham. At this time the area was largely forest with some agricultural land. The forest was the subject of Gateshead's first charter, granted in the 12th century by Hugh du Puiset, Bishop of Durham. An alternative spelling may be "Gatishevede", as seen in a legal record, dated 1430.

 

Industrial revolution

Throughout the Industrial Revolution the population of Gateshead expanded rapidly; between 1801 and 1901 the increase was over 100,000. This expansion resulted in the spread southwards of the town.

 

In 1854, a catastrophic explosion on the quayside destroyed most of Gateshead's medieval heritage, and caused widespread damage on the Newcastle side of the river.

 

Sir Joseph Swan lived at Underhill, Low Fell, Gateshead from 1869 to 1883, where his experiments led to the invention of the electric light bulb. The house was the first in the world to be wired for domestic electric light.

 

In the 1889 one of the largest employers (Hawks, Crawshay and Company) closed down and unemployment has since been a burden. Up to the Second World War there were repeated newspaper reports of the unemployed sending deputations to the council to provide work. The depression years of the 1920s and 1930s created even more joblessness and the Team Valley Trading Estate was built in the mid-1930s to alleviate the situation.

 

Regeneration

In the late noughties, Gateshead Council started to regenerate the town, with the long-term aim of making Gateshead a city. The most extensive transformation occurred in the Quayside, with almost all the structures there being constructed or refurbished in this time.

 

In the early 2010s, regeneration refocused on the town centre. The £150 million Trinity Square development opened in May 2013, it incorporates student accommodation, a cinema, health centre and shops. It was nominated for the Carbuncle Cup in September 2014. The cup was however awarded to another development which involved Tesco, Woolwich Central.

 

Governance

In 1835, Gateshead was established as a municipal borough and in 1889 it was made a county borough, independent from Durham County Council.

 

In 1870, the Old Town Hall was built, designed by John Johnstone who also designed the previously built Newcastle Town Hall. The ornamental clock in front of the old town hall was presented to Gateshead in 1892 by the mayor, Walter de Lancey Willson, on the occasion of him being elected for a third time. He was also one of the founders of Walter Willson's, a chain of grocers in the North East and Cumbria. The old town hall also served as a magistrate's court and one of Gateshead's police stations.

 

Current

In 1974, following the Local Government Act 1972, the County Borough of Gateshead was merged with the urban districts of Felling, Whickham, Blaydon and Ryton and part of the rural district of Chester-le-Street to create the much larger Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead.

 

Geography

The town of Gateshead is in the North East of England in the ceremonial county of Tyne and Wear, and within the historic boundaries of County Durham. It is located on the southern bank of the River Tyne at a latitude of 54.57° N and a longitude of 1.35° W. Gateshead experiences a temperate climate which is considerably warmer than some other locations at similar latitudes as a result of the warming influence of the Gulf Stream (via the North Atlantic drift). It is located in the rain shadow of the North Pennines and is therefore in one of the driest regions of the United Kingdom.

 

One of the most distinguishing features of Gateshead is its topography. The land rises 230 feet from Gateshead Quays to the town centre and continues rising to a height of 525 feet at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Sheriff Hill. This is in contrast to the flat and low lying Team Valley located on the western edges of town. The high elevations allow for impressive views over the Tyne valley into Newcastle and across Tyneside to Sunderland and the North Sea from lookouts in Windmill Hills and Windy Nook respectively.

 

The Office for National Statistics defines the town as an urban sub-division. The latest (2011) ONS urban sub-division of Gateshead contains the historical County Borough together with areas that the town has absorbed, including Dunston, Felling, Heworth, Pelaw and Bill Quay.

 

Given the proximity of Gateshead to Newcastle, just south of the River Tyne from the city centre, it is sometimes incorrectly referred to as being a part of Newcastle. Gateshead Council and Newcastle City Council teamed up in 2000 to create a unified marketing brand name, NewcastleGateshead, to better promote the whole of the Tyneside conurbation.

 

Economy

Gateshead is home to the MetroCentre, the largest shopping mall in the UK until 2008; and the Team Valley Trading Estate, once the largest and still one of the larger purpose-built commercial estates in the UK.

 

Arts

The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art has been established in a converted flour mill. The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, previously The Sage, a Norman Foster-designed venue for music and the performing arts opened on 17 December 2004. Gateshead also hosted the Gateshead Garden Festival in 1990, rejuvenating 200 acres (0.81 km2) of derelict land (now mostly replaced with housing). The Angel of the North, a famous sculpture in nearby Lamesley, is visible from the A1 to the south of Gateshead, as well as from the East Coast Main Line. Other public art include works by Richard Deacon, Colin Rose, Sally Matthews, Andy Goldsworthy, Gordon Young and Michael Winstone.

 

Traditional and former

The earliest recorded coal mining in the Gateshead area is dated to 1344. As trade on the Tyne prospered there were several attempts by the burghers of Newcastle to annex Gateshead. In 1576 a small group of Newcastle merchants acquired the 'Grand Lease' of the manors of Gateshead and Whickham. In the hundred years from 1574 coal shipments from Newcastle increased elevenfold while the population of Gateshead doubled to approximately 5,500. However, the lease and the abundant coal supplies ended in 1680. The pits were shallow as problems of ventilation and flooding defeated attempts to mine coal from the deeper seams.

 

'William Cotesworth (1668-1726) was a prominent merchant based in Gateshead, where he was a leader in coal and international trade. Cotesworth began as the son of a yeoman and apprentice to a tallow - candler. He ended as an esquire, having been mayor, Justice of the Peace and sheriff of Northumberland. He collected tallow from all over England and sold it across the globe. He imported dyes from the Indies, as well as flax, wine, and grain. He sold tea, sugar, chocolate, and tobacco. He operated the largest coal mines in the area, and was a leading salt producer. As the government's principal agent in the North country, he was in contact with leading ministers.

 

William Hawks originally a blacksmith, started business in Gateshead in 1747, working with the iron brought to the Tyne as ballast by the Tyne colliers. Hawks and Co. eventually became one of the biggest iron businesses in the North, producing anchors, chains and so on to meet a growing demand. There was keen contemporary rivalry between 'Hawks' Blacks' and 'Crowley's Crew'. The famous 'Hawks' men' including Ned White, went on to be celebrated in Geordie song and story.

 

In 1831 a locomotive works was established by the Newcastle and Darlington Railway, later part of the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway. In 1854 the works moved to the Greenesfield site and became the manufacturing headquarters of North Eastern Railway. In 1909, locomotive construction was moved to Darlington and the rest of the works were closed in 1932.

 

Robert Stirling Newall took out a patent on the manufacture of wire ropes in 1840 and in partnership with Messrs. Liddell and Gordon, set up his headquarters at Gateshead. A worldwide industry of wire-drawing resulted. The submarine telegraph cable received its definitive form through Newall's initiative, involving the use of gutta-percha surrounded by strong wires. The first successful Dover–Calais cable on 25 September 1851, was made in Newall's works. In 1853, he invented the brake-drum and cone for laying cable in deep seas. Half of the first Atlantic cable was manufactured in Gateshead. Newall was interested in astronomy, and his giant 25-inch (640 mm) telescope was set up in the garden at Ferndene, his Gateshead residence, in 1871.

 

Architecture

JB Priestley, writing of Gateshead in his 1934 travelogue English Journey, said that "no true civilisation could have produced such a town", adding that it appeared to have been designed "by an enemy of the human race".

 

Victorian

William Wailes the celebrated stained-glass maker, lived at South Dene from 1853 to 1860. In 1860, he designed Saltwell Towers as a fairy-tale palace for himself. It is an imposing Victorian mansion in its own park with a romantic skyline of turrets and battlements. It was originally furnished sumptuously by Gerrard Robinson. Some of the panelling installed by Robinson was later moved to the Shipley Art gallery. Wailes sold Saltwell Towers to the corporation in 1876 for use as a public park, provided he could use the house for the rest of his life. For many years the structure was essentially an empty shell but following a restoration programme it was reopened to the public in 2004.

 

Post millennium

The council sponsored the development of a Gateshead Quays cultural quarter. The development includes the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, erected in 2001, which won the prestigious Stirling Prize for Architecture in 2002.

 

Former brutalism

The brutalist Trinity Centre Car Park, which was designed by Owen Luder, dominated the town centre for many years until its demolition in 2010. A product of attempts to regenerate the area in the 1960s, the car park gained an iconic status due to its appearance in the 1971 film Get Carter, starring Michael Caine. An unsuccessful campaign to have the structure listed was backed by Sylvester Stallone, who played the main role in the 2000 remake of the film. The car park was scheduled for demolition in 2009, but this was delayed as a result of a disagreement between Tesco, who re-developed the site, and Gateshead Council. The council had not been given firm assurances that Tesco would build the previously envisioned town centre development which was to include a Tesco mega-store as well as shops, restaurants, cafes, bars, offices and student accommodation. The council effectively used the car park as a bargaining tool to ensure that the company adhered to the original proposals and blocked its demolition until they submitted a suitable planning application. Demolition finally took place in July–August 2010.

 

The Derwent Tower, another well known example of brutalist architecture, was also designed by Owen Luder and stood in the neighbourhood of Dunston. Like the Trinity Car Park it also failed in its bid to become a listed building and was demolished in 2012. Also located in this area are the Grade II listed Dunston Staithes which were built in 1890. Following the award of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of almost £420,000 restoration of the structure is expected to begin in April 2014.

 

Sport

Gateshead International Stadium regularly holds international athletics meetings over the summer months, and is home of the Gateshead Harriers athletics club. It is also host to rugby league fixtures, and the home ground of Gateshead Football Club. Gateshead Thunder Rugby League Football Club played at Gateshead International Stadium until its purchase by Newcastle Rugby Limited and the subsequent rebranding as Newcastle Thunder. Both clubs have had their problems: Gateshead A.F.C. were controversially voted out of the Football League in 1960 in favour of Peterborough United, whilst Gateshead Thunder lost their place in Super League as a result of a takeover (officially termed a merger) by Hull F.C. Both Gateshead clubs continue to ply their trade at lower levels in their respective sports, thanks mainly to the efforts of their supporters. The Gateshead Senators American Football team also use the International Stadium, as well as this it was used in the 2006 Northern Conference champions in the British American Football League.

 

Gateshead Leisure Centre is home to the Gateshead Phoenix Basketball Team. The team currently plays in EBL League Division 4. Home games are usually on a Sunday afternoon during the season, which runs from September to March. The team was formed in 2013 and ended their initial season well placed to progress after defeating local rivals Newcastle Eagles II and promotion chasing Kingston Panthers.

 

In Low Fell there is a cricket club and a rugby club adjacent to each other on Eastwood Gardens. These are Gateshead Fell Cricket Club and Gateshead Rugby Club. Gateshead Rugby Club was formed in 1998 following the merger of Gateshead Fell Rugby Club and North Durham Rugby Club.

 

Transport

Gateshead is served by the following rail transport stations with some being operated by National Rail and some being Tyne & Wear Metro stations: Dunston, Felling, Gateshead Interchange, Gateshead Stadium, Heworth Interchange, MetroCentre and Pelaw.

 

Tyne & Wear Metro stations at Gateshead Interchange and Gateshead Stadium provide direct light-rail access to Newcastle Central, Newcastle Airport , Sunderland, Tynemouth and South Shields Interchange.

 

National Rail services are provided by Northern at Dunston and MetroCentre stations. The East Coast Main Line, which runs from London Kings Cross to Edinburgh Waverley, cuts directly through the town on its way between Newcastle Central and Chester-le-Street stations. There are presently no stations on this line within Gateshead, as Low Fell, Bensham and Gateshead West stations were closed in 1952, 1954 and 1965 respectively.

 

Road

Several major road links pass through Gateshead, including the A1 which links London to Edinburgh and the A184 which connects the town to Sunderland.

 

Gateshead Interchange is the busiest bus station in Tyne & Wear and was used by 3.9 million bus passengers in 2008.

 

Cycle routes

Various bicycle trails traverse the town; most notably is the recreational Keelmans Way (National Cycle Route 14), which is located on the south bank of the Tyne and takes riders along the entire Gateshead foreshore. Other prominent routes include the East Gateshead Cycleway, which connects to Felling, the West Gateshead Cycleway, which links the town centre to Dunston and the MetroCentre, and routes along both the old and new Durham roads, which take cyclists to Birtley, Wrekenton and the Angel of the North.

 

Religion

Christianity has been present in the town since at least the 7th century, when Bede mentioned a monastery in Gateshead. A church in the town was burned down in 1080 with the Bishop of Durham inside.[citation needed] St Mary's Church was built near to the site of that building, and was the only church in the town until the 1820s. Undoubtedly the oldest building on the Quayside, St Mary's has now re-opened to the public as the town's first heritage centre.

 

Many of the Anglican churches in the town date from the 19th century, when the population of the town grew dramatically and expanded into new areas. The town presently has a number of notable and large churches of many denominations.

 

Judaism

The Bensham district is home to a community of hundreds of Jewish families and used to be known as "Little Jerusalem". Within the community is the Gateshead Yeshiva, founded in 1929, and other Jewish educational institutions with international enrolments. These include two seminaries: Beis Medrash L'Morot and Beis Chaya Rochel seminary, colloquially known together as Gateshead "old" and "new" seminaries.

 

Many yeshivot and kollels also are active. Yeshivat Beer Hatorah, Sunderland Yeshiva, Nesivos Hatorah, Nezer Hatorah and Yeshiva Ketana make up some of the list.

 

Islam

Islam is practised by a large community of people in Gateshead and there are 2 mosques located in the Bensham area (in Ely Street and Villa Place).

 

Twinning

Gateshead is twinned with the town of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in France, and the city of Komatsu in Japan.

 

Notable people

Eliezer Adler – founder of Jewish Community

Marcus Bentley – narrator of Big Brother

Catherine Booth – wife of William Booth, known as the Mother of The Salvation Army

William Booth – founder of the Salvation Army

Mary Bowes – the Unhappy Countess, author and celebrity

Ian Branfoot – footballer and manager (Sheffield Wednesday and Southampton)

Andy Carroll – footballer (Newcastle United, Liverpool and West Ham United)

Frank Clark – footballer and manager (Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest)

David Clelland – Labour politician and MP

Derek Conway – former Conservative politician and MP

Joseph Cowen – Radical politician

Steve Cram – athlete (middle-distance runner)

Emily Davies – educational reformer and feminist, founder of Girton College, Cambridge

Daniel Defoe – writer and government agent

Ruth Dodds – politician, writer and co-founder of the Little Theatre

Jonathan Edwards – athlete (triple jumper) and television presenter

Sammy Johnson – actor (Spender)

George Elliot – industrialist and MP

Paul Gascoigne – footballer (Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Lazio, Rangers and Middlesbrough)

Alex Glasgow – singer/songwriter

Avrohom Gurwicz – rabbi, Dean of Gateshead Yeshiva

Leib Gurwicz – rabbi, Dean of Gateshead Yeshiva

Jill Halfpenny – actress (Coronation Street and EastEnders)

Chelsea Halfpenny – actress (Emmerdale)

David Hodgson – footballer and manager (Middlesbrough, Liverpool and Sunderland)

Sharon Hodgson – Labour politician and MP

Norman Hunter – footballer (Leeds United and member of 1966 World Cup-winning England squad)

Don Hutchison – footballer (Liverpool, West Ham United, Everton and Sunderland)

Brian Johnson – AC/DC frontman

Tommy Johnson – footballer (Aston Villa and Celtic)

Riley Jones - actor

Howard Kendall – footballer and manager (Preston North End and Everton)

J. Thomas Looney – Shakespeare scholar

Gary Madine – footballer (Sheffield Wednesday)

Justin McDonald – actor (Distant Shores)

Lawrie McMenemy – football manager (Southampton and Northern Ireland) and pundit

Thomas Mein – professional cyclist (Canyon DHB p/b Soreen)

Robert Stirling Newall – industrialist

Bezalel Rakow – communal rabbi

John William Rayner – flying ace and war hero

James Renforth – oarsman

Mariam Rezaei – musician and artist

Sir Tom Shakespeare - baronet, sociologist and disability rights campaigner

William Shield – Master of the King's Musick

Christina Stead – Australian novelist

John Steel – drummer (The Animals)

Henry Spencer Stephenson – chaplain to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II

Steve Stone – footballer (Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Portsmouth)

Chris Swailes – footballer (Ipswich Town)

Sir Joseph Swan – inventor of the incandescent light bulb

Nicholas Trainor – cricketer (Gloucestershire)

Chris Waddle – footballer (Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur and Sheffield Wednesday)

William Wailes – stained glass maker

Taylor Wane – adult entertainer

Robert Spence Watson – public benefactor

Sylvia Waugh – author of The Mennyms series for children

Chris Wilkie – guitarist (Dubstar)

John Wilson - orchestral conductor

Peter Wilson – footballer (Gateshead, captain of Australia)

Thomas Wilson – poet/school founder

Robert Wood – Australian politician

   

Today is the 44th anniversary of the death of my 'Little Nana" Clegg, my mother's mother. I have only the fondest memories of my darling grandma Clegg - I was fortunate enough to have such strong Lancastrian family roots and memories from my grandparents on both sides. Hannah had quite a life - leaving school at "part-time" before the Great War to work in the cotton mills in Rochdale - from a family of publicans she eventually ran a fish and chip shop. William - Bill - Clegg, her husband had served in the First War, being gassed and dying in 1965 from the effects on his lungs of that and cotton dust. Hannah lost his pension - and had to go back to work, as a school dinner lady. Hannah and William lost their only son Jack in WW2 in Belgium in 1945 - my mother is still with us. A story of typical Lancastrian industrial grind - but they always seemed irrespressively stoic and the tales, and jokes, and laughter I still recall with immense fondness. This is me around 1959 in the front door of no.3 Charlotte Street, Rochdale with my Grandma Clegg. My mum and I were living their as my father was away at sea in the Far East as he was in the Royla Navy at the time.

Cobh railway station serves the town of Cobh and is the terminus of the on Cork-Cobh section of the Cork Suburban Rail line. It is located in a red brick building adjacent to the town's Cobh Heritage Centre. It is famous for being the station where hundreds of survivors of the RMS Lusitania disaster left the town of Cobh after surviving the sinking. The station is staffed part-time and has a single platform.

 

The station is the terminus of the Cork-Cobh section of the Cork Suburban Rail network. It began life as the terminus of the Cobh (then Queenstown) section of the Cork, Youghal & Queenstown Railway.

 

The present station occupies only a small part of the old station building. The original station was expanded greatly during the latter part of the 19th century as it served what was then Ireland's largest emigration port which was also an important way-point as the last port between Western Europe and North America. The station was also the main receiving centre for mails for Ireland and Britain from the United States and Canada. Mail would be brought by ship to Cobh, processed and forwarded by mail express trains to Kingsown (now Dún Laoghaire)on the outskirts of Dublin and on to Holyhead. This was faster than than conveying by ship directly to Liverpool.

 

With the development and growth of transatlantic air traffic Cobh lost its importance as a mail and passenger centre and a significant part of the train station remained largely unused until the opening of the Cobh Heritage Centre in the front part of the station in the 1980s. At that time the station was also reduced to a single platform. The freight yard of the station has now become a public carpark while another part of the station has become a covered carpark for Cobh Garda Station.

 

The station opened 10 March 1862 and was closed for goods traffic on 3 November 1975.

So i just finished watching the lego movie 2 and with some minor story flaws i had with it, it was honesly alot better then the first one.

 

this scene here (again spoilers so if you wanna watch the movie first then go off this page) where rex dangervest says to emmet he's him from the future, we get some pretty awesome cameos from a couple of time traveling movies (even some R rated ones) that the lego designers had to offically make for this movie, so this is the closest we can get to a lego terminator set

 

1) we get a better delorean then what lego offically did, with an actual slanted down bonnet and has more of the shape of the car then it being bulky like the lego one

 

2) bill and ted's phone booth (the first r rating in this cameo fiesta)

 

3) the tardis (identicle to what we already got)

 

4) the time sled from H-G wells the time machine

 

5) skynet's time machine from the terminator (which is still awesome!)

 

6) the hot tub from hot tub time machine (which if they made this set for adults only would be AMAZING!!!!!!!)

  

I'll post some individual (and edited to the best of my abilities) pics of each of the builds so if any crazy moc dude can build them tag me in.

British postcard by Pyramid, Leicester, no PC 8292. Caption: Robert DeNiro (sic) - Shirt & Tie.

 

Legendary American actor Robert De Niro (1943) has starred in such classic films as Taxi Driver (1976), Novecento/1900 (1978), The Deer Hunter (1978), Awakenings (1990) and GoodFellas (1990). His role in The Godfather: Part II (1974) brought him his first Academy Award, and he scored his second Oscar for his portrayal of Jake La Motta in Raging Bull (1980). De Niro worked with many acclaimed film directors, including Brian De Palma, Francis Coppola, Elia Kazan, Bernardo Bertolucci and, most importantly, Martin Scorsese. He has also appeared in French, British, and Italian films.

 

Robert Anthony De Niro was born in the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan, New York City, in 1943. His mother, Virginia Admiral, was a cerebral and gifted painter, and his father, Robert De Niro Sr., was a painter, sculptor and poet whose work received high critical acclaim. They split ways in 1945 when young Robert was only 2 years old after his father announced that he was gay. De Niro was raised primarily by his mother, who took on work as a typesetter and printer to support her son. A bright and energetic child, Robert De Niro was incredibly fond of attending films with his father when they spent time together. De Niro's mother worked part-time as a typist and copyeditor for Maria Piscator's Dramatic Workshop, and as part of her compensation, De Niro was allowed to take children's acting classes for free. At the age of 10, De Niro made his stage debut as the Cowardly Lion in a school production of The Wizard of Oz. De Niro proved to be uninterested in school altogether and, as a teenager, joined a rather tame street gang in Little Italy that gave him the nickname Bobby Milk, about his pale complexion. While De Niro was by all accounts only a very modest troublemaker, the gang provided him with the experience to skilfully portray Italian mobsters as an actor. He left school at age 16 to study acting at Stella Adler Conservatory. Adler, who had taught Marlon Brando and Rod Steiger, was a strong proponent of the Stanislavski method of acting, involving deep psychological character investigation. He studied briefly with Lee Strasberg at the Actor's Studio in New York City and then began auditioning. After a momentary cameo in the French film Trois chambres à Manhattan/Three Rooms in Manhattan (Marcel Carné, 1965), De Niro's real film debut came in Greetings (Brian De Palma, 1968). However, De Niro's first film role already came at the age of 20, when he appeared credited as Robert Denero in De Palma’s The Wedding Party (Brian De Palma, Wilford Leach, 1963), but the film was not released until 1969. He then appeared in Roger Corman's film Bloody Mama (1970), featuring Shelley Winters. His breakthrough performances came a few years later in two highly acclaimed films: the sports drama Bang the Drum Slowly (John D. Hancock, 1973), in which he played a terminally ill catcher on a baseball team, and the crime film Mean Streets (1973), his first of many collaborations with director Martin Scorsese, in which he played street thug Johnny Boy opposite Harvey Keitel.

 

Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese worked successfully together on eight films: Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), New York, New York (1977), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1983), Goodfellas (1990), Cape Fear (1991), and Casino (1995). In 1974, De Niro established himself as one of America’s finest actors with his Academy Award-winning portrayal of the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather: Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974), a role for which he learned to speak Sicilian. Two years later, De Niro delivered perhaps the most chilling performance of his career, playing vengeful cabbie Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976) alongside Jodie Foster. His iconic performance as Travis Bickle catapulted him to stardom and forever linked his name with Bickle's famous "You talkin' to me?" monologue, which De Niro largely improvised. In Italy, De Niro appeared opposite Gérard Dépardieu in the epic historical drama Novecento/1900 (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1976). The film is an exploration of life in Italy in the first half of the 20th century, seen through the eyes of two Italian childhood friends on opposite sides of society's hierarchy. He also starred in The Last Tycoon (1976), the last film directed by Elia Kazan. The Hollywood drama is based upon Harold Pinter's screenplay adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon. De Niro continued to show his tremendous skill as a dramatic actor in the Vietnam War drama The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino, 1978). The film follows a group of friends haunted by their Vietnam experiences. De Niro later portrayed middleweight boxer Jake LaMotta in the commercially unsuccessful but critically adored film Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980). The previously skinny De Niro had put on 60 pounds of muscle for his riveting turn as LaMotta and was rewarded for his dedication with the 1981 Academy Award for Best Actor.

 

In the 1980s, Robert De Niro's first roles were as a worldly ambitious Catholic priest in True Confessions (Ulu Grosbard, 1981), an aspiring stand-up comedian in Scorsese's The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese, 1983), and a Jewish mobster in the sprawling historical epic Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984). Other notable projects included the Sci-Fi art film Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 1985) and the British drama The Mission (Roland Joffé, 1986), about the experiences of a Jesuit missionary in 18th-century South America, which won the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival. It was followed by films like the crime drama The Untouchables (Brian De Palma, 1987), in which De Niro portrayed gangster Al Capone opposite Kevin Costner as Eliot Ness, the mysterious thriller Angel Heart (Alan Parker, 1987), and the action-comedy Midnight Run (Martin Brest, 1988). De Niro opened the 1990s with Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990), yet another acclaimed gangster film from Scorsese that saw the actor teaming up with Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci. De Niro next starred in a project that earned him another Oscar nomination, portraying a catatonic patient brought back to awareness in Awakenings (Penny Marshall, 1990), co-starring Robin Williams as a character based on physician Oliver Sacks. Dramas continued to be the genre of choice for De Niro, as he played a blacklisted director in Guilty by Suspicion (Irwin Winkler, 1991) and a fire chief in Backdraft (Ron Howard, 1991). Soon afterwards, the actor was once again front and centre and terrifyingly reunited with Scorsese, bulking up to become a tattooed rapist who stalks a family in Cape Fear (Martin Scorsese, 1991). The film was a remake of the 1962 thriller starring Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum. Peck and Mitchum made appearances in the remake as well. De Niro received his sixth Academy Award nomination for Fear, with the film becoming the highest-grossing collaboration between the actor and Scorsese, earning more than $182 million worldwide. After somewhat edgy, comedic outings like Night and the City (1992) and Mad Dog and Glory (1993), another drama followed in the form of This Boy's Life (Michael Caton-Jones, 1993), in which De Niro portrayed the abusive stepfather of a young Leonardo DiCaprio. That same year, De Niro made his directorial debut with A Bronx Tale (Robert De Niro, 1993), a film adaptation of a one-man play written and performed by Chazz Palminteri. In 1994, De Niro was practically unrecognisable as the monster in actor/director Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of the Mary Shelley novel Frankenstein (Kenneth Branagh, 1994). It was followed by another Scorsese telling of mob life, this time in Las Vegas. De Niro portrayed a character based on real-life figure Frank ‘Lefty’ Rosenthal in Casino (Martin Scorsese, 1995), co-starring Sharon Stone and Joe Pesci. In Heat (Michael Mann, 1995), De Niro re-teamed with fellow Godfather star Al Pacino in a well-received outing about a bank robber contemplating getting out of the business and the police detective aiming to bring him down.

 

For the rest of the 1990s and into the new millennium, Robert De Niro was featured yearly in a big-screen project as either a lead or supporting figure. His films include the legal crime drama Sleepers (Barry Levinson, 1996), the black comedy Wag the Dog (Barry Levinson, 1997), the crime drama Cop Land (James Mangold, 1997), the crime thriller Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino, 1997), the spy action-thriller Ronin (John Frankenheimer, 1998) and the crime comedy-drama Flawless (Joel Schumacher, 1999). At the turn of the century, De Niro struck out into decidedly different territory with Analyze This (Harold Ramis, 1999), a hilarious and highly popular spoof of the mob movies that had garnered him fame. Analyze This earned more than $100 million domestically, with De Niro playing a Mafioso who seeks help from a psychiatrist (Billy Crystal). De Niro took on another comedy, Meet the Parents (Jay Roach, 2000), as Ben Stiller's future father-in-law. The smash hit spawned two sequels: Meet the Fockers (Jay Roach, 2004) and Little Fockers (Paul Weitz, 2011), both of which were also box-office successes. De Niro continued to switch between comedic and serious roles over the next few years, reuniting with Billy Crystal for Analyze That (Harold Ramis, 2002), and starring in the spy thriller The Good Shepherd (Robert De Niro, 2006) with Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie. The following year, De Niro was featured as a secretive cross-dressing pirate with a heart of gold in the fantasy flick Stardust (Matthew Vaughn, 2007), while 2009 saw a return to dramatic fare with Everybody's Fine (Kirk Jones, 2009). In Italy, De Niro starred in the romantic comedy Manuale d'amore 3/The Ages of Love (Giovanni Veronesi, 2011). De Niro earned yet another Academy Award nomination for his turn in David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook (2012), playing the father of a mentally troubled son (Bradley Cooper). De Niro teamed up again with Silver Linings Playbook director Russell and stars Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence for the biopic Joy (David O. Russell, 2015), based on the life of Miracle Mop inventor Joy Mangano. Later that year, De Niro starred as a widower who returns to the workforce in The Intern (Nancy Meyers, 2015), with Anne Hathaway. In 2016, he starred in another biopic, Hands of Stone (Jonathan Jakubowicz, 2016), playing Ray Arcel, the trainer of Panamanian boxer Roberto Durán. That same year, De Niro received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama for his contribution to the arts. De Niro, who has long resided in New York City, has been investing in Manhattan's Tribeca neighbourhood since 1989. His capital ventures there included co-founding the film studio TriBeCa Productions in 1998 and the Tribeca Film Festival (since 2002). De Niro married actress Diahnne Abbott in 1976. The couple had one son, Raphael, before divorcing 12 years later, in 1988. De Niro then had a long relationship with model Toukie Smith. They had twin sons, Aaron Kendrick and Julian Henry, in 1995. Then in 1997, De Niro married Grace Hightower, with whom he has two children.

 

Sources: Biography.com, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

When I said that I jumped out of the closet, telling just around everyone, at work, in my family and among my friends, that I am a part time transvestite of cause. I did not include in this definition of ”everyone”, the neighbors in the appartment building that I live.

 

I know, I know. This really make you disappointed as to my lack of bravery, but I really didn't (and don't) feel that it is appropriate knocking doors telling about my gender issues. As some things I do feel, is bordering invasion of privacy and I believe this is in fact, one of them.

 

But still... a story should be told from the begining and this one start with me opening my mailbox, finding in there a small envelope containing nothing less than Maybelline's ”Stiletto Lash” mascara. Which I have ordered because some foxy (real) babes had adviced me, that THIS mascara, would make my natural long eyelashes, EVEN longer. Well....I must admit my normal mascara have been bothering me a bit, time for a change, I ordered it on E-bay pretty cheap.

 

There are signs that tell, when you absolutely MUST dress up, needless to say, this was one of them. But... it was raining :o/ and I just felt like being....well... ”tight fittet & sexy”... and then I had an idea. You see, I have one of these cheap pink see through raincoats, much like my black jacket in shape and length. With waist belt reaching the high thigh length. But the ”see through” effect is insane if you wear something tight and short.underneath...just HAD to try :oP

 

Close to where I live there is a cafe, newly opened and I think it is a quite unusual cafe, something like for the elderly, something of an social kind of thing, activating the old of the community...something like that. I think everyone is wellcome there, but still it is NOT the ”posh” kind of café one might think of, imagining steaming Caffè macchiato´s with small taste chocolates on the side, on the contrary, VERY “plain” and simple as it is.

 

But lately, in the early hours of the morning, I have passed it meeting an old lady sitting outside drinking coffe. The first time I passed her she smiled, and said I looked lovely. Of cause I smiled back warmly... But again this time she greeted me through the window as i passed :o) Perhaps I will stop next time passing by, dropping in for a coffee... that would be fun and she seems like that, white haired, sweet, smiling, kind, old sort of lady, that very likely lack any trace of prejudice!?

 

Hmm... I thought, walking around the corner of my street, towards the stairways to my apartment. As one of my neighbors, a tall, pretty humky macho kind of man, walks out the staircase and turns in my direction walking towards me.... I couldn´t really greet him, as he would probably not have recognize me ( I wouldn't have). So I just passed him thinking, that if it was me, I would turn around and seeing me walking into the same staircase, not ringing the bell, but using a key!?

 

If I was that guy, seeing me walking up my stairs in a see through pink raincoat, wearing this outfit underneath..... I would think to myself... “Who the FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK was that!!!!” ;o)

     

as a part-time model wearing the outfit designed by silver shining workshop ;)

Cove is a 20 minute drive from my home in Aberdeen Scotland, it was a pleasure to visit today and capture the tranquility that it presented.

 

Cove Bay is a suburb on the south-east edge of Aberdeen, Scotland.

 

Today Cove is home to over 7000 people. It is a popular residential location owing to its extremely village-like status.

 

It is a quiet suburb just at the edge of the City and in 2015 won the Silver award for Scotland in bloom. Nearby Altens and Tullos Industrial Estates, affording ample employment opportunities.

 

History

Cove Bay is situated to the east of the ancient Causey Mounth, which road was built on high ground to make passable this only available medieval route from coastal points south from Stonehaven to Aberdeen.

 

This ancient trackway specifically connected the River Dee crossing (where the Bridge of Dee is located) via Portlethen Moss, Muchalls Castle and Stonehaven to the south.

 

The route was that taken by William Keith, 7th Earl Marischal and the Marquess of Montrose, who led a Covenanter army of 9000 men in the battle of the Civil War in 1639.

 

Cove Bay was a village in the extreme north-east corner of Kincardine, governed from Stonehaven, until 1975, when it was added to the City of Aberdeen. Though simply referred to as Cove, in the 19th and early 20th centuries it was known as The Cove, becoming Cove Bay around 1912.

 

Industry

Cove has been noted for industries such as granite, which was quarried in several locations to the south of the village. Owing to its close-grained texture, Cove granite was one of the hardest in north-east Scotland and proved highly resistant to frost, making it ideal for causeway stones used in the construction of roads. It was widely exported to cities in England, including Billingsgate Market in London.

 

Fishing

The village itself sprung up around the fishing industry, with the boats berthed on a shingle beach, a gap in the rocks that afforded a natural harbour. During this time, it is estimated that approximately 300 people lived in the area. In the mid 19th century the fishing was at its height, which, over years, has included cod, haddock, salmon, herring and shellfish. The piers and breakwater were constructed in 1878. At the end of World War I the fishing began to decline. At present only a couple of boats pursue shellfish on a part-time basis.

 

Between 1894 and 1937, Cove also housed a fishmeal factory, the Aberdeen Fish Meal Factory, which was located at the edge of the cliffs. It produced quality manure which was exported to both Europe and America. It became locally known as "the stinker" because of the processing odour, which was highlighted by the Aberdeen entertainer Harry Gordon in a parody entitled A Song of Cove.

 

Amenities

Retail

 

Cove has just had a brand new Co-operative built just off of Earnshugh Circle.

To the west of Loirston Road is the Cove Shopping Centre, which overlooks Loirston Primary School. This houses a pharmacist, the Wee China Chinese takeaway/Chip shop, Ruby Tuesdays beauty salon and the Harr Rock cafe (Cove's second).

 

Within the new development of cove a local Sainsbury's has opened. There is also the Harr Rock Cafe (the first one), a hairdressers and a gift shop within the new development.

 

There are also 2 RS McColl newsagents. One located at Bervie Brow in Altens, and a second located on the corner of Loirston Road and Cove Road which also houses a Post Office.

 

Hospitality

The Cove Bay hotel is located on Colsea Road. There is also The Aberdeen Altens Hotel in Altens, which has 216 bedrooms, making it the largest of the three Thistle Hotels in Aberdeen.

 

There is also a pub, the Langdykes which now has an Indian restaurant situated inside called The Curry lounge which you can sit in or take away.

 

Transport

Bus services to and from Cove and the wider area of Aberdeen are available. These are run by First Aberdeen with the numbers 3 (to Mastrick) and the 18 to Dyce, via Kincorth. Stagecoach also cover cove partially, with numbers 7A & 8 (Both to the City Centre).

 

Healthcare

Cove Bay has its own medical centre, the Cove Bay Medical Centre. It was originally located on Catto Walk, but moved to a new facility off Earns Hugh Road. Cove Dental Care has since moved into the old surgery building.

 

Sport

Cove is currently home to two football teams: Cove Rangers, who currently play in the Highland Football League, they temporarily play in Harlow Park, Inverurie, as their old home Allan park was demolished to make way for housing. Cove Thistle, who hold amateur status. Sunday amateur team Cove Revolution folded in 2010.

 

There are also many youth teams in the area that are run by Cove Youth FC. The Cove Youth FC area SFA credited community club, organizing players from 6 years old up to 19 years old. They also have a girls section. The Cove Community Football Trust is run by Cove Rangers FC, Cove Thistle FC and Cove Youth FC.

 

Other Amenities

A state-of-the-art library was recently built between Loirston Primary School and the Cove Shopping Centre. There are blueprints for a local sports centre to also be built in the near future.

 

Education

Cove has two primary schools, Charleston Primary School and Loirston Primary School. Most secondary pupils attend the nearby Kincorth Academy, but some choose to go to Portlethen Academy.

 

Future Developments

Aberdeen Gateway[edit]

Construction on a new Aberdeen Gateway industrial development began in 2008. It will see new offices and industrial units built to the south of the village. Current tenants at the site include National Oilwell Varco (NOV), Driving Standards Agency and Hydrasun. A Community football pitch is also inlcluded within the development.

 

Cove Academy

Plans for a secondary school in Cove have now been approved and will be situated alongside Wellington Road. It is thought that once this is built pupils from Cove, Torry as well as Kincorth will attend this school.

Amesville, Ohio Is A Small Village In Athens County. The Village Marshal Is Part Time And Also The Police Chief Of Nearby Coolville Ohio. This Crown Vic Isn't Equipped With A Radar, Computer Or Cage.

So the guy is called Akira Yasuko. Martial arts master and part time assassin wanted globally. On top of that, he's the reining champ of a tournament in Japan. There's a good way to get under the Yakuza's skin. Fuck up their work on their home field AND dethrone their poster boy. But first I had to find a means to get to Japan. Which meant a meeting with my dear old friend Linda. I brought Shade and Zulu along, all of us out of costume. When I dropped the helmet in front of them, Zulu wasn't too surprised since she doesn't even know who I am, but apparently Shade's my neighbor. Huh. Never really payed attention to my neighbors except for Abe and Mike, so I must have forgotten about him. Anyway, Linda's office was in Gotham's Financial District. A private office a few stories up. A nice office too. I like those walls...

 

"Hey Mrs. Ta-- Linda..."

 

"Jerrick? What are you doing here? And...who are these people?"

 

"Well, I need a private flight to Japan for 3, and these people! Well, this lovely lady is, uh...a trainee of mine! And this dashing bastard is...is a childhood friend I reunited with!"

 

"Japan?"

 

"Yeah!..."

 

"Okay, you don't train people, and you have no childhood friends. Or a childhood to start with."

 

"Twist the knife a bit more."

 

"Seriously, your bullshit tales are usually much more convicing than this. What the hell are you doing?"

 

"It's legit, I swear! There's this badass World Martial Arts Tournament in Tokyo I wanna take part in. These guys want in too!"

 

"And who the hell are these guys? And this time, the real answer please."

 

"*sigh* Alright, they're shitbag-killing vigilantes like moi. We're going to Japan beause we all have bones to pick with the Yakuza."

 

"Are you fucking kidding me? You want me to fart out a private flight just so you can take some of your costumed buddies along to fight an Asian mob?"

 

"And the Tournament! The current champ is a Yakuza Assassin. How Badass is that? And it's a fucking World Tournament!"

 

"Jerrick, I--"

 

"WORLD TOURNAMENT!"

 

She glares at me for a bit while a stand there with the stupidest smile on my face. I'm just being nice right now. I'm her boss so she basically has to give me this flight. And lo and behold...

 

"You...you fly next week, alright? Jesus Christ...."

 

"FUCK YEAH! Linda, I love you! Did I ever remind you of the considerable quanities of ass you kick?"

 

"Jerrick, get the hell outta my office...."

 

Well, that's one problem down. Now I just need to worry about another flight. A flight that'll ship some more "special" luggage. Arnie's always been easy to convince, though. So I guess he's our next stop. As we walk out of the building, Zuu catches my attention.

 

"Pretty happy people you work with."

 

"This was a good day for her, too."

  

one more from Lower Antelope Canyon while my work connection is screwed up :-)

 

B l a c k M a g i c

 

www.tomdimatteo.com

more drawerings from the factory...

-i was secretly hoping no kids would show up to my after school art class in hamtramck

 

-i was feeling super tired and sneezy and sniffly (is that a word?)

 

-i was thinking "only 4 more hours til the debate"

 

....and then at 5:05 my students walked in. class was not cancelled. but it was ok. cute kids. it's gonna be ok afterall.

 

now off to the bar to watch the debate. look out sarah. i'm already embarrassed for her. lol

I'd ducked out of work to try get a quick shot of the hazy and muted sunset against the cobblestones of Romilly Street and looking around Stefania stood out of the crowd with a shock of bright red hair atop her curly locks which apparently was a new hair-do which since i was shooting against the sun, i really didn't do justice to as you can barely make it out in the photo. Stefania's a part time model, originally from Italy.

This picture is #9 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin [nb 1] (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.

 

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. Gagarin later served as the deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre, which was subsequently named after him. He was elected as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union in 1962 and then to the Soviet of Nationalities, respectively the lower and upper chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Gagarin died in 1968 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 and education

2 Soviet Air Force service

3 Soviet space program

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 and monuments

7.4 50th anniversary

8 See also

9 Notes

10 References

10.1 Sources

11 Further reading

12 External links

 

Early life and education

 

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.[nb 2][4] Yuri was the third of four children: his siblings were brothers Valentin (1924) and Boris (1936), and sister Zoya (1927).[5][6]

 

Like millions of Soviet Union citizens, the Gagarin family suffered during the Nazi occupation of Russia 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. The family were allowed to build a mud hut approximately 3 by 3 metres (10 by 10 ft) inside on the land behind their house, where they spent twenty-one months until the end of the occupation.[7] 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.[5][8] In 1946, the family moved to Gzhatsk, where Gagarin continued his secondary education.[7]

 

In 1950, aged 16, Gagarin began an apprenticeship as a foundryman at the Lyubertsy steel plant near Moscow,[5][8] and enrolled at a local "young workers" school for seventh-grade evening classes.[9] After graduating in 1951 from both the seventh grade and the vocational school with honours in mouldmaking and foundry work,[9] he was selected for further training at the Saratov Industrial Technical School, where he studied tractors.[5][8][10] 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.[8][10] He earned extra money as a part-time dock labourer on the Volga River.[7]

Soviet Air Force service

 

In 1955, Gagarin was accepted to the 1st Chkalovsky Higher Air Force Pilots School, a flight school in Orenburg.[11][12] He initially began training on the Yak-18 already familiar to him and later graduated to training on the MiG-15 in February 1956.[11] 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,[13] Gagarin began flying solo in 1957.[5]

 

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 airbase close to the Norwegian border in Murmansk Oblast for a two-year assignment with the Northern Fleet.[14] On 7 July 1959, he was rated Military Pilot 3rd Class.[15] After expressing interest in space exploration following the launch of Luna 3 on 6 October 1959, his recommendation to the Soviet space program was endorsed and forward by Lieutenant Colonel Babushkin.[14][16] By this point, he had accumulated 265 hours of flight time.[14] Gagarin was promoted to the rank of senior lieutenant on 6 November 1959,[15] three weeks after he was interviewed by a medical commission for qualification to the space program.[14]

Soviet space program

Selection and training

See also: Vostok programme

Vostok I capsule on display at the RKK Energiya museum

 

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.[17]

 

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.[18] Gagarin began training at the Khodynka Airfield in downtown Moscow on 15 March 1960. The training regiment involved vigorous and repetitive physical exercises which Alexei Leonov, a member of the initial group of twelve, described as akin to training for the Olympics Games.[19] In April 1960, they began parachute training in Saratov Oblast and each completed about 40 to 50 jumps from both low and high altitude, and over land and water.[20]

 

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.[21] One of these candidates, Yevgeny Khrunov, believed that Gagarin was very focused and was demanding of himself and others when necessary.[22] On 30 May 1960, Gagarin was further selected for an accelerated training group, known as the Vanguard Six or Sochi Six,[23][nb 3] 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.[25]

 

As several of the candidates selected for the program including Gagarin did not have higher education degrees, they were enrolled into a correspondence course program at Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. Gagarin enrolled in the program in September 1960 and did not earn his specialist diploma until early 1968.[26][27] 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.[28][25] Psychological tests included placing the candidates in an anechoic chamber in complete isolation; Gagarin was in the chamber on July 26 – August 5.[29][20] 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.[21]

 

The Vanguard Six were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961[25] and entered a two-day examination conducted by a special interdepartmental commission led Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kamanin, tasked with ranking of the candidates based on their mission readiness for the first human Vostok mission. On 17 January 1961, 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 commission.[22] On the second day, they were given a written examination following which the special commission ranked Gagarin as the best candidate the first mission. He and the next two highest-ranked cosmonauts, Titov and Nelyubov, were sent to Tyuratam for final preparations.[22] Gagarin and Titov were selected to train in the flight-ready spacecraft on 7 April 1961. Historian Asif Siddiqi writes of the final selection:[30]

 

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!

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Gagarin's voice

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On 12 April 1961, 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).[31] 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.[32][33]

 

Gagarin's farewell to Korolev using the informal phrase Poyekhali! (Russian: Поехали!)[nb 4] later became a popular expression in the Eastern Bloc that was used to refer to the beginning of the Space Age.[35][36] 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.[37] Gagarin became the first to orbit the Earth.[31]

File:1961-04-19 First Pictures-Yuri Gagarin-selection.ogvPlay media

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.[38] He also wrote in his autobiography released the same year that he sang the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows" (Russian: "Родина слышит, Родина знает") during re-entry.[39] Gagarin was qualified a Military Pilot 1st Class and promoted to the rank of major in a special order given during his flight.[15][39]

 

At about 23,000 feet (7,000 m), Gagarin ejected from the descending capsule as planned and landed using a parachute. 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.[40] Gagarin and Soviet officials initially refused to admit that he had not landed with his spacecraft,[41] 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 it rules, and acknowledge 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.[42]

After the Vostok 1 flight

Gagarin in Warsaw, 1961

 

Gagarin's flight was a triumph for the Soviet space program 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 World War II Victory Parades.[43]

Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova (seated to his right) sign autographs in 1964

 

Gagarin gained a reputation as an adept public figure and was noted for his charismatic smile.[44][45][46] On 15 April 1961, accompanied by official from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, he answered questions at a press conference in Moscow reportedly attended by 1,000 reporters.[47] Gagarin visited the United Kingdom three months after the Vostok 1 mission, going to London and Manchester.[48][44] 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.[44][49] Gagarin toured widely abroad, accepting the invitation of about 30 countries.[50] In just the first four months, he also went to Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, and Iceland.[51]

 

In 1962, Gagarin began serving as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union,[52] 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.[15] On 20 December 1963, Gagarin became Deputy Training Director of the Star City cosmonaut training base.[53] Soviet officials, including cosmonaut overseerer Nikolai 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".[54] 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.[5][10]

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.[52] The following year, he began to re-qualify as a fighter pilot[55] 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.[56]

 

The Soyuz 1 launch was rushed due to implicit political pressures[57] and despite Gagarin's protests that additional safety precautions were necessary.[58] Gagarin accompanied Komarov to the rocket before launch and relayed instructions to Komarov from ground control following multiple system failures aboard the spacecraft.[59] Despite their best efforts, Soyuz 1 crash landed after its parachutes failed to open, killing Komarov instantly.[60] After the Soyuz 1 crash, Gagarin was permanently banned from training for and participating in further spaceflights.[61] 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.[62] On 17 February 1968, Gagarin successfully defended his aerospace engineering thesis on the subject of spaceplane aerodynamic configuration and graduated cum laude from Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.[27][63][62]

Personal life

Gagarin and his wife Valentina clapping at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

Gagarin and his wife Valentina at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

 

Gagarin was a keen sportsman and fond of ice hockey as a goal keeper.[64] He was also a basketball fan and coached the Saratov Industrial Technical School team, as well as being a referee.[65]

 

In 1957, while a cadet in flight school, Gagarin met Valentina Goryacheva at the May Day celebrations at the Red Square in Moscow.[66] She was a medical technician who graduated from Orenburg Medical School.[8][10] They were married on 7 November 1957,[8] the same day Gagarin graduated from Orenburg, and they had two daughters.[67][68] Yelena Yurievna Gagarina, born 1959,[68] is an art historian who has worked as the director-general of the Moscow Kremlin Museums since 2001;[69][70] and Galina Yurievna Gagarina, born 1961,[68] is a professor of economics and the department chair at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow.[69][71] 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.[5][10]

Death

Plaque on a brick wall with inscription: Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин, 1934-03-09–1968-03-27

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 were buried in the walls of the Kremlin.[72] Wrapped in secrecy, the cause of the crash that killed Gagarin is uncertain and became the subject of several theories.[73][74] At least three investigations into the crash were conducted separately by the Air Force, official government commissions, and the KGB.[75][76] 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."[75]

 

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.[76] 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.[73] 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.[74]

 

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.[77] 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 manoeuvered 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".[78]

A Russian MiG-15UTI, the same type as Gagarin was flying

 

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, 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.[79] In a June 2013 interview with Russian television network RT, Leonov said a report on the incident confirmed the presence of a second, "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.[80]

Awards and honours

Medals and orders of merit

Jânio Quadros, President of Brazil, decorated Gagarin in 1961.

 

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,[81][82] Order of Lenin,[81] Merited Master of Sports of the Soviet Union[83] and the first Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.[82] On 15 April, the Soviet Academy of Sciences awarded him with the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal, named after the Russian pioneer of space aeronautics.[84] Gagarin had also been awarded four Soviet commemorative medals over the course of his career.[15]

 

He was honoured as a Hero of Socialist Labor (Czechoslovakia) on 29 April 1961,[85][86] and Hero of Socialist Labor (Bulgaria, including the Order of Georgi Dimitrov) on 24 May.[15][chronology citation needed] On the eighth anniversary of the beginning of 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.[87]

 

Gagarin was also awarded the 1960 Gold Air Medal and the 1961 De la Vaulx Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Switzerland.[88] 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,[15] the Italian Columbus Day Medal,[89] and a Gold Medal from the British Interplanetary Society.[90][91] President Jânio Quadros of Brazil decorated Gagarin on 2 August 1961 with the Order of Aeronautical Merit, Commander grade.[92] During a tour of Egypt in late January 1962, Gagarin received the Order of the Nile[93] and the golden keys to the gates of Cairo.[50] On 22 October 1963, Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova were honoured with the Order of Karl Marx from the German Democratic Republic.[94]

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.[95] Since 2000, Yuri's Night, an international celebration, is held annually to commemorate milestones in space exploration.[96] In 2011, it was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight by the United Nations.[97]

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, Russia, was named on 30 April 1968.[98] 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 Gagarin Air Force Academy in 1968.[99] A street in Warsaw, Poland, is called Yuri Gagarin Street.[100] The town of Gagarin, Armenia was renamed in his honour in 1961.[101]

 

Gagarin has been honoured on the Moon by astronauts and astronomers. During the American space program's Apollo 11 mission in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left a memorial satchel containing medals commemorating Gagarin and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov on the Moon's surface.[102][103] 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.[104][105] In 1970, a 262 km (163 mi)-wide crater on the far side after him.[106] Gagarin was inducted as a member of the 1976 inaugural class of the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico.[107]

 

Gagarin is memorialised in music; a cycle of Soviet patriotic songs titled The Constellation Gagarin (Russian: Созвездье Гагарина, tr. Sozvezdie Gagarina) was written by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov in 1970–1971.[108] The most famous of these songs refers to Gagarin's poyekhali!: in the lyrics, "He said 'let's go!' He waved his hand".[35][108] 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.[109]

Russian ten-ruble commemorating Gagarin in 2001

 

Vessels have been named for Gagarin; Soviet tracking ship Kosmonavt Yuri Gagarin was built in 1971[110] and the Armenian airline Armavia named their first Sukhoi Superjet 100 in his honour in 2011.[111]

 

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.[112] 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.[113]

 

In 2008, the Kontinental Hockey League named their championship trophy the Gagarin Cup.[114] In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Gagarin was ranked as the sixth-most-popular space hero, tied with Star Trek's fictional James T. Kirk.[115] 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.[116]

Statues and monuments

 

There are statues of Gagarin and monuments to him located in Gagarin (Smolensk Oblast), 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.[117] 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.[118]

Bust of Gagarin at Birla Planetarium in Kolkata, India

 

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.[119] In 2013, the statue was moved to a permanent location outside the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.[120]

 

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 artist and cosmonaut Alexei Leonov and was a gift to Houston by various Russian organisations. Houston Mayor Annise Parker, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were present for the dedication.[121][122] 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.[123]

 

In April 2018, a bust of Gagarin erected on the street in Belgrade, Serbia, that bears his name was removed, after less than 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.[124][125] 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.[126]

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.[127] 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.[128]

 

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 the first manned space mission.

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin [nb 1] (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.

 

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. Gagarin later served as the deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre, which was subsequently named after him. He was elected as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union in 1962 and then to the Soviet of Nationalities, respectively the lower and upper chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Gagarin died in 1968 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 and education

2 Soviet Air Force service

3 Soviet space program

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 and monuments

7.4 50th anniversary

8 See also

9 Notes

10 References

10.1 Sources

11 Further reading

12 External links

 

Early life and education

 

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.[nb 2][4] Yuri was the third of four children: his siblings were brothers Valentin (1924) and Boris (1936), and sister Zoya (1927).[5][6]

 

Like millions of Soviet Union citizens, the Gagarin family suffered during the Nazi occupation of Russia 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. The family were allowed to build a mud hut approximately 3 by 3 metres (10 by 10 ft) inside on the land behind their house, where they spent twenty-one months until the end of the occupation.[7] 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.[5][8] In 1946, the family moved to Gzhatsk, where Gagarin continued his secondary education.[7]

 

In 1950, aged 16, Gagarin began an apprenticeship as a foundryman at the Lyubertsy steel plant near Moscow,[5][8] and enrolled at a local "young workers" school for seventh-grade evening classes.[9] After graduating in 1951 from both the seventh grade and the vocational school with honours in mouldmaking and foundry work,[9] he was selected for further training at the Saratov Industrial Technical School, where he studied tractors.[5][8][10] 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.[8][10] He earned extra money as a part-time dock labourer on the Volga River.[7]

Soviet Air Force service

 

In 1955, Gagarin was accepted to the 1st Chkalovsky Higher Air Force Pilots School, a flight school in Orenburg.[11][12] He initially began training on the Yak-18 already familiar to him and later graduated to training on the MiG-15 in February 1956.[11] 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,[13] Gagarin began flying solo in 1957.[5]

 

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 airbase close to the Norwegian border in Murmansk Oblast for a two-year assignment with the Northern Fleet.[14] On 7 July 1959, he was rated Military Pilot 3rd Class.[15] After expressing interest in space exploration following the launch of Luna 3 on 6 October 1959, his recommendation to the Soviet space program was endorsed and forward by Lieutenant Colonel Babushkin.[14][16] By this point, he had accumulated 265 hours of flight time.[14] Gagarin was promoted to the rank of senior lieutenant on 6 November 1959,[15] three weeks after he was interviewed by a medical commission for qualification to the space program.[14]

Soviet space program

Selection and training

See also: Vostok programme

Vostok I capsule on display at the RKK Energiya museum

 

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.[17]

 

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.[18] Gagarin began training at the Khodynka Airfield in downtown Moscow on 15 March 1960. The training regiment involved vigorous and repetitive physical exercises which Alexei Leonov, a member of the initial group of twelve, described as akin to training for the Olympics Games.[19] In April 1960, they began parachute training in Saratov Oblast and each completed about 40 to 50 jumps from both low and high altitude, and over land and water.[20]

 

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.[21] One of these candidates, Yevgeny Khrunov, believed that Gagarin was very focused and was demanding of himself and others when necessary.[22] On 30 May 1960, Gagarin was further selected for an accelerated training group, known as the Vanguard Six or Sochi Six,[23][nb 3] 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.[25]

 

As several of the candidates selected for the program including Gagarin did not have higher education degrees, they were enrolled into a correspondence course program at Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. Gagarin enrolled in the program in September 1960 and did not earn his specialist diploma until early 1968.[26][27] 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.[28][25] Psychological tests included placing the candidates in an anechoic chamber in complete isolation; Gagarin was in the chamber on July 26 – August 5.[29][20] 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.[21]

 

The Vanguard Six were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961[25] and entered a two-day examination conducted by a special interdepartmental commission led Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kamanin, tasked with ranking of the candidates based on their mission readiness for the first human Vostok mission. On 17 January 1961, 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 commission.[22] On the second day, they were given a written examination following which the special commission ranked Gagarin as the best candidate the first mission. He and the next two highest-ranked cosmonauts, Titov and Nelyubov, were sent to Tyuratam for final preparations.[22] Gagarin and Titov were selected to train in the flight-ready spacecraft on 7 April 1961. Historian Asif Siddiqi writes of the final selection:[30]

 

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!

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Gagarin's voice

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On 12 April 1961, 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).[31] 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.[32][33]

 

Gagarin's farewell to Korolev using the informal phrase Poyekhali! (Russian: Поехали!)[nb 4] later became a popular expression in the Eastern Bloc that was used to refer to the beginning of the Space Age.[35][36] 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.[37] Gagarin became the first to orbit the Earth.[31]

File:1961-04-19 First Pictures-Yuri Gagarin-selection.ogvPlay media

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.[38] He also wrote in his autobiography released the same year that he sang the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows" (Russian: "Родина слышит, Родина знает") during re-entry.[39] Gagarin was qualified a Military Pilot 1st Class and promoted to the rank of major in a special order given during his flight.[15][39]

 

At about 23,000 feet (7,000 m), Gagarin ejected from the descending capsule as planned and landed using a parachute. 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.[40] Gagarin and Soviet officials initially refused to admit that he had not landed with his spacecraft,[41] 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 it rules, and acknowledge 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.[42]

After the Vostok 1 flight

Gagarin in Warsaw, 1961

 

Gagarin's flight was a triumph for the Soviet space program 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 World War II Victory Parades.[43]

Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova (seated to his right) sign autographs in 1964

 

Gagarin gained a reputation as an adept public figure and was noted for his charismatic smile.[44][45][46] On 15 April 1961, accompanied by official from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, he answered questions at a press conference in Moscow reportedly attended by 1,000 reporters.[47] Gagarin visited the United Kingdom three months after the Vostok 1 mission, going to London and Manchester.[48][44] 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.[44][49] Gagarin toured widely abroad, accepting the invitation of about 30 countries.[50] In just the first four months, he also went to Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, and Iceland.[51]

 

In 1962, Gagarin began serving as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union,[52] 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.[15] On 20 December 1963, Gagarin became Deputy Training Director of the Star City cosmonaut training base.[53] Soviet officials, including cosmonaut overseerer Nikolai 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".[54] 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.[5][10]

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.[52] The following year, he began to re-qualify as a fighter pilot[55] 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.[56]

 

The Soyuz 1 launch was rushed due to implicit political pressures[57] and despite Gagarin's protests that additional safety precautions were necessary.[58] Gagarin accompanied Komarov to the rocket before launch and relayed instructions to Komarov from ground control following multiple system failures aboard the spacecraft.[59] Despite their best efforts, Soyuz 1 crash landed after its parachutes failed to open, killing Komarov instantly.[60] After the Soyuz 1 crash, Gagarin was permanently banned from training for and participating in further spaceflights.[61] 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.[62] On 17 February 1968, Gagarin successfully defended his aerospace engineering thesis on the subject of spaceplane aerodynamic configuration and graduated cum laude from Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.[27][63][62]

Personal life

Gagarin and his wife Valentina clapping at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

Gagarin and his wife Valentina at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

 

Gagarin was a keen sportsman and fond of ice hockey as a goal keeper.[64] He was also a basketball fan and coached the Saratov Industrial Technical School team, as well as being a referee.[65]

 

In 1957, while a cadet in flight school, Gagarin met Valentina Goryacheva at the May Day celebrations at the Red Square in Moscow.[66] She was a medical technician who graduated from Orenburg Medical School.[8][10] They were married on 7 November 1957,[8] the same day Gagarin graduated from Orenburg, and they had two daughters.[67][68] Yelena Yurievna Gagarina, born 1959,[68] is an art historian who has worked as the director-general of the Moscow Kremlin Museums since 2001;[69][70] and Galina Yurievna Gagarina, born 1961,[68] is a professor of economics and the department chair at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow.[69][71] 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.[5][10]

Death

Plaque on a brick wall with inscription: Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин, 1934-03-09–1968-03-27

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 were buried in the walls of the Kremlin.[72] Wrapped in secrecy, the cause of the crash that killed Gagarin is uncertain and became the subject of several theories.[73][74] At least three investigations into the crash were conducted separately by the Air Force, official government commissions, and the KGB.[75][76] 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."[75]

 

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.[76] 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.[73] 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.[74]

 

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.[77] 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 manoeuvered 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".[78]

A Russian MiG-15UTI, the same type as Gagarin was flying

 

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, 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.[79] In a June 2013 interview with Russian television network RT, Leonov said a report on the incident confirmed the presence of a second, "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.[80]

Awards and honours

Medals and orders of merit

Jânio Quadros, President of Brazil, decorated Gagarin in 1961.

 

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,[81][82] Order of Lenin,[81] Merited Master of Sports of the Soviet Union[83] and the first Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.[82] On 15 April, the Soviet Academy of Sciences awarded him with the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal, named after the Russian pioneer of space aeronautics.[84] Gagarin had also been awarded four Soviet commemorative medals over the course of his career.[15]

 

He was honoured as a Hero of Socialist Labor (Czechoslovakia) on 29 April 1961,[85][86] and Hero of Socialist Labor (Bulgaria, including the Order of Georgi Dimitrov) on 24 May.[15][chronology citation needed] On the eighth anniversary of the beginning of 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.[87]

 

Gagarin was also awarded the 1960 Gold Air Medal and the 1961 De la Vaulx Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Switzerland.[88] 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,[15] the Italian Columbus Day Medal,[89] and a Gold Medal from the British Interplanetary Society.[90][91] President Jânio Quadros of Brazil decorated Gagarin on 2 August 1961 with the Order of Aeronautical Merit, Commander grade.[92] During a tour of Egypt in late January 1962, Gagarin received the Order of the Nile[93] and the golden keys to the gates of Cairo.[50] On 22 October 1963, Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova were honoured with the Order of Karl Marx from the German Democratic Republic.[94]

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.[95] Since 2000, Yuri's Night, an international celebration, is held annually to commemorate milestones in space exploration.[96] In 2011, it was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight by the United Nations.[97]

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, Russia, was named on 30 April 1968.[98] 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 Gagarin Air Force Academy in 1968.[99] A street in Warsaw, Poland, is called Yuri Gagarin Street.[100] The town of Gagarin, Armenia was renamed in his honour in 1961.[101]

 

Gagarin has been honoured on the Moon by astronauts and astronomers. During the American space program's Apollo 11 mission in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left a memorial satchel containing medals commemorating Gagarin and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov on the Moon's surface.[102][103] 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.[104][105] In 1970, a 262 km (163 mi)-wide crater on the far side after him.[106] Gagarin was inducted as a member of the 1976 inaugural class of the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico.[107]

 

Gagarin is memorialised in music; a cycle of Soviet patriotic songs titled The Constellation Gagarin (Russian: Созвездье Гагарина, tr. Sozvezdie Gagarina) was written by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov in 1970–1971.[108] The most famous of these songs refers to Gagarin's poyekhali!: in the lyrics, "He said 'let's go!' He waved his hand".[35][108] 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.[109]

Russian ten-ruble commemorating Gagarin in 2001

 

Vessels have been named for Gagarin; Soviet tracking ship Kosmonavt Yuri Gagarin was built in 1971[110] and the Armenian airline Armavia named their first Sukhoi Superjet 100 in his honour in 2011.[111]

 

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.[112] 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.[113]

 

In 2008, the Kontinental Hockey League named their championship trophy the Gagarin Cup.[114] In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Gagarin was ranked as the sixth-most-popular space hero, tied with Star Trek's fictional James T. Kirk.[115] 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.[116]

Statues and monuments

 

There are statues of Gagarin and monuments to him located in Gagarin (Smolensk Oblast), 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.[117] 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.[118]

Bust of Gagarin at Birla Planetarium in Kolkata, India

 

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.[119] In 2013, the statue was moved to a permanent location outside the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.[120]

 

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 artist and cosmonaut Alexei Leonov and was a gift to Houston by various Russian organisations. Houston Mayor Annise Parker, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were present for the dedication.[121][122] 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.[123]

 

In April 2018, a bust of Gagarin erected on the street in Belgrade, Serbia, that bears his name was removed, after less than 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.[124][125] 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.[126]

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.[127] 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.[128]

 

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 the first manned space mission.

GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES VICTIMS OF CRIME ACT (VOCA)

PROGRAM GRANT AWARDS

  

Charleston – Governor Earl Ray Tomblin announced on Wednesday, October 28, 2015, that he has awarded $3,463,389. in Victims of Crime Act Assistance (VOCA) sub-grant funds to fifty-seven (57) public and private non-profit agencies throughout the State.

The Victims of Crime Act Victim Assistance Grant Program funds will provide direct services, such as counseling, personal advocacy, court advocacy, client transportation and support services to victims of crimes including domestic violence, sexual violence, child abuse, and elderly abuse. The funds will also finance assistance to victims as they move through the criminal justice system.

These funds are awarded from the U. S. Department of Justice, the Office of Justice Programs of the U. S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime, and these funds are administered by the West Virginia Division of Justice and Community Services.

Funds were awarded to the following:

BROOKE, HANCOCK

A Child's Place CASA, Ltd. $14,500.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a part-time CASA Volunteer Coordinator to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Brooke and Hancock Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Rhonda Stubbs

Phone: (304) 737-4444

Email: childsplacecasa@comcast.net

 

CABELL

 

Cabell County Commission $77,383.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of three full-time Victim Advocates in the Cabell County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Cabell County.

 

Contact:Mr. Sean K. Hammers

Phone: (304) 526-8653

Email: shammers@cabellcounty.org

 

CABELL, WAYNE, KANAWHA

 

TEAM for West Virginia Children, Inc. $75,466.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time CASA Coordinator for Cabell County, a Cabell/Wayne CASA Volunteer Coordinator, and a Kanawha Volunteer Coordinator to provide direct services to child abuse and neglect victims in Cabell, Wayne, and Kanawha Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Kim Runyon Wilds

Phone: (304) 523-9587

Email: kwilds@teamwv.org

 

CABELL, WAYNE, LINCOLN

 

Family Service a Division of Goodwill Industries of KYOWVA Area, Inc. $57,048.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of three part-time Victim Therapists to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse in Cabell, Lincoln, and Wayne Counties.

 

Contact:Mr. Alan C. Cole MA, LPC

Phone: (304) 523-9454

Email: acole@goodwillhunting.org

 

CABELL, WAYNE, MASON, LINCOLN

 

CONTACT Huntington, Inc. $30,264.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate to provide direct services to victims of sexual assault in Cabell, Wayne, Lincoln, and Mason Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Sharon Pressman

Phone: (304) 523-3447

Email: execdirector@contacthuntington.com

 

CABELL, WAYNE, PUTNAM, LINCOLN, MASON

 

Branches Domestic Violence Shelter, Inc. $177,503.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Adult Counselor, a Mason County Advocate, a Putnam County Advocate, a Lincoln County Advocate, and a porition of the salary for a full-time Wayne County Outreach Advocate to provide direct services to domestic violence victims.

 

Contact:Ms. Amanda McComas

Phone: (304) 529-2382

Email: mccomas@branchesdvs.org

  

GREENBRIER, MONROE, POCAHONTAS

 

Family Refuge Center $79,088.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of the full-time Lead Shelter Advocate, a Shelter Advocate, an Overnight Monitor, and an Outreach Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in Greenbrier, Monroe, and Pocahontas Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Kenosha Davenport

Phone: (304) 645-6334

Email: kenoshad@familyrefugecenter.org

 

GREENBRIER, POCAHONTAS, SUMMERS

 

CASA of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, WV, Inc. $11,623.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the part-time salary of a Volunteer Coordinator to provide direct services to victims of child abuse in Greenbrier, Summers, and Pocahontas Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Jenny Castle

Phone: (304) 645-5437

Email: casa11c@live.com

 

HANCOCK, BROOKE

 

CHANGE, Inc. $54,245.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate and part-time Victim Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence in Brooke and Hancock Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Debra Fair

Phone: (304) 748-0332

Email: dfair@changeinc.org

 

HANCOCK, BROOKE, OHIO

 

Hancock County Commission $105,661.00

These funds will provide for the full-time salaries of a Hancock County Advocate, a Brooke County Advocate, and a portion of the salary of a full-time Ohio County Advocate to provide direct services to crime victims in Hancock, Brooke, and Ohio Counties.

 

Contact:Mr. Michael Traubert

Phone: (304) 234-3896

Email: Jgruberva@yahoo.com

  

HARRISON

 

Harrison County CASA Program, Inc. $40,730.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time Volunteer Advocate and the Program Director to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Harrison County.

 

Contact:Ms. Alisha Madia

Phone: (304) 623-5749

Email: harrisoncountycasa@frontier.com

 

JACKSON

 

Jackson County Commission $31,600.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Jackson County Sheriff's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Jackson County.

 

Contact:Sheriff Tony Boggs

Phone: (304) 373-2294

Email: tony.boggs@jacksoncountywv.com

 

CASA of the Fifth Judicial Circuit, Inc. $15,614.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of the Program Director to provide direct services to child abuse and neglect victims in Jackson County.

 

Contact:Ms. Kathie King

Phone: (304) 373-1165

Email: circuit5casawv@gmail.com

 

JACKSON, RITCHIE

 

Family Crisis Intervention Center $37,751.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time Ritchie County Advocate and part-time Jackson County Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence in Jackson and Ritchie Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Emily S. Larkins

Phone: (304) 428-2333

Email: eelarkins@suddenlink.net

 

JEFFERSON

 

Jefferson County Commission $60,623.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of two full-time Victim Advocates in the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Jefferson County.

 

Contact:Mr. Ralph A. Lorenzetti Jr.

Phone: (304) 728-3243

Email: rlorenzetti@jeffersoncountywv.org

 

JEFFERSON, BERKELEY, MORGAN

 

CASA of the Eastern Panhandle, Inc. $13,645.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a part-time Volunteer Coordinator to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Vicki L. Barnard

Phone: (304) 263-5100

Email: vicki@mycasaep.org

 

Shenandoah Women's Center, Inc. $105,582.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Berkeley County Outreach Advocate, a Morgan County Outreach Advocate, a Jefferson County Outreach Advocate and a Shelter Advocate to provide direct services to child victims, victims of domestic violence, and sexual assault in Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Pippa McCullough

Phone: (304) 263-8522

Email: executivedirector@swcinc.org

 

KANAWHA

 

Kanawha County Commission $106,827.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of two full-time Victim Advocates in the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department and two Victim Advocates in the Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Kanawha County.

 

Contact:Capt. R. P. Boone

Phone: (304) 357-2022

Email: patboone@kcso.us

City of Charleston $31,000.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Services Coordinator in the Charleston Police Department to provide direct services to crime victims in the City of Charleston.

 

Contact:Sgt. James Hunt

Phone: (304) 348-6480

Email: jahunt@charlestonwvpolice.org

 

KANAWHA, CLAY, BOONE

 

YWCA of Charleston, WV, Inc. $103,294.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Racial Justice/Court Advocate, a Boone County Coordinator, a part-time Clay County Coordinator and a portion of the salaries for a full-time Court Advocate and a Contracted Counselor to provide direct services to domestic violence victims in Kanawha, Clay, and Boone Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Pam Gillenwater

Phone: (304) 340-3554

Email: pgillenwater@ywcacharleston.org

 

KANAWHA, PUTNAM, JACKSON

 

Family Counseling Connection, Inc. $137,455.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time REACH Director and eight Victim Therapist positions and a porition of two Sexual Violence Victim Specialists to provide direct services to victims of sexual violence, child abuse, and domestic violence in Kanawha, Jackson, and Putnam Counties.

 

Contact:Mr. Frank S. Fazzolari

Phone: (304) 340-3676

Email: ffazzolari@tccwv.org

 

LEWIS

 

Lewis County Commission $35,865.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Lewis County Prosecutor's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Lewis County.

 

Contact:Ms. Christine Flanigan

Phone: (304) 269-8240

Email: Flanigan.lcpa@frontier.com

 

LOGAN

 

Logan County Commission $48,498.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time and a part-time Victim Advocate in the Logan County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Logan County.

 

Contact:Mr. John W. Bennett

Phone: (304) 792-8670

Email: jwbennett75@verizon.net

 

MARION

 

Marion County Commission $34,394.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Assistance Coordinator in the Marion County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Marion County.

 

Contact:Mr. Patrick N. Wilson

Phone: (304) 367-5380

Email: khawkins@marioncountywv.com

  

CASA of Marion County $28,083.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a Program Director to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Marion County.

 

Contact:Ms. Vesna Meinert

Phone: (304) 366-4198

Email: casaofmarion@frontier.com

 

MARION, DODDRIDGE, GILMER, HARRISON, LEWIS

 

Task Force on Domestic Violence, "HOPE, Inc." $235,328.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Lewis County Case Manger, a Harrison/Doddridge County Case Manger, a Gilmer County Case Manager and a portion of the salaries for a full-time Family Therapist, a Marion County Case Manager Specialist, a Marion County Victim Advocate, two Harrison County Victim Advocates, and a porition of the salaries for a part-time Marion County Case Manager and a part-time Children's Case Manager to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child victims in Doddridge, Gilmer, Harrison, Lewis, and Marion Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Harriet Sutton

Phone: (304) 367-1100

Email: hmsutton@hopeincwv.org

 

MARSHALL, WETZEL, TYLER, OHIO

 

CASA for Children, Inc. $29,105.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of the Program Director, a Ohio County Volunteer Coordinator, and a Volunteer Coordinator in the 2nd Circuit to provide direct services to child abuse and neglect victims in Ohio, Marshall, Tyler, and Wetzel Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Susan Harrison

Phone: (304) 810-0952

Email: executivedirector@wvcasaforchildren.com

 

MASON

 

Mason County Commission $29,667.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Mason County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Mason County.

 

Contact:Mr. R. Craig Tatterson

Phone: (304) 675-5734

Email: masonprosatty@yahoo.com

  

MCDOWELL, MERCER, WYOMING

 

Stop Abusive Family Environments, Inc., SAFE Inc. $106,060.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time McDowell County Advocate, a part-time Wyoming County Victim Advocate, and two full-time Mercer County Advocates to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child victims in McDowell, Mercer, and Wyoming Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Pat Daniels

Phone: (304) 436-8117

Email: patengland82@hotmail.com

 

MERCER

 

Child Protect of Mercer County, Inc. $35,652.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Family Advocate to provide direct services to child abuse victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Mercer County.

 

Contact:Ms. Shiloh Woodard

Phone: (304) 425-2710

Email: swoodard@mercerchildprotect.com

 

MERCER, MCDOWELL

 

ChildLaw Services, Inc. $10,068.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a part-time Victim Advocate and a part-time Counselor to provide direct services to child victims of abuse and neglect and children who witness domestic violence in Mercer and McDowell Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Catherine Bond Wallace

Phone: (304) 425-9973

Email: cathy.childlawservices@gmail.com

 

MINERAL

 

Mineral County Court Appointed Special Advocates $16,803.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a Volunteer Coordinator to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Mineral County.

 

Contact:Ms. Dayla Harvey

Phone: (304) 788-0068

Email: mincocasa@hotmail.com

  

MINERAL, GRANT, HAMPSHIRE

 

Family Crisis Center, Inc. $55,000.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time Grant County Victim Advocate, a Mineral County Advocate, and a part-time Hampshire County Victim Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence in Mineral, Grant, and Hampshire Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Sonya Fazzalore

Phone: (304) 788-6061

Email: fcc911@frontier.com

 

MINGO, LOGAN

 

Tug Valley Recovery Shelter $70,919.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Logan/Mingo County Victim Advocate, a part-time Court Advocate, a full-time Logan County Advocate and a part-time Mingo County Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child victims in Mingo and Logan Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Kimberly Ryan

Phone: (304) 235-6121

Email: k.s.ryan@hotmail.com

 

The Logan County Child Advocacy Center $10,128.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a part-time Mingo County Advocate to provide direct services to child abuse victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Mingo County.

 

Contact:Ms. Beth Cook

Phone: (304) 792-6261

Email: thelogancac@gmail.com

 

MONONGALIA

 

Monongalia County Commission $71,458.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time and two part-time Victim Assistance Coordinators in the Monongalia County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Monongalia County.

 

Contact:Ms. Marcia Ashdown

Phone: (304) 291-7250

Email: ashdown@court.state.wv.us

  

MONONGALIA, PRESTON

 

Monongalia County Youth Services Center, Inc / CASA For Kids $37,293.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time Preston County Volunteer Coordinator, a full-time Monongalia County Volunteer Coordinator, and a portion of the salary for the Program Director to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Preston and Monongalia Counties.

  

Contact:Ms. Tammy Renzelli

Phone: (304) 599-1087

Email: casadirector@hotmail.com

 

MONONGALIA, PRESTON, TAYLOR

 

The Rape & Domestic Violence Information Center, Inc.$77,094.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Victim Advocate in Monongalia County and Taylor County Victim Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse in Monongalia and Taylor Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Judy King

Phone: (304) 292-5100

Email: rdvic99@earthlink.net

 

OHIO

 

Ohio County Commission $44,832.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Assistance Coordinator in the Ohio County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Ohio County.

 

Contact:Mr. Scott R. Smith

Phone: (304) 234-3631

Email: shar4park@yahoo.com

 

OHIO, BROOKE, HANCOCK, MARSHALL, WETZEL

 

Upper Ohio Valley Sexual Assault Help Center $111,233.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Adult Victim Advocate and a Child Victim Advocate, and the part-time salaries of three Victim Advocates and a licensed counselor/therapist to provide direct services to adult and child victims of sexual assault in Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, and Wetzel Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Susan Knight

Phone: (304) 234-1783

Email: sahcexecutivedirector@gmai.com

 

OHIO, MARSHALL

 

Harmony House, Inc. $17,836.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Child and Family Advocate to provide direct services to child abuse victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Ohio and Marshall Counties.

  

Contact:Ms. Leslie Vassilaros

Phone: (304) 230-2205

Email: harmonyhousecac@yahoo.com

 

OHIO, MARSHALL, WETZEL

 

YWCA Wheeling Family Violence Prevention Program $134,441.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Child Advocate, a part-time Employment Advocate and a full-time Marshall County Advocate and a portion of the salaries of a full-time Shelter Advocate, two full-time Wetzel County Advocates, and a Ohio County Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child victims in Ohio, Marshall, and Wetzel Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Patricia Flanigan

Phone: (304) 232-2748

Email: tflanigan@ywcawheeling.org

 

PRESTON

 

Preston County Commission $28,800.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Preston County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Preston County.

 

Contact:Mr. Mel Snyder

Phone: (304) 329-1885

Email: msnyder@prestoncountywv.gov

 

PUTNAM

 

Putnam County Commission (Sheriff's Department) $30,000.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Putnam County Sheriff's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Putnam County.

 

Contact:Sheriff Steve Deweese

Phone: (304) 586-0256

Email: sdeweese@putnamwv.org

 

Putnam County Commission $46,000.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary for a full-time Victim Liaison and provide for the salary of a part-time Victim Liaison in the Putnam County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Putnam County.

 

Contact:Mr. Mark A. Sorsaia

Phone: (304) 586-0205

Email: Mark.Sorsaia@putnamwv.org

 

RALEIGH, FAYETTE, NICHOLAS, SUMMERS

 

Comprehensive Women's Service Council, Inc. $170,433.00

These funds will provide for the salaries for a full-time Shelter Advocate and an Outreach Office Advocate in Raleigh County, a full-time Nicholas County Advocate, two part-time Summers County Advocates, a part-time Counselor/Support Group Specialist, and a part-time Raleigh County Advocate in the Beckley Police Department and an Underserved Populations Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in Raleigh, Fayette, Summers, and Nicholas Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Patricia M. Bailey

Phone: (304) 255-2559

Email: pbailey@wrcwv.org

 

RANDOLPH

 

Randolph County Commission $28,577.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Services Coordinator in the Randolph County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide services to crime victims in Randolph County.

 

Contact:Mr. Michael W. Parker

Phone: (304) 636-2053

Email: mparker@rcpwv.com

 

RANDOLPH, UPSHUR, BARBOUR, TUCKER, WEBSTER, BRAXTON

 

Women's Aid in Crisis $244,524.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of two Shelter Managers in Randolph County, a Barbour County Outreach Coordinator, a Tucker County Outreach Coordinatory, an Upshur County Outreach Coordinator, a Webster County Outreach Coordinator, a Legal Advocate in Randolph County, and a Braxton County Outreach Coordinator to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, child victims, and sexual assault victims in Randolph, Barbour, Tucker, Upshur, Webster, and Braxton Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Marcia R. Drake

Phone: (304) 636-8433

Email: mdrake@waicwv.org

  

ROANE

 

Roane County Commission $19,877.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Roane County Prosecuting Attorney's office to provide direct services to crime victims in Roane County.

 

Contact:Mr. Joshua Downey

Phone: (304) 927-2091

Email: jdowney@court.state.wv.us

 

TYLER

 

Tyler County Commission $35,500.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Tyler County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Tyler County.

 

Contact:Mr. D. Luke Furbee

Phone: (304) 758-2860

Email: dlfurbeepa.tylercopa@frontier.com

 

UPSHUR

 

Upshur County Commission $34,662.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Upshur County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Upshur County.

 

Contact:Mr. David E. Godwin

Phone: (304) 472-9699

Email: degodwin@upshurcounty.org

 

WETZEL

 

Wetzel County Commission $18,568.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a Victim Advocate in the Wetzel County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Wetzel County.

 

Contact:Mr. Timothy E. Haught

Phone: (304) 455-8220

Email: abowman1@frontier.com

 

WOOD

 

Wood County Commission $65,387.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of two full-time Victim Advocates in the Wood County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Wood County.

 

Contact:Ms. Toni Tiano

Phone: (304) 428-7760

Email: tianoknopp@suddenlink.net

 

WOOD, WIRT, PLEASANT, RITCHIE

 

Voices for Children Foundation $31,058.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the Program Director’s salary to provide direct services to child abuse and neglect victims in Wood, Wirt, Pleasants, and Ritchie Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Margaret Burdette

Phone: (304) 422-3390

Email: voicesforchildrencasa@gmail.com

 

WYOMING

 

Wyoming County Commission $30,483.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Wyoming County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Wyoming County.

 

Contact:Mr. Sante "Sonny" E. Boninsegna Jr.

Phone: (304) 732-8000

Email: sante.boninsegna@wyomingcountyprosecutor.com

 

STATEWIDE

 

Mothers Against Drunk Driving $34,049.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time statewide Victim Advocate to provide direct services and support to victims of Driving Under the Influence cases throughout the State of West Virginia.

 

Contact:Ms. Catrina Clemens

Phone: (469) 420-4515

Email: Catrina.Clemens@madd.org

 

West Virginia Division of Corrections $38,812.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a Victim Services Specialist to provide direct services to the crime victims of inmates under the custody of the Division of Corrections.

 

Contact:Ms. Jennifer Ballard

Phone: (304) 558-2036

Email: jennifer.m.ballard@wv.gov

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin [nb 1] (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.

 

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. Gagarin later served as the deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre, which was subsequently named after him. He was elected as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union in 1962 and then to the Soviet of Nationalities, respectively the lower and upper chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Gagarin died in 1968 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 and education

2 Soviet Air Force service

3 Soviet space program

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 and monuments

7.4 50th anniversary

8 See also

9 Notes

10 References

10.1 Sources

11 Further reading

12 External links

 

Early life and education

 

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.[nb 2][4] Yuri was the third of four children: his siblings were brothers Valentin (1924) and Boris (1936), and sister Zoya (1927).[5][6]

 

Like millions of Soviet Union citizens, the Gagarin family suffered during the Nazi occupation of Russia 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. The family were allowed to build a mud hut approximately 3 by 3 metres (10 by 10 ft) inside on the land behind their house, where they spent twenty-one months until the end of the occupation.[7] 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.[5][8] In 1946, the family moved to Gzhatsk, where Gagarin continued his secondary education.[7]

 

In 1950, aged 16, Gagarin began an apprenticeship as a foundryman at the Lyubertsy steel plant near Moscow,[5][8] and enrolled at a local "young workers" school for seventh-grade evening classes.[9] After graduating in 1951 from both the seventh grade and the vocational school with honours in mouldmaking and foundry work,[9] he was selected for further training at the Saratov Industrial Technical School, where he studied tractors.[5][8][10] 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.[8][10] He earned extra money as a part-time dock labourer on the Volga River.[7]

Soviet Air Force service

 

In 1955, Gagarin was accepted to the 1st Chkalovsky Higher Air Force Pilots School, a flight school in Orenburg.[11][12] He initially began training on the Yak-18 already familiar to him and later graduated to training on the MiG-15 in February 1956.[11] 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,[13] Gagarin began flying solo in 1957.[5]

 

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 airbase close to the Norwegian border in Murmansk Oblast for a two-year assignment with the Northern Fleet.[14] On 7 July 1959, he was rated Military Pilot 3rd Class.[15] After expressing interest in space exploration following the launch of Luna 3 on 6 October 1959, his recommendation to the Soviet space program was endorsed and forward by Lieutenant Colonel Babushkin.[14][16] By this point, he had accumulated 265 hours of flight time.[14] Gagarin was promoted to the rank of senior lieutenant on 6 November 1959,[15] three weeks after he was interviewed by a medical commission for qualification to the space program.[14]

Soviet space program

Selection and training

See also: Vostok programme

Vostok I capsule on display at the RKK Energiya museum

 

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.[17]

 

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.[18] Gagarin began training at the Khodynka Airfield in downtown Moscow on 15 March 1960. The training regiment involved vigorous and repetitive physical exercises which Alexei Leonov, a member of the initial group of twelve, described as akin to training for the Olympics Games.[19] In April 1960, they began parachute training in Saratov Oblast and each completed about 40 to 50 jumps from both low and high altitude, and over land and water.[20]

 

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.[21] One of these candidates, Yevgeny Khrunov, believed that Gagarin was very focused and was demanding of himself and others when necessary.[22] On 30 May 1960, Gagarin was further selected for an accelerated training group, known as the Vanguard Six or Sochi Six,[23][nb 3] 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.[25]

 

As several of the candidates selected for the program including Gagarin did not have higher education degrees, they were enrolled into a correspondence course program at Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. Gagarin enrolled in the program in September 1960 and did not earn his specialist diploma until early 1968.[26][27] 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.[28][25] Psychological tests included placing the candidates in an anechoic chamber in complete isolation; Gagarin was in the chamber on July 26 – August 5.[29][20] 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.[21]

 

The Vanguard Six were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961[25] and entered a two-day examination conducted by a special interdepartmental commission led Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kamanin, tasked with ranking of the candidates based on their mission readiness for the first human Vostok mission. On 17 January 1961, 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 commission.[22] On the second day, they were given a written examination following which the special commission ranked Gagarin as the best candidate the first mission. He and the next two highest-ranked cosmonauts, Titov and Nelyubov, were sent to Tyuratam for final preparations.[22] Gagarin and Titov were selected to train in the flight-ready spacecraft on 7 April 1961. Historian Asif Siddiqi writes of the final selection:[30]

 

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!

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Gagarin's voice

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On 12 April 1961, 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).[31] 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.[32][33]

 

Gagarin's farewell to Korolev using the informal phrase Poyekhali! (Russian: Поехали!)[nb 4] later became a popular expression in the Eastern Bloc that was used to refer to the beginning of the Space Age.[35][36] 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.[37] Gagarin became the first to orbit the Earth.[31]

File:1961-04-19 First Pictures-Yuri Gagarin-selection.ogvPlay media

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.[38] He also wrote in his autobiography released the same year that he sang the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows" (Russian: "Родина слышит, Родина знает") during re-entry.[39] Gagarin was qualified a Military Pilot 1st Class and promoted to the rank of major in a special order given during his flight.[15][39]

 

At about 23,000 feet (7,000 m), Gagarin ejected from the descending capsule as planned and landed using a parachute. 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.[40] Gagarin and Soviet officials initially refused to admit that he had not landed with his spacecraft,[41] 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 it rules, and acknowledge 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.[42]

After the Vostok 1 flight

Gagarin in Warsaw, 1961

 

Gagarin's flight was a triumph for the Soviet space program 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 World War II Victory Parades.[43]

Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova (seated to his right) sign autographs in 1964

 

Gagarin gained a reputation as an adept public figure and was noted for his charismatic smile.[44][45][46] On 15 April 1961, accompanied by official from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, he answered questions at a press conference in Moscow reportedly attended by 1,000 reporters.[47] Gagarin visited the United Kingdom three months after the Vostok 1 mission, going to London and Manchester.[48][44] 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.[44][49] Gagarin toured widely abroad, accepting the invitation of about 30 countries.[50] In just the first four months, he also went to Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, and Iceland.[51]

 

In 1962, Gagarin began serving as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union,[52] 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.[15] On 20 December 1963, Gagarin became Deputy Training Director of the Star City cosmonaut training base.[53] Soviet officials, including cosmonaut overseerer Nikolai 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".[54] 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.[5][10]

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.[52] The following year, he began to re-qualify as a fighter pilot[55] 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.[56]

 

The Soyuz 1 launch was rushed due to implicit political pressures[57] and despite Gagarin's protests that additional safety precautions were necessary.[58] Gagarin accompanied Komarov to the rocket before launch and relayed instructions to Komarov from ground control following multiple system failures aboard the spacecraft.[59] Despite their best efforts, Soyuz 1 crash landed after its parachutes failed to open, killing Komarov instantly.[60] After the Soyuz 1 crash, Gagarin was permanently banned from training for and participating in further spaceflights.[61] 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.[62] On 17 February 1968, Gagarin successfully defended his aerospace engineering thesis on the subject of spaceplane aerodynamic configuration and graduated cum laude from Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.[27][63][62]

Personal life

Gagarin and his wife Valentina clapping at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

Gagarin and his wife Valentina at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

 

Gagarin was a keen sportsman and fond of ice hockey as a goal keeper.[64] He was also a basketball fan and coached the Saratov Industrial Technical School team, as well as being a referee.[65]

 

In 1957, while a cadet in flight school, Gagarin met Valentina Goryacheva at the May Day celebrations at the Red Square in Moscow.[66] She was a medical technician who graduated from Orenburg Medical School.[8][10] They were married on 7 November 1957,[8] the same day Gagarin graduated from Orenburg, and they had two daughters.[67][68] Yelena Yurievna Gagarina, born 1959,[68] is an art historian who has worked as the director-general of the Moscow Kremlin Museums since 2001;[69][70] and Galina Yurievna Gagarina, born 1961,[68] is a professor of economics and the department chair at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow.[69][71] 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.[5][10]

Death

Plaque on a brick wall with inscription: Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин, 1934-03-09–1968-03-27

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 were buried in the walls of the Kremlin.[72] Wrapped in secrecy, the cause of the crash that killed Gagarin is uncertain and became the subject of several theories.[73][74] At least three investigations into the crash were conducted separately by the Air Force, official government commissions, and the KGB.[75][76] 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."[75]

 

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.[76] 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.[73] 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.[74]

 

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.[77] 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 manoeuvered 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".[78]

A Russian MiG-15UTI, the same type as Gagarin was flying

 

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, 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.[79] In a June 2013 interview with Russian television network RT, Leonov said a report on the incident confirmed the presence of a second, "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.[80]

Awards and honours

Medals and orders of merit

Jânio Quadros, President of Brazil, decorated Gagarin in 1961.

 

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,[81][82] Order of Lenin,[81] Merited Master of Sports of the Soviet Union[83] and the first Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.[82] On 15 April, the Soviet Academy of Sciences awarded him with the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal, named after the Russian pioneer of space aeronautics.[84] Gagarin had also been awarded four Soviet commemorative medals over the course of his career.[15]

 

He was honoured as a Hero of Socialist Labor (Czechoslovakia) on 29 April 1961,[85][86] and Hero of Socialist Labor (Bulgaria, including the Order of Georgi Dimitrov) on 24 May.[15][chronology citation needed] On the eighth anniversary of the beginning of 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.[87]

 

Gagarin was also awarded the 1960 Gold Air Medal and the 1961 De la Vaulx Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Switzerland.[88] 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,[15] the Italian Columbus Day Medal,[89] and a Gold Medal from the British Interplanetary Society.[90][91] President Jânio Quadros of Brazil decorated Gagarin on 2 August 1961 with the Order of Aeronautical Merit, Commander grade.[92] During a tour of Egypt in late January 1962, Gagarin received the Order of the Nile[93] and the golden keys to the gates of Cairo.[50] On 22 October 1963, Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova were honoured with the Order of Karl Marx from the German Democratic Republic.[94]

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.[95] Since 2000, Yuri's Night, an international celebration, is held annually to commemorate milestones in space exploration.[96] In 2011, it was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight by the United Nations.[97]

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, Russia, was named on 30 April 1968.[98] 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 Gagarin Air Force Academy in 1968.[99] A street in Warsaw, Poland, is called Yuri Gagarin Street.[100] The town of Gagarin, Armenia was renamed in his honour in 1961.[101]

 

Gagarin has been honoured on the Moon by astronauts and astronomers. During the American space program's Apollo 11 mission in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left a memorial satchel containing medals commemorating Gagarin and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov on the Moon's surface.[102][103] 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.[104][105] In 1970, a 262 km (163 mi)-wide crater on the far side after him.[106] Gagarin was inducted as a member of the 1976 inaugural class of the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico.[107]

 

Gagarin is memorialised in music; a cycle of Soviet patriotic songs titled The Constellation Gagarin (Russian: Созвездье Гагарина, tr. Sozvezdie Gagarina) was written by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov in 1970–1971.[108] The most famous of these songs refers to Gagarin's poyekhali!: in the lyrics, "He said 'let's go!' He waved his hand".[35][108] 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.[109]

Russian ten-ruble commemorating Gagarin in 2001

 

Vessels have been named for Gagarin; Soviet tracking ship Kosmonavt Yuri Gagarin was built in 1971[110] and the Armenian airline Armavia named their first Sukhoi Superjet 100 in his honour in 2011.[111]

 

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.[112] 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.[113]

 

In 2008, the Kontinental Hockey League named their championship trophy the Gagarin Cup.[114] In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Gagarin was ranked as the sixth-most-popular space hero, tied with Star Trek's fictional James T. Kirk.[115] 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.[116]

Statues and monuments

 

There are statues of Gagarin and monuments to him located in Gagarin (Smolensk Oblast), 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.[117] 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.[118]

Bust of Gagarin at Birla Planetarium in Kolkata, India

 

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.[119] In 2013, the statue was moved to a permanent location outside the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.[120]

 

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 artist and cosmonaut Alexei Leonov and was a gift to Houston by various Russian organisations. Houston Mayor Annise Parker, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were present for the dedication.[121][122] 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.[123]

 

In April 2018, a bust of Gagarin erected on the street in Belgrade, Serbia, that bears his name was removed, after less than 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.[124][125] 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.[126]

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.[127] 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.[128]

 

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 the first manned space mission.

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin [nb 1] (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.

 

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. Gagarin later served as the deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre, which was subsequently named after him. He was elected as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union in 1962 and then to the Soviet of Nationalities, respectively the lower and upper chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Gagarin died in 1968 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 and education

2 Soviet Air Force service

3 Soviet space program

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 and monuments

7.4 50th anniversary

8 See also

9 Notes

10 References

10.1 Sources

11 Further reading

12 External links

 

Early life and education

 

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.[nb 2][4] Yuri was the third of four children: his siblings were brothers Valentin (1924) and Boris (1936), and sister Zoya (1927).[5][6]

 

Like millions of Soviet Union citizens, the Gagarin family suffered during the Nazi occupation of Russia 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. The family were allowed to build a mud hut approximately 3 by 3 metres (10 by 10 ft) inside on the land behind their house, where they spent twenty-one months until the end of the occupation.[7] 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.[5][8] In 1946, the family moved to Gzhatsk, where Gagarin continued his secondary education.[7]

 

In 1950, aged 16, Gagarin began an apprenticeship as a foundryman at the Lyubertsy steel plant near Moscow,[5][8] and enrolled at a local "young workers" school for seventh-grade evening classes.[9] After graduating in 1951 from both the seventh grade and the vocational school with honours in mouldmaking and foundry work,[9] he was selected for further training at the Saratov Industrial Technical School, where he studied tractors.[5][8][10] 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.[8][10] He earned extra money as a part-time dock labourer on the Volga River.[7]

Soviet Air Force service

 

In 1955, Gagarin was accepted to the 1st Chkalovsky Higher Air Force Pilots School, a flight school in Orenburg.[11][12] He initially began training on the Yak-18 already familiar to him and later graduated to training on the MiG-15 in February 1956.[11] 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,[13] Gagarin began flying solo in 1957.[5]

 

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 airbase close to the Norwegian border in Murmansk Oblast for a two-year assignment with the Northern Fleet.[14] On 7 July 1959, he was rated Military Pilot 3rd Class.[15] After expressing interest in space exploration following the launch of Luna 3 on 6 October 1959, his recommendation to the Soviet space program was endorsed and forward by Lieutenant Colonel Babushkin.[14][16] By this point, he had accumulated 265 hours of flight time.[14] Gagarin was promoted to the rank of senior lieutenant on 6 November 1959,[15] three weeks after he was interviewed by a medical commission for qualification to the space program.[14]

Soviet space program

Selection and training

See also: Vostok programme

Vostok I capsule on display at the RKK Energiya museum

 

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.[17]

 

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.[18] Gagarin began training at the Khodynka Airfield in downtown Moscow on 15 March 1960. The training regiment involved vigorous and repetitive physical exercises which Alexei Leonov, a member of the initial group of twelve, described as akin to training for the Olympics Games.[19] In April 1960, they began parachute training in Saratov Oblast and each completed about 40 to 50 jumps from both low and high altitude, and over land and water.[20]

 

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.[21] One of these candidates, Yevgeny Khrunov, believed that Gagarin was very focused and was demanding of himself and others when necessary.[22] On 30 May 1960, Gagarin was further selected for an accelerated training group, known as the Vanguard Six or Sochi Six,[23][nb 3] 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.[25]

 

As several of the candidates selected for the program including Gagarin did not have higher education degrees, they were enrolled into a correspondence course program at Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. Gagarin enrolled in the program in September 1960 and did not earn his specialist diploma until early 1968.[26][27] 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.[28][25] Psychological tests included placing the candidates in an anechoic chamber in complete isolation; Gagarin was in the chamber on July 26 – August 5.[29][20] 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.[21]

 

The Vanguard Six were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961[25] and entered a two-day examination conducted by a special interdepartmental commission led Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kamanin, tasked with ranking of the candidates based on their mission readiness for the first human Vostok mission. On 17 January 1961, 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 commission.[22] On the second day, they were given a written examination following which the special commission ranked Gagarin as the best candidate the first mission. He and the next two highest-ranked cosmonauts, Titov and Nelyubov, were sent to Tyuratam for final preparations.[22] Gagarin and Titov were selected to train in the flight-ready spacecraft on 7 April 1961. Historian Asif Siddiqi writes of the final selection:[30]

 

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!

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Gagarin's voice

Problems playing this file? See media help.

 

On 12 April 1961, 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).[31] 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.[32][33]

 

Gagarin's farewell to Korolev using the informal phrase Poyekhali! (Russian: Поехали!)[nb 4] later became a popular expression in the Eastern Bloc that was used to refer to the beginning of the Space Age.[35][36] 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.[37] Gagarin became the first to orbit the Earth.[31]

File:1961-04-19 First Pictures-Yuri Gagarin-selection.ogvPlay media

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.[38] He also wrote in his autobiography released the same year that he sang the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows" (Russian: "Родина слышит, Родина знает") during re-entry.[39] Gagarin was qualified a Military Pilot 1st Class and promoted to the rank of major in a special order given during his flight.[15][39]

 

At about 23,000 feet (7,000 m), Gagarin ejected from the descending capsule as planned and landed using a parachute. 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.[40] Gagarin and Soviet officials initially refused to admit that he had not landed with his spacecraft,[41] 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 it rules, and acknowledge 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.[42]

After the Vostok 1 flight

Gagarin in Warsaw, 1961

 

Gagarin's flight was a triumph for the Soviet space program 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 World War II Victory Parades.[43]

Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova (seated to his right) sign autographs in 1964

 

Gagarin gained a reputation as an adept public figure and was noted for his charismatic smile.[44][45][46] On 15 April 1961, accompanied by official from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, he answered questions at a press conference in Moscow reportedly attended by 1,000 reporters.[47] Gagarin visited the United Kingdom three months after the Vostok 1 mission, going to London and Manchester.[48][44] 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.[44][49] Gagarin toured widely abroad, accepting the invitation of about 30 countries.[50] In just the first four months, he also went to Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, and Iceland.[51]

 

In 1962, Gagarin began serving as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union,[52] 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.[15] On 20 December 1963, Gagarin became Deputy Training Director of the Star City cosmonaut training base.[53] Soviet officials, including cosmonaut overseerer Nikolai 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".[54] 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.[5][10]

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.[52] The following year, he began to re-qualify as a fighter pilot[55] 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.[56]

 

The Soyuz 1 launch was rushed due to implicit political pressures[57] and despite Gagarin's protests that additional safety precautions were necessary.[58] Gagarin accompanied Komarov to the rocket before launch and relayed instructions to Komarov from ground control following multiple system failures aboard the spacecraft.[59] Despite their best efforts, Soyuz 1 crash landed after its parachutes failed to open, killing Komarov instantly.[60] After the Soyuz 1 crash, Gagarin was permanently banned from training for and participating in further spaceflights.[61] 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.[62] On 17 February 1968, Gagarin successfully defended his aerospace engineering thesis on the subject of spaceplane aerodynamic configuration and graduated cum laude from Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.[27][63][62]

Personal life

Gagarin and his wife Valentina clapping at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

Gagarin and his wife Valentina at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

 

Gagarin was a keen sportsman and fond of ice hockey as a goal keeper.[64] He was also a basketball fan and coached the Saratov Industrial Technical School team, as well as being a referee.[65]

 

In 1957, while a cadet in flight school, Gagarin met Valentina Goryacheva at the May Day celebrations at the Red Square in Moscow.[66] She was a medical technician who graduated from Orenburg Medical School.[8][10] They were married on 7 November 1957,[8] the same day Gagarin graduated from Orenburg, and they had two daughters.[67][68] Yelena Yurievna Gagarina, born 1959,[68] is an art historian who has worked as the director-general of the Moscow Kremlin Museums since 2001;[69][70] and Galina Yurievna Gagarina, born 1961,[68] is a professor of economics and the department chair at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow.[69][71] 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.[5][10]

Death

Plaque on a brick wall with inscription: Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин, 1934-03-09–1968-03-27

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 were buried in the walls of the Kremlin.[72] Wrapped in secrecy, the cause of the crash that killed Gagarin is uncertain and became the subject of several theories.[73][74] At least three investigations into the crash were conducted separately by the Air Force, official government commissions, and the KGB.[75][76] 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."[75]

 

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.[76] 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.[73] 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.[74]

 

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.[77] 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 manoeuvered 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".[78]

A Russian MiG-15UTI, the same type as Gagarin was flying

 

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, 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.[79] In a June 2013 interview with Russian television network RT, Leonov said a report on the incident confirmed the presence of a second, "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.[80]

Awards and honours

Medals and orders of merit

Jânio Quadros, President of Brazil, decorated Gagarin in 1961.

 

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,[81][82] Order of Lenin,[81] Merited Master of Sports of the Soviet Union[83] and the first Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.[82] On 15 April, the Soviet Academy of Sciences awarded him with the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal, named after the Russian pioneer of space aeronautics.[84] Gagarin had also been awarded four Soviet commemorative medals over the course of his career.[15]

 

He was honoured as a Hero of Socialist Labor (Czechoslovakia) on 29 April 1961,[85][86] and Hero of Socialist Labor (Bulgaria, including the Order of Georgi Dimitrov) on 24 May.[15][chronology citation needed] On the eighth anniversary of the beginning of 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.[87]

 

Gagarin was also awarded the 1960 Gold Air Medal and the 1961 De la Vaulx Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Switzerland.[88] 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,[15] the Italian Columbus Day Medal,[89] and a Gold Medal from the British Interplanetary Society.[90][91] President Jânio Quadros of Brazil decorated Gagarin on 2 August 1961 with the Order of Aeronautical Merit, Commander grade.[92] During a tour of Egypt in late January 1962, Gagarin received the Order of the Nile[93] and the golden keys to the gates of Cairo.[50] On 22 October 1963, Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova were honoured with the Order of Karl Marx from the German Democratic Republic.[94]

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.[95] Since 2000, Yuri's Night, an international celebration, is held annually to commemorate milestones in space exploration.[96] In 2011, it was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight by the United Nations.[97]

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, Russia, was named on 30 April 1968.[98] 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 Gagarin Air Force Academy in 1968.[99] A street in Warsaw, Poland, is called Yuri Gagarin Street.[100] The town of Gagarin, Armenia was renamed in his honour in 1961.[101]

 

Gagarin has been honoured on the Moon by astronauts and astronomers. During the American space program's Apollo 11 mission in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left a memorial satchel containing medals commemorating Gagarin and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov on the Moon's surface.[102][103] 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.[104][105] In 1970, a 262 km (163 mi)-wide crater on the far side after him.[106] Gagarin was inducted as a member of the 1976 inaugural class of the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico.[107]

 

Gagarin is memorialised in music; a cycle of Soviet patriotic songs titled The Constellation Gagarin (Russian: Созвездье Гагарина, tr. Sozvezdie Gagarina) was written by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov in 1970–1971.[108] The most famous of these songs refers to Gagarin's poyekhali!: in the lyrics, "He said 'let's go!' He waved his hand".[35][108] 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.[109]

Russian ten-ruble commemorating Gagarin in 2001

 

Vessels have been named for Gagarin; Soviet tracking ship Kosmonavt Yuri Gagarin was built in 1971[110] and the Armenian airline Armavia named their first Sukhoi Superjet 100 in his honour in 2011.[111]

 

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.[112] 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.[113]

 

In 2008, the Kontinental Hockey League named their championship trophy the Gagarin Cup.[114] In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Gagarin was ranked as the sixth-most-popular space hero, tied with Star Trek's fictional James T. Kirk.[115] 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.[116]

Statues and monuments

 

There are statues of Gagarin and monuments to him located in Gagarin (Smolensk Oblast), 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.[117] 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.[118]

Bust of Gagarin at Birla Planetarium in Kolkata, India

 

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.[119] In 2013, the statue was moved to a permanent location outside the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.[120]

 

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 artist and cosmonaut Alexei Leonov and was a gift to Houston by various Russian organisations. Houston Mayor Annise Parker, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were present for the dedication.[121][122] 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.[123]

 

In April 2018, a bust of Gagarin erected on the street in Belgrade, Serbia, that bears his name was removed, after less than 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.[124][125] 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.[126]

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.[127] 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.[128]

 

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 the first manned space mission.

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin [nb 1] (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.

 

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. Gagarin later served as the deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre, which was subsequently named after him. He was elected as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union in 1962 and then to the Soviet of Nationalities, respectively the lower and upper chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Gagarin died in 1968 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 and education

2 Soviet Air Force service

3 Soviet space program

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 and monuments

7.4 50th anniversary

8 See also

9 Notes

10 References

10.1 Sources

11 Further reading

12 External links

 

Early life and education

 

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.[nb 2][4] Yuri was the third of four children: his siblings were brothers Valentin (1924) and Boris (1936), and sister Zoya (1927).[5][6]

 

Like millions of Soviet Union citizens, the Gagarin family suffered during the Nazi occupation of Russia 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. The family were allowed to build a mud hut approximately 3 by 3 metres (10 by 10 ft) inside on the land behind their house, where they spent twenty-one months until the end of the occupation.[7] 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.[5][8] In 1946, the family moved to Gzhatsk, where Gagarin continued his secondary education.[7]

 

In 1950, aged 16, Gagarin began an apprenticeship as a foundryman at the Lyubertsy steel plant near Moscow,[5][8] and enrolled at a local "young workers" school for seventh-grade evening classes.[9] After graduating in 1951 from both the seventh grade and the vocational school with honours in mouldmaking and foundry work,[9] he was selected for further training at the Saratov Industrial Technical School, where he studied tractors.[5][8][10] 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.[8][10] He earned extra money as a part-time dock labourer on the Volga River.[7]

Soviet Air Force service

 

In 1955, Gagarin was accepted to the 1st Chkalovsky Higher Air Force Pilots School, a flight school in Orenburg.[11][12] He initially began training on the Yak-18 already familiar to him and later graduated to training on the MiG-15 in February 1956.[11] 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,[13] Gagarin began flying solo in 1957.[5]

 

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 airbase close to the Norwegian border in Murmansk Oblast for a two-year assignment with the Northern Fleet.[14] On 7 July 1959, he was rated Military Pilot 3rd Class.[15] After expressing interest in space exploration following the launch of Luna 3 on 6 October 1959, his recommendation to the Soviet space program was endorsed and forward by Lieutenant Colonel Babushkin.[14][16] By this point, he had accumulated 265 hours of flight time.[14] Gagarin was promoted to the rank of senior lieutenant on 6 November 1959,[15] three weeks after he was interviewed by a medical commission for qualification to the space program.[14]

Soviet space program

Selection and training

See also: Vostok programme

Vostok I capsule on display at the RKK Energiya museum

 

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.[17]

 

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.[18] Gagarin began training at the Khodynka Airfield in downtown Moscow on 15 March 1960. The training regiment involved vigorous and repetitive physical exercises which Alexei Leonov, a member of the initial group of twelve, described as akin to training for the Olympics Games.[19] In April 1960, they began parachute training in Saratov Oblast and each completed about 40 to 50 jumps from both low and high altitude, and over land and water.[20]

 

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.[21] One of these candidates, Yevgeny Khrunov, believed that Gagarin was very focused and was demanding of himself and others when necessary.[22] On 30 May 1960, Gagarin was further selected for an accelerated training group, known as the Vanguard Six or Sochi Six,[23][nb 3] 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.[25]

 

As several of the candidates selected for the program including Gagarin did not have higher education degrees, they were enrolled into a correspondence course program at Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. Gagarin enrolled in the program in September 1960 and did not earn his specialist diploma until early 1968.[26][27] 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.[28][25] Psychological tests included placing the candidates in an anechoic chamber in complete isolation; Gagarin was in the chamber on July 26 – August 5.[29][20] 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.[21]

 

The Vanguard Six were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961[25] and entered a two-day examination conducted by a special interdepartmental commission led Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kamanin, tasked with ranking of the candidates based on their mission readiness for the first human Vostok mission. On 17 January 1961, 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 commission.[22] On the second day, they were given a written examination following which the special commission ranked Gagarin as the best candidate the first mission. He and the next two highest-ranked cosmonauts, Titov and Nelyubov, were sent to Tyuratam for final preparations.[22] Gagarin and Titov were selected to train in the flight-ready spacecraft on 7 April 1961. Historian Asif Siddiqi writes of the final selection:[30]

 

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!

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Gagarin's voice

Problems playing this file? See media help.

 

On 12 April 1961, 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).[31] 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.[32][33]

 

Gagarin's farewell to Korolev using the informal phrase Poyekhali! (Russian: Поехали!)[nb 4] later became a popular expression in the Eastern Bloc that was used to refer to the beginning of the Space Age.[35][36] 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.[37] Gagarin became the first to orbit the Earth.[31]

File:1961-04-19 First Pictures-Yuri Gagarin-selection.ogvPlay media

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.[38] He also wrote in his autobiography released the same year that he sang the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows" (Russian: "Родина слышит, Родина знает") during re-entry.[39] Gagarin was qualified a Military Pilot 1st Class and promoted to the rank of major in a special order given during his flight.[15][39]

 

At about 23,000 feet (7,000 m), Gagarin ejected from the descending capsule as planned and landed using a parachute. 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.[40] Gagarin and Soviet officials initially refused to admit that he had not landed with his spacecraft,[41] 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 it rules, and acknowledge 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.[42]

After the Vostok 1 flight

Gagarin in Warsaw, 1961

 

Gagarin's flight was a triumph for the Soviet space program 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 World War II Victory Parades.[43]

Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova (seated to his right) sign autographs in 1964

 

Gagarin gained a reputation as an adept public figure and was noted for his charismatic smile.[44][45][46] On 15 April 1961, accompanied by official from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, he answered questions at a press conference in Moscow reportedly attended by 1,000 reporters.[47] Gagarin visited the United Kingdom three months after the Vostok 1 mission, going to London and Manchester.[48][44] 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.[44][49] Gagarin toured widely abroad, accepting the invitation of about 30 countries.[50] In just the first four months, he also went to Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, and Iceland.[51]

 

In 1962, Gagarin began serving as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union,[52] 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.[15] On 20 December 1963, Gagarin became Deputy Training Director of the Star City cosmonaut training base.[53] Soviet officials, including cosmonaut overseerer Nikolai 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".[54] 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.[5][10]

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.[52] The following year, he began to re-qualify as a fighter pilot[55] 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.[56]

 

The Soyuz 1 launch was rushed due to implicit political pressures[57] and despite Gagarin's protests that additional safety precautions were necessary.[58] Gagarin accompanied Komarov to the rocket before launch and relayed instructions to Komarov from ground control following multiple system failures aboard the spacecraft.[59] Despite their best efforts, Soyuz 1 crash landed after its parachutes failed to open, killing Komarov instantly.[60] After the Soyuz 1 crash, Gagarin was permanently banned from training for and participating in further spaceflights.[61] 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.[62] On 17 February 1968, Gagarin successfully defended his aerospace engineering thesis on the subject of spaceplane aerodynamic configuration and graduated cum laude from Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.[27][63][62]

Personal life

Gagarin and his wife Valentina clapping at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

Gagarin and his wife Valentina at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

 

Gagarin was a keen sportsman and fond of ice hockey as a goal keeper.[64] He was also a basketball fan and coached the Saratov Industrial Technical School team, as well as being a referee.[65]

 

In 1957, while a cadet in flight school, Gagarin met Valentina Goryacheva at the May Day celebrations at the Red Square in Moscow.[66] She was a medical technician who graduated from Orenburg Medical School.[8][10] They were married on 7 November 1957,[8] the same day Gagarin graduated from Orenburg, and they had two daughters.[67][68] Yelena Yurievna Gagarina, born 1959,[68] is an art historian who has worked as the director-general of the Moscow Kremlin Museums since 2001;[69][70] and Galina Yurievna Gagarina, born 1961,[68] is a professor of economics and the department chair at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow.[69][71] 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.[5][10]

Death

Plaque on a brick wall with inscription: Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин, 1934-03-09–1968-03-27

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 were buried in the walls of the Kremlin.[72] Wrapped in secrecy, the cause of the crash that killed Gagarin is uncertain and became the subject of several theories.[73][74] At least three investigations into the crash were conducted separately by the Air Force, official government commissions, and the KGB.[75][76] 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."[75]

 

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.[76] 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.[73] 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.[74]

 

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.[77] 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 manoeuvered 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".[78]

A Russian MiG-15UTI, the same type as Gagarin was flying

 

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, 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.[79] In a June 2013 interview with Russian television network RT, Leonov said a report on the incident confirmed the presence of a second, "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.[80]

Awards and honours

Medals and orders of merit

Jânio Quadros, President of Brazil, decorated Gagarin in 1961.

 

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,[81][82] Order of Lenin,[81] Merited Master of Sports of the Soviet Union[83] and the first Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.[82] On 15 April, the Soviet Academy of Sciences awarded him with the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal, named after the Russian pioneer of space aeronautics.[84] Gagarin had also been awarded four Soviet commemorative medals over the course of his career.[15]

 

He was honoured as a Hero of Socialist Labor (Czechoslovakia) on 29 April 1961,[85][86] and Hero of Socialist Labor (Bulgaria, including the Order of Georgi Dimitrov) on 24 May.[15][chronology citation needed] On the eighth anniversary of the beginning of 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.[87]

 

Gagarin was also awarded the 1960 Gold Air Medal and the 1961 De la Vaulx Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Switzerland.[88] 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,[15] the Italian Columbus Day Medal,[89] and a Gold Medal from the British Interplanetary Society.[90][91] President Jânio Quadros of Brazil decorated Gagarin on 2 August 1961 with the Order of Aeronautical Merit, Commander grade.[92] During a tour of Egypt in late January 1962, Gagarin received the Order of the Nile[93] and the golden keys to the gates of Cairo.[50] On 22 October 1963, Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova were honoured with the Order of Karl Marx from the German Democratic Republic.[94]

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.[95] Since 2000, Yuri's Night, an international celebration, is held annually to commemorate milestones in space exploration.[96] In 2011, it was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight by the United Nations.[97]

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, Russia, was named on 30 April 1968.[98] 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 Gagarin Air Force Academy in 1968.[99] A street in Warsaw, Poland, is called Yuri Gagarin Street.[100] The town of Gagarin, Armenia was renamed in his honour in 1961.[101]

 

Gagarin has been honoured on the Moon by astronauts and astronomers. During the American space program's Apollo 11 mission in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left a memorial satchel containing medals commemorating Gagarin and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov on the Moon's surface.[102][103] 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.[104][105] In 1970, a 262 km (163 mi)-wide crater on the far side after him.[106] Gagarin was inducted as a member of the 1976 inaugural class of the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico.[107]

 

Gagarin is memorialised in music; a cycle of Soviet patriotic songs titled The Constellation Gagarin (Russian: Созвездье Гагарина, tr. Sozvezdie Gagarina) was written by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov in 1970–1971.[108] The most famous of these songs refers to Gagarin's poyekhali!: in the lyrics, "He said 'let's go!' He waved his hand".[35][108] 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.[109]

Russian ten-ruble commemorating Gagarin in 2001

 

Vessels have been named for Gagarin; Soviet tracking ship Kosmonavt Yuri Gagarin was built in 1971[110] and the Armenian airline Armavia named their first Sukhoi Superjet 100 in his honour in 2011.[111]

 

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.[112] 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.[113]

 

In 2008, the Kontinental Hockey League named their championship trophy the Gagarin Cup.[114] In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Gagarin was ranked as the sixth-most-popular space hero, tied with Star Trek's fictional James T. Kirk.[115] 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.[116]

Statues and monuments

 

There are statues of Gagarin and monuments to him located in Gagarin (Smolensk Oblast), 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.[117] 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.[118]

Bust of Gagarin at Birla Planetarium in Kolkata, India

 

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.[119] In 2013, the statue was moved to a permanent location outside the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.[120]

 

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 artist and cosmonaut Alexei Leonov and was a gift to Houston by various Russian organisations. Houston Mayor Annise Parker, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were present for the dedication.[121][122] 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.[123]

 

In April 2018, a bust of Gagarin erected on the street in Belgrade, Serbia, that bears his name was removed, after less than 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.[124][125] 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.[126]

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.[127] 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.[128]

 

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 the first manned space mission.

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin [nb 1] (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.

 

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. Gagarin later served as the deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre, which was subsequently named after him. He was elected as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union in 1962 and then to the Soviet of Nationalities, respectively the lower and upper chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Gagarin died in 1968 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 and education

2 Soviet Air Force service

3 Soviet space program

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 and monuments

7.4 50th anniversary

8 See also

9 Notes

10 References

10.1 Sources

11 Further reading

12 External links

 

Early life and education

 

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.[nb 2][4] Yuri was the third of four children: his siblings were brothers Valentin (1924) and Boris (1936), and sister Zoya (1927).[5][6]

 

Like millions of Soviet Union citizens, the Gagarin family suffered during the Nazi occupation of Russia 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. The family were allowed to build a mud hut approximately 3 by 3 metres (10 by 10 ft) inside on the land behind their house, where they spent twenty-one months until the end of the occupation.[7] 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.[5][8] In 1946, the family moved to Gzhatsk, where Gagarin continued his secondary education.[7]

 

In 1950, aged 16, Gagarin began an apprenticeship as a foundryman at the Lyubertsy steel plant near Moscow,[5][8] and enrolled at a local "young workers" school for seventh-grade evening classes.[9] After graduating in 1951 from both the seventh grade and the vocational school with honours in mouldmaking and foundry work,[9] he was selected for further training at the Saratov Industrial Technical School, where he studied tractors.[5][8][10] 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.[8][10] He earned extra money as a part-time dock labourer on the Volga River.[7]

Soviet Air Force service

 

In 1955, Gagarin was accepted to the 1st Chkalovsky Higher Air Force Pilots School, a flight school in Orenburg.[11][12] He initially began training on the Yak-18 already familiar to him and later graduated to training on the MiG-15 in February 1956.[11] 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,[13] Gagarin began flying solo in 1957.[5]

 

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 airbase close to the Norwegian border in Murmansk Oblast for a two-year assignment with the Northern Fleet.[14] On 7 July 1959, he was rated Military Pilot 3rd Class.[15] After expressing interest in space exploration following the launch of Luna 3 on 6 October 1959, his recommendation to the Soviet space program was endorsed and forward by Lieutenant Colonel Babushkin.[14][16] By this point, he had accumulated 265 hours of flight time.[14] Gagarin was promoted to the rank of senior lieutenant on 6 November 1959,[15] three weeks after he was interviewed by a medical commission for qualification to the space program.[14]

Soviet space program

Selection and training

See also: Vostok programme

Vostok I capsule on display at the RKK Energiya museum

 

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.[17]

 

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.[18] Gagarin began training at the Khodynka Airfield in downtown Moscow on 15 March 1960. The training regiment involved vigorous and repetitive physical exercises which Alexei Leonov, a member of the initial group of twelve, described as akin to training for the Olympics Games.[19] In April 1960, they began parachute training in Saratov Oblast and each completed about 40 to 50 jumps from both low and high altitude, and over land and water.[20]

 

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.[21] One of these candidates, Yevgeny Khrunov, believed that Gagarin was very focused and was demanding of himself and others when necessary.[22] On 30 May 1960, Gagarin was further selected for an accelerated training group, known as the Vanguard Six or Sochi Six,[23][nb 3] 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.[25]

 

As several of the candidates selected for the program including Gagarin did not have higher education degrees, they were enrolled into a correspondence course program at Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. Gagarin enrolled in the program in September 1960 and did not earn his specialist diploma until early 1968.[26][27] 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.[28][25] Psychological tests included placing the candidates in an anechoic chamber in complete isolation; Gagarin was in the chamber on July 26 – August 5.[29][20] 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.[21]

 

The Vanguard Six were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961[25] and entered a two-day examination conducted by a special interdepartmental commission led Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kamanin, tasked with ranking of the candidates based on their mission readiness for the first human Vostok mission. On 17 January 1961, 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 commission.[22] On the second day, they were given a written examination following which the special commission ranked Gagarin as the best candidate the first mission. He and the next two highest-ranked cosmonauts, Titov and Nelyubov, were sent to Tyuratam for final preparations.[22] Gagarin and Titov were selected to train in the flight-ready spacecraft on 7 April 1961. Historian Asif Siddiqi writes of the final selection:[30]

 

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!

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Gagarin's voice

Problems playing this file? See media help.

 

On 12 April 1961, 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).[31] 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.[32][33]

 

Gagarin's farewell to Korolev using the informal phrase Poyekhali! (Russian: Поехали!)[nb 4] later became a popular expression in the Eastern Bloc that was used to refer to the beginning of the Space Age.[35][36] 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.[37] Gagarin became the first to orbit the Earth.[31]

File:1961-04-19 First Pictures-Yuri Gagarin-selection.ogvPlay media

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.[38] He also wrote in his autobiography released the same year that he sang the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows" (Russian: "Родина слышит, Родина знает") during re-entry.[39] Gagarin was qualified a Military Pilot 1st Class and promoted to the rank of major in a special order given during his flight.[15][39]

 

At about 23,000 feet (7,000 m), Gagarin ejected from the descending capsule as planned and landed using a parachute. 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.[40] Gagarin and Soviet officials initially refused to admit that he had not landed with his spacecraft,[41] 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 it rules, and acknowledge 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.[42]

After the Vostok 1 flight

Gagarin in Warsaw, 1961

 

Gagarin's flight was a triumph for the Soviet space program 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 World War II Victory Parades.[43]

Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova (seated to his right) sign autographs in 1964

 

Gagarin gained a reputation as an adept public figure and was noted for his charismatic smile.[44][45][46] On 15 April 1961, accompanied by official from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, he answered questions at a press conference in Moscow reportedly attended by 1,000 reporters.[47] Gagarin visited the United Kingdom three months after the Vostok 1 mission, going to London and Manchester.[48][44] 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.[44][49] Gagarin toured widely abroad, accepting the invitation of about 30 countries.[50] In just the first four months, he also went to Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, and Iceland.[51]

 

In 1962, Gagarin began serving as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union,[52] 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.[15] On 20 December 1963, Gagarin became Deputy Training Director of the Star City cosmonaut training base.[53] Soviet officials, including cosmonaut overseerer Nikolai 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".[54] 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.[5][10]

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.[52] The following year, he began to re-qualify as a fighter pilot[55] 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.[56]

 

The Soyuz 1 launch was rushed due to implicit political pressures[57] and despite Gagarin's protests that additional safety precautions were necessary.[58] Gagarin accompanied Komarov to the rocket before launch and relayed instructions to Komarov from ground control following multiple system failures aboard the spacecraft.[59] Despite their best efforts, Soyuz 1 crash landed after its parachutes failed to open, killing Komarov instantly.[60] After the Soyuz 1 crash, Gagarin was permanently banned from training for and participating in further spaceflights.[61] 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.[62] On 17 February 1968, Gagarin successfully defended his aerospace engineering thesis on the subject of spaceplane aerodynamic configuration and graduated cum laude from Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.[27][63][62]

Personal life

Gagarin and his wife Valentina clapping at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

Gagarin and his wife Valentina at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

 

Gagarin was a keen sportsman and fond of ice hockey as a goal keeper.[64] He was also a basketball fan and coached the Saratov Industrial Technical School team, as well as being a referee.[65]

 

In 1957, while a cadet in flight school, Gagarin met Valentina Goryacheva at the May Day celebrations at the Red Square in Moscow.[66] She was a medical technician who graduated from Orenburg Medical School.[8][10] They were married on 7 November 1957,[8] the same day Gagarin graduated from Orenburg, and they had two daughters.[67][68] Yelena Yurievna Gagarina, born 1959,[68] is an art historian who has worked as the director-general of the Moscow Kremlin Museums since 2001;[69][70] and Galina Yurievna Gagarina, born 1961,[68] is a professor of economics and the department chair at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow.[69][71] 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.[5][10]

Death

Plaque on a brick wall with inscription: Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин, 1934-03-09–1968-03-27

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 were buried in the walls of the Kremlin.[72] Wrapped in secrecy, the cause of the crash that killed Gagarin is uncertain and became the subject of several theories.[73][74] At least three investigations into the crash were conducted separately by the Air Force, official government commissions, and the KGB.[75][76] 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."[75]

 

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.[76] 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.[73] 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.[74]

 

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.[77] 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 manoeuvered 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".[78]

A Russian MiG-15UTI, the same type as Gagarin was flying

 

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, 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.[79] In a June 2013 interview with Russian television network RT, Leonov said a report on the incident confirmed the presence of a second, "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.[80]

Awards and honours

Medals and orders of merit

Jânio Quadros, President of Brazil, decorated Gagarin in 1961.

 

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,[81][82] Order of Lenin,[81] Merited Master of Sports of the Soviet Union[83] and the first Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.[82] On 15 April, the Soviet Academy of Sciences awarded him with the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal, named after the Russian pioneer of space aeronautics.[84] Gagarin had also been awarded four Soviet commemorative medals over the course of his career.[15]

 

He was honoured as a Hero of Socialist Labor (Czechoslovakia) on 29 April 1961,[85][86] and Hero of Socialist Labor (Bulgaria, including the Order of Georgi Dimitrov) on 24 May.[15][chronology citation needed] On the eighth anniversary of the beginning of 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.[87]

 

Gagarin was also awarded the 1960 Gold Air Medal and the 1961 De la Vaulx Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Switzerland.[88] 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,[15] the Italian Columbus Day Medal,[89] and a Gold Medal from the British Interplanetary Society.[90][91] President Jânio Quadros of Brazil decorated Gagarin on 2 August 1961 with the Order of Aeronautical Merit, Commander grade.[92] During a tour of Egypt in late January 1962, Gagarin received the Order of the Nile[93] and the golden keys to the gates of Cairo.[50] On 22 October 1963, Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova were honoured with the Order of Karl Marx from the German Democratic Republic.[94]

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.[95] Since 2000, Yuri's Night, an international celebration, is held annually to commemorate milestones in space exploration.[96] In 2011, it was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight by the United Nations.[97]

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, Russia, was named on 30 April 1968.[98] 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 Gagarin Air Force Academy in 1968.[99] A street in Warsaw, Poland, is called Yuri Gagarin Street.[100] The town of Gagarin, Armenia was renamed in his honour in 1961.[101]

 

Gagarin has been honoured on the Moon by astronauts and astronomers. During the American space program's Apollo 11 mission in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left a memorial satchel containing medals commemorating Gagarin and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov on the Moon's surface.[102][103] 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.[104][105] In 1970, a 262 km (163 mi)-wide crater on the far side after him.[106] Gagarin was inducted as a member of the 1976 inaugural class of the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico.[107]

 

Gagarin is memorialised in music; a cycle of Soviet patriotic songs titled The Constellation Gagarin (Russian: Созвездье Гагарина, tr. Sozvezdie Gagarina) was written by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov in 1970–1971.[108] The most famous of these songs refers to Gagarin's poyekhali!: in the lyrics, "He said 'let's go!' He waved his hand".[35][108] 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.[109]

Russian ten-ruble commemorating Gagarin in 2001

 

Vessels have been named for Gagarin; Soviet tracking ship Kosmonavt Yuri Gagarin was built in 1971[110] and the Armenian airline Armavia named their first Sukhoi Superjet 100 in his honour in 2011.[111]

 

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.[112] 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.[113]

 

In 2008, the Kontinental Hockey League named their championship trophy the Gagarin Cup.[114] In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Gagarin was ranked as the sixth-most-popular space hero, tied with Star Trek's fictional James T. Kirk.[115] 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.[116]

Statues and monuments

 

There are statues of Gagarin and monuments to him located in Gagarin (Smolensk Oblast), 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.[117] 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.[118]

Bust of Gagarin at Birla Planetarium in Kolkata, India

 

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.[119] In 2013, the statue was moved to a permanent location outside the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.[120]

 

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 artist and cosmonaut Alexei Leonov and was a gift to Houston by various Russian organisations. Houston Mayor Annise Parker, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were present for the dedication.[121][122] 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.[123]

 

In April 2018, a bust of Gagarin erected on the street in Belgrade, Serbia, that bears his name was removed, after less than 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.[124][125] 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.[126]

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.[127] 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.[128]

 

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 the first manned space mission.

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin [nb 1] (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.

 

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. Gagarin later served as the deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre, which was subsequently named after him. He was elected as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union in 1962 and then to the Soviet of Nationalities, respectively the lower and upper chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Gagarin died in 1968 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 and education

2 Soviet Air Force service

3 Soviet space program

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 and monuments

7.4 50th anniversary

8 See also

9 Notes

10 References

10.1 Sources

11 Further reading

12 External links

 

Early life and education

 

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.[nb 2][4] Yuri was the third of four children: his siblings were brothers Valentin (1924) and Boris (1936), and sister Zoya (1927).[5][6]

 

Like millions of Soviet Union citizens, the Gagarin family suffered during the Nazi occupation of Russia 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. The family were allowed to build a mud hut approximately 3 by 3 metres (10 by 10 ft) inside on the land behind their house, where they spent twenty-one months until the end of the occupation.[7] 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.[5][8] In 1946, the family moved to Gzhatsk, where Gagarin continued his secondary education.[7]

 

In 1950, aged 16, Gagarin began an apprenticeship as a foundryman at the Lyubertsy steel plant near Moscow,[5][8] and enrolled at a local "young workers" school for seventh-grade evening classes.[9] After graduating in 1951 from both the seventh grade and the vocational school with honours in mouldmaking and foundry work,[9] he was selected for further training at the Saratov Industrial Technical School, where he studied tractors.[5][8][10] 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.[8][10] He earned extra money as a part-time dock labourer on the Volga River.[7]

Soviet Air Force service

 

In 1955, Gagarin was accepted to the 1st Chkalovsky Higher Air Force Pilots School, a flight school in Orenburg.[11][12] He initially began training on the Yak-18 already familiar to him and later graduated to training on the MiG-15 in February 1956.[11] 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,[13] Gagarin began flying solo in 1957.[5]

 

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 airbase close to the Norwegian border in Murmansk Oblast for a two-year assignment with the Northern Fleet.[14] On 7 July 1959, he was rated Military Pilot 3rd Class.[15] After expressing interest in space exploration following the launch of Luna 3 on 6 October 1959, his recommendation to the Soviet space program was endorsed and forward by Lieutenant Colonel Babushkin.[14][16] By this point, he had accumulated 265 hours of flight time.[14] Gagarin was promoted to the rank of senior lieutenant on 6 November 1959,[15] three weeks after he was interviewed by a medical commission for qualification to the space program.[14]

Soviet space program

Selection and training

See also: Vostok programme

Vostok I capsule on display at the RKK Energiya museum

 

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.[17]

 

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.[18] Gagarin began training at the Khodynka Airfield in downtown Moscow on 15 March 1960. The training regiment involved vigorous and repetitive physical exercises which Alexei Leonov, a member of the initial group of twelve, described as akin to training for the Olympics Games.[19] In April 1960, they began parachute training in Saratov Oblast and each completed about 40 to 50 jumps from both low and high altitude, and over land and water.[20]

 

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.[21] One of these candidates, Yevgeny Khrunov, believed that Gagarin was very focused and was demanding of himself and others when necessary.[22] On 30 May 1960, Gagarin was further selected for an accelerated training group, known as the Vanguard Six or Sochi Six,[23][nb 3] 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.[25]

 

As several of the candidates selected for the program including Gagarin did not have higher education degrees, they were enrolled into a correspondence course program at Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. Gagarin enrolled in the program in September 1960 and did not earn his specialist diploma until early 1968.[26][27] 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.[28][25] Psychological tests included placing the candidates in an anechoic chamber in complete isolation; Gagarin was in the chamber on July 26 – August 5.[29][20] 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.[21]

 

The Vanguard Six were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961[25] and entered a two-day examination conducted by a special interdepartmental commission led Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kamanin, tasked with ranking of the candidates based on their mission readiness for the first human Vostok mission. On 17 January 1961, 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 commission.[22] On the second day, they were given a written examination following which the special commission ranked Gagarin as the best candidate the first mission. He and the next two highest-ranked cosmonauts, Titov and Nelyubov, were sent to Tyuratam for final preparations.[22] Gagarin and Titov were selected to train in the flight-ready spacecraft on 7 April 1961. Historian Asif Siddiqi writes of the final selection:[30]

 

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!

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Gagarin's voice

Problems playing this file? See media help.

 

On 12 April 1961, 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).[31] 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.[32][33]

 

Gagarin's farewell to Korolev using the informal phrase Poyekhali! (Russian: Поехали!)[nb 4] later became a popular expression in the Eastern Bloc that was used to refer to the beginning of the Space Age.[35][36] 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.[37] Gagarin became the first to orbit the Earth.[31]

File:1961-04-19 First Pictures-Yuri Gagarin-selection.ogvPlay media

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.[38] He also wrote in his autobiography released the same year that he sang the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows" (Russian: "Родина слышит, Родина знает") during re-entry.[39] Gagarin was qualified a Military Pilot 1st Class and promoted to the rank of major in a special order given during his flight.[15][39]

 

At about 23,000 feet (7,000 m), Gagarin ejected from the descending capsule as planned and landed using a parachute. 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.[40] Gagarin and Soviet officials initially refused to admit that he had not landed with his spacecraft,[41] 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 it rules, and acknowledge 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.[42]

After the Vostok 1 flight

Gagarin in Warsaw, 1961

 

Gagarin's flight was a triumph for the Soviet space program 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 World War II Victory Parades.[43]

Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova (seated to his right) sign autographs in 1964

 

Gagarin gained a reputation as an adept public figure and was noted for his charismatic smile.[44][45][46] On 15 April 1961, accompanied by official from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, he answered questions at a press conference in Moscow reportedly attended by 1,000 reporters.[47] Gagarin visited the United Kingdom three months after the Vostok 1 mission, going to London and Manchester.[48][44] 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.[44][49] Gagarin toured widely abroad, accepting the invitation of about 30 countries.[50] In just the first four months, he also went to Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, and Iceland.[51]

 

In 1962, Gagarin began serving as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union,[52] 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.[15] On 20 December 1963, Gagarin became Deputy Training Director of the Star City cosmonaut training base.[53] Soviet officials, including cosmonaut overseerer Nikolai 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".[54] 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.[5][10]

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.[52] The following year, he began to re-qualify as a fighter pilot[55] 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.[56]

 

The Soyuz 1 launch was rushed due to implicit political pressures[57] and despite Gagarin's protests that additional safety precautions were necessary.[58] Gagarin accompanied Komarov to the rocket before launch and relayed instructions to Komarov from ground control following multiple system failures aboard the spacecraft.[59] Despite their best efforts, Soyuz 1 crash landed after its parachutes failed to open, killing Komarov instantly.[60] After the Soyuz 1 crash, Gagarin was permanently banned from training for and participating in further spaceflights.[61] 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.[62] On 17 February 1968, Gagarin successfully defended his aerospace engineering thesis on the subject of spaceplane aerodynamic configuration and graduated cum laude from Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.[27][63][62]

Personal life

Gagarin and his wife Valentina clapping at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

Gagarin and his wife Valentina at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

 

Gagarin was a keen sportsman and fond of ice hockey as a goal keeper.[64] He was also a basketball fan and coached the Saratov Industrial Technical School team, as well as being a referee.[65]

 

In 1957, while a cadet in flight school, Gagarin met Valentina Goryacheva at the May Day celebrations at the Red Square in Moscow.[66] She was a medical technician who graduated from Orenburg Medical School.[8][10] They were married on 7 November 1957,[8] the same day Gagarin graduated from Orenburg, and they had two daughters.[67][68] Yelena Yurievna Gagarina, born 1959,[68] is an art historian who has worked as the director-general of the Moscow Kremlin Museums since 2001;[69][70] and Galina Yurievna Gagarina, born 1961,[68] is a professor of economics and the department chair at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow.[69][71] 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.[5][10]

Death

Plaque on a brick wall with inscription: Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин, 1934-03-09–1968-03-27

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 were buried in the walls of the Kremlin.[72] Wrapped in secrecy, the cause of the crash that killed Gagarin is uncertain and became the subject of several theories.[73][74] At least three investigations into the crash were conducted separately by the Air Force, official government commissions, and the KGB.[75][76] 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."[75]

 

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.[76] 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.[73] 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.[74]

 

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.[77] 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 manoeuvered 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".[78]

A Russian MiG-15UTI, the same type as Gagarin was flying

 

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, 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.[79] In a June 2013 interview with Russian television network RT, Leonov said a report on the incident confirmed the presence of a second, "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.[80]

Awards and honours

Medals and orders of merit

Jânio Quadros, President of Brazil, decorated Gagarin in 1961.

 

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,[81][82] Order of Lenin,[81] Merited Master of Sports of the Soviet Union[83] and the first Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.[82] On 15 April, the Soviet Academy of Sciences awarded him with the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal, named after the Russian pioneer of space aeronautics.[84] Gagarin had also been awarded four Soviet commemorative medals over the course of his career.[15]

 

He was honoured as a Hero of Socialist Labor (Czechoslovakia) on 29 April 1961,[85][86] and Hero of Socialist Labor (Bulgaria, including the Order of Georgi Dimitrov) on 24 May.[15][chronology citation needed] On the eighth anniversary of the beginning of 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.[87]

 

Gagarin was also awarded the 1960 Gold Air Medal and the 1961 De la Vaulx Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Switzerland.[88] 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,[15] the Italian Columbus Day Medal,[89] and a Gold Medal from the British Interplanetary Society.[90][91] President Jânio Quadros of Brazil decorated Gagarin on 2 August 1961 with the Order of Aeronautical Merit, Commander grade.[92] During a tour of Egypt in late January 1962, Gagarin received the Order of the Nile[93] and the golden keys to the gates of Cairo.[50] On 22 October 1963, Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova were honoured with the Order of Karl Marx from the German Democratic Republic.[94]

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.[95] Since 2000, Yuri's Night, an international celebration, is held annually to commemorate milestones in space exploration.[96] In 2011, it was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight by the United Nations.[97]

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, Russia, was named on 30 April 1968.[98] 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 Gagarin Air Force Academy in 1968.[99] A street in Warsaw, Poland, is called Yuri Gagarin Street.[100] The town of Gagarin, Armenia was renamed in his honour in 1961.[101]

 

Gagarin has been honoured on the Moon by astronauts and astronomers. During the American space program's Apollo 11 mission in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left a memorial satchel containing medals commemorating Gagarin and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov on the Moon's surface.[102][103] 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.[104][105] In 1970, a 262 km (163 mi)-wide crater on the far side after him.[106] Gagarin was inducted as a member of the 1976 inaugural class of the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico.[107]

 

Gagarin is memorialised in music; a cycle of Soviet patriotic songs titled The Constellation Gagarin (Russian: Созвездье Гагарина, tr. Sozvezdie Gagarina) was written by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov in 1970–1971.[108] The most famous of these songs refers to Gagarin's poyekhali!: in the lyrics, "He said 'let's go!' He waved his hand".[35][108] 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.[109]

Russian ten-ruble commemorating Gagarin in 2001

 

Vessels have been named for Gagarin; Soviet tracking ship Kosmonavt Yuri Gagarin was built in 1971[110] and the Armenian airline Armavia named their first Sukhoi Superjet 100 in his honour in 2011.[111]

 

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.[112] 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.[113]

 

In 2008, the Kontinental Hockey League named their championship trophy the Gagarin Cup.[114] In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Gagarin was ranked as the sixth-most-popular space hero, tied with Star Trek's fictional James T. Kirk.[115] 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.[116]

Statues and monuments

 

There are statues of Gagarin and monuments to him located in Gagarin (Smolensk Oblast), 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.[117] 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.[118]

Bust of Gagarin at Birla Planetarium in Kolkata, India

 

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.[119] In 2013, the statue was moved to a permanent location outside the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.[120]

 

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 artist and cosmonaut Alexei Leonov and was a gift to Houston by various Russian organisations. Houston Mayor Annise Parker, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were present for the dedication.[121][122] 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.[123]

 

In April 2018, a bust of Gagarin erected on the street in Belgrade, Serbia, that bears his name was removed, after less than 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.[124][125] 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.[126]

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.[127] 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.[128]

 

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 the first manned space mission.

2005 and 2009

talent in abs-cbn and gma7

January 2005 – Present (10 years 2 months)

i am talent of walking in the bridge of wild life quezon city accompany of celebrity/actor tonton gutierrez and kim chu it is the time there is no pinoy big brother that time. pinoy big brother was conducted during Liberal party list campaigned active with councilor francisco domagoso nickname isko moreno before he winner for vicemayor of city hall of manila and he is a bold star images and reason i was hate him so much for discriminates me as a guest relation officer wworking student and same time part time talent in television. i am not commit aids /hiv illness just what i heard from his part 2nd floor staff of isko moreno are all bugaw "case red tape" during black nazarene fiesta january 09, 2014

Test Scores

maria cristina aberin

Score: perfect 100%

July 1999

greg book translation and brief words for steno typing letter and show the abbreviation of the letter in yellow paper.

Courses

Independent Coursework

3rd year nursing internship

Honors & Awards

alcove 101 digital camera april 04, 2009 and april 05 2009

april 04, 2009

April 2009

black and white photo in computer but we take photo colored using our digital camera by individual with other abs-cbn anchor name karen davila but she is not coming with in 2 days workshop but all of them greet my secret birthday and and derma clinic bake some pizza for me she is allen wong valdez of cityland condominium the assistant of doctor lacson during my liposuction with 300,000.00 cash 2009

Organizations

liberal party list

volunteer model

October 2009 – Present

Case# 10189636: I can't LOG IN(2)

People

Twitter Support Hello, I’m having trouble locating a Twitter ACCOUNT using the information you’ve provided. Please reply with the following details: What is the email address you used on this account? Do you stil

Jan 9 at 6:03 PMme

To Twitter Support Jan 9 at 6:13 PM

i don't have any work at all since my internet was hacked, i've could never attached any documents at any of my accounts. sindicated gang or group was having changing my any detailed documents at my live birth. i've alone and scary to proceeding staff in government that i've noticed all of them was payabled in cash to keep my name show to any person to please send support and help with me personally. could i've do a chance to seek my documents even i've don't any had MONEYyet. i was walk in the road for small garbage waste to pick it up like for examples plastic bottles, steel,old boxes,7 eleven waste bag pick -up with me it is too very heavy and very tired with me for amounting 5.00 pesos up to 20.00 and up to buy or purshasing any documents that commit with the government. please do not insulting this is a real condition of mind. i am accompany take some food with other concerns relative but totally got financial problems, are you government officials? kindly proceeding at my place naguilan road san fernando la union and look for me personally i am maria cristina belgica aberin " tin" i've no mobile phone i was able to take insert the new simcard of tm new simcard right now to any person got very kind personality but now i have left the simcard in the computer operator 2nd floor of naguilan road san fernando la union market just look the simcard

vendors party list with commander milf sultan datu abdulatif paglala sr. and nor miswari in barangay 649 baseco tondo manila, region arrmm mindanao, philippine normal university taft avenue manila with students cadette and cadet officials

volunteer model

Case# 10189636: I can't LOG IN(2)

People

Twitter Support Hello, I’m having trouble locating a Twitter ACCOUNT using the information you’ve provided. Please reply with the following details: What is the email address you used on this account? Do you stil

Jan 9 at 6:03 PM

me

To Twitter Support Jan 9 at 6:13 PM

i don't have any work at all since my internet was hacked, i've could never attached any documents at any of my ACCOUNTS. sindicated gang or group was having changing my any detailed documents at my live birth. i've alone and scary to proceeding staff in government that i've noticed all of them was payabled in cash to keep my name show to any person to please send support and help with me personally. could i've do a chance to seek my documents even i've don't any had money yet. i was walk in the road for small garbage waste to pick it up like for examples plastic bottles, steel,old boxes,7 eleven waste bag pick -up with me it is too very heavy and very tired with me for amounting 5.00 pesos up to 20.00 and up to buy or purshasing any documents that commit with the government. please do not insulting this is a real condition of mind. i am accompany take some food with other concerns relative but totally got financial problems, are you government officials? kindly proceeding at my place naguilan road san fernando la union and look for me personally i am maria cristina belgica aberin " tin" i've no mobile phone i was able to take insert the new simcard of tm new simcard right now to any person got very kind personality but now i have left the simcard

Education

Manila Adventist Medical Center and Colleges

3rd year internship / community nurse student 3rd yr. 2009, exposure in barangay makati in the barangay clinic to teach them for early pregnant afraid vaccine.

2007 – 2011

i am always wait for good cheater to teach me what is the answer key in fundamental major subject in nursing and i was failured for that to passed the exam.

Activities and Societies: lefrizer missionary was collecting blood and their families was staff of uniliver along taft avenue back of malacanang palace in the house of presidential body guard you can drop by uniliver and caritas foundation.all of are staff of manila adventist medical center colleges was recruit to boycott marcos and enter those secret of gold.

earn computer school tesda government

2 years computer secretarial office management (associate) tesda government passer, insurance plan saint peter officer in charge for on the job training

1998 – 2007

i am doing well reading the greg letter for abbreviation of the letter format with the letter head and doing steno typing

Activities and Societies: texas chicken at iba pa i am registrar operator cashier and female and male comfort room cleaning, to carry the heavy steel chair and table, and carry heavy waste put outside the building, scrubbing all inside and outside the store, opening and closing i am key holder while studying at 2nd year in earn school of tesda government.

Skills

porfoliopick-up garbage waste...i am good public...FacebookCustomer ServiceMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft WordPowerPointTypingTelevisionTeamworkSocial MediaOutlooksurfing

Certifications

certification of anti-virus in employment apprenticeship research network in government tesda agency

anti-virus "bugs kill to avoid slowly computer program" and avoid deleted program and back to zero

April 1998 – Present

Languages

English, Old (ca.450-1100)

japanese basic only

Native or bilingual proficiency

french basic

Limited working proficiency

Volunteer Experience & Causes

pcp3 barbosa station3 accompany of 4 police commander pinsp.armando claveria macaraeg

bautista st. quezon blvd. quiapo manila and the extension of police central front of f.e.u.

November 2012 – April 2014 (1 year 6 months)

i am polish the 2 armalites very heavy and 2 bullet box with 2 extra bullet in the table desk Barbosa pcp3 station3 and shabu operation show evidence from quiapo with manila city hall vehicle and proceeding in the camp crame edsa with psinsp.robinson valenciano maranion on rain non-stop we are all wet cloths and vehicle of manila city hall pick-up all respondents and police operations directly go to camp crame in middle in the night it is over time police officer on duty with out pay and me I am volunteer girl but not knowledge in criminology course, I am alone maria cristina aberin, interested to the operations which all police lack of support of other co-police,they where want first come first served for promotions, how if the police table desk claimed the letter in the fax we need all fax letter send it to all police stations for reinforces coming when shabu operation turns for having traitor ,red tape, under the table “pwedeng mag-operate ng intelligence at detective for shabu at female trafficking kung may babaeng magpapagamit for trapped and end the gang rape and shabu trafficking” ang labanang ito dapat ay may fax letter na ipakikita sa mga police station para sa biglaang barilan shoot-out at rub-out kapag narinig naming ang putukan may darating na s.o.s. na babaril sa mga kalaban ito ay 1st body 44 tao police maglalakad at sa likod ng 44 police may kalaban sa likod at hindi sila nasaklolohan dahil walang dumating na 2nd body na 44 police na dapat sila ang nasa likod at titingin kung may kalaban at kapag wala kalaban dapat may 3rd body pa na darating, katulad sa maguindanao massacre isang 1st body lang dumating at walang dumating para tumulong sa halip na makipagkaibigan sa mga sultan ay ginalit at ayaw na nilang making, ito ang resulta ng mga taong gusto promote sa work at ayaw mawalan ng trabaho kaya lahat ng illegal ay gagawin nila ang tawag ditto ay parol evidence “sounds to keep secret of original documents na may fax letter na may operations for detective at intillegence galling ang tawag at suppose to be dapat kabisado ng intelligence at detective ang lugar at kahit may muslim na kasama ay hindi niya alam na ginamit ang muslim sa mamasapano died ito ay malinaw na paninira sa administrasiyong milf na hindi sila mapagkatiwalaan, ang milf ay hindi sinungaling, may attorney Melvin alcantara arquillo ang natuwa sa andal ampatuan na wala na daw pera, ito lahat ay mga assassination or pagpatay sa mga milf sultan at mga sultan na muslim ay lagi sila papatay ng matatalino. Resisting arrest: pagtalikod sa sumpa na maging tapat sa trabaho pero sila ay kakausapin sa mobile phone pero may ibang nakikinig sa ibang linya katulad ng 3line call sa mobile phone at ilang tao ang ambush. Paano naman ako maria cristina aberin? Paulit-ulit po ba ako magpapagamit ng katawan ko sa mga lalaki upang mamatay man ako ay hindi ako tumanggap ng anumang halaga sa mga lalaki kapalit ng pagpatay sa president Gloria macapagal arroyo at iba pang middle class. Sino pa ang susunud papatayin? Mga babaeng working mother sa club? Student nurse ? katulong sa bahay nila president of international rotary club homemaker s amakati attorney Melvin alcantara arquillo home tangerine st. Marikina city at mis jovita torres arquillo ng sienna college del monte quezon city ?makati mayor at mga anak na alex Gonzaga at toni Gonzaga ng pinoy big brother? At sisihin si mayor alfredo limn a may utang sa meralco? Paano magkakautang ang manila mayor lim kung noon ay mayaman na talaga ang manila city hall kaysa naman sa Makati city na halos development premature pa po noon kasi nagsisimula palang sila at malalayo ang lugar ng office kung saan magwork sila, talaga bang international rotary club sila si atty. Arquillo or dori(muslim wedding with money),paano natin aalisin ang foreigner na hilig ay mag-asawa at uutang nga pera at hihiwalayan ang babaeng pinakasalan at pinapirma sa Citibank credit card at paano naman biktima maria cristina aberin hindi kasal sa Japanese pero may credit card at siya pa ang pinapirma na magnanakaw? Sino din ngayon gumagamit ng internet account ng maria cristina aberin at passport? Kalian hustisya? Hanggang kalian ang trapped na ito sa biktima maria cristina aberin? Wala naman na naniniwala sa akin dahil may pinatay na walang awa sa quiapo muslim barangay chairman na babae pero walang tumulong? Kalian ito makukuhang matapos? Sino ang magbabayad sa akin? Sarado na ang club sa malate, siniraan pa ako sa japan na magnanakaw ako, sino ang uutusan kong babae na magpapgamit ng katawan pero walang sahod pero all around katulong para lang mahuli ang mga grupo ni isko Moreno na pawing female trafficking syempre magpapanggap sila na asawa kahit hindi, paano ako? Hindi na ako makawork?sana bigyan nya pansin ako na magtraining baril naman for operations pero may bayad po. 2 years ako volunteer at ako pa nakulong sa mental hospital mandaluyong? Hanggang kalian ang pustahan ni many paquiao na world boxing champion for billion dollar account sa America? Dapat may show si manny paquiao bago pustahan sa malakihang pustahan na ito kasi hindi papaya ang America kung maliit ang pustahan pero dollar account dapat, paano na ako sa club lang ako umaasa at hirap pa matulog akala ko may cancer na ako sa utak sobrang sakit pero kulang sa tulog pala ako,paano din ako magrereklamo kay isko Moreno may tauhan siya registered nurse jake viray ng manila Adventist medical center colleges hawak nya ang identity password ko at bigla ako black listed at walang pera atm bank account ko? Ako po ay may credit card in behalf of kazumichi mada toyoda pero lahat binayaran ko na po, aari ba itong gamitin ni isko Moreno sa mga seaman ,school,travel agency show money ang atm ko na may pangalan din ng kazumichi mada toyoda na maraming utang sa japan? Hindi naman ako kabit kasi wala pong asawa kami parehong hiwalay po. Paano na ako work? Ako ba talaga ang bitag nila? Paano naman mga artista tulad Andrew e. at iba pang japan entertainer alam ko na mahirap sa japan pero pawing traydor lahat ang ginawa nila kaya ang boss ko naghirap, may mga sex bomb dancer noon kina vic sotto at joey de leon pero ng gro na ako sa club si willie revillame ng channel 5 ay kinuha nya ring dancer ang isa sa mga tauhan ng boss ko dun sa vito cruz sa tapata bahay ni loren legarda brother na nagrehab daw I am not sure pero under medicine administration because of high dosage special substance or shabu intake “verbalized only pero I’ve seen na lagging may bantay sa gate” I was there before I’ve got in malate and meet atty.imme marcos with willie espiritu and isko Moreno.

Kinuha ang passport ng tatay ko jose tilo aberin ng media man willie espiritu, paano naman ang teleserye of judy ann santos ang jane alcantara “the nursing hospital mother was in trauma of third party of same daughter nurse in hospital jane alcanatara is judy ann santos , ako ang reporter dito ni judy ann santos “bakit ako naman ang kinulong sa mental hospital sa 2011 totoong buhay? Next lorna tolentino ay namatay si rudy Fernandez with secret award of army with son mark Anthony Fernandez inside rehabilitation sa totoong buhay. In kidnapping at the age of 3 years old in wild life I am not kidnap victim in wild life quezon city “ in wild life I am with kim chu and tonton gutierrez in taping in the bridge of wild life” , in baseco compound it is not the utang na payable it was a campaigned of liberal party list and it was robin padilla or abubakar and daughter sounds wedding in sultan with dori “bakit naman bigla ang magundanao massacre? I am amature contestant join in fiesta when I was in grades school and won 20 pesos only, how sarah Geronimo become anting-anting daw ang piso so that she winner in the contest, marian rivera with mucalidin usman while me is donate my things that liberal campaigned continues won in elections after that I am not claimed any support , I am the one losing my dream. And now the mucalidin usman is died who can help me from milf Mindanao?now mayor alfredo lim is sad to hear he is meralco bill na pay who can give me work in abroad I have no birth certificate and no passport?sino law firm and lagi utang ng utang ng dollar account at lahat ng public attorney office po ba ay nakipagpustahan din kay world champion many paquiao ng dollar account show many? Paano ang mga government bread winner na mga kamag-anak ni jose tilo aberin at mga sundalo na galing America

Na walang pustahan sa dollar account pero lahat kami walang trabaho? Dapat ibalik ang pera kay president Ferdinand marcos at lahat kami ay makabalik sa government immigrant sa ibat ibang bansa at hindi kami baliw.frame-up lang kami ng bugaw at fake asawa kahit hiwalay na ay ginagamit ang nso at sss marriage documents at sino public attorney office pa po ang pwede kong lapitan? Dapat ay government public attorney na ang volunteer na tutulong kay original maria cristina aberin kasi pagod na po ako work sa club at ayaw naman ako bigyan ng certificate of volunteers ng mga police for 2 years at wala din akong certificates for intelligence sa mga news editor at school editor na plagiarized book editor po. Sana si president benigno noynoy smeon cojuangco Aquino III and search ng nagnakaw ng internet account ko na alam ko ako po ang may ari at kumita ito ng dollar account sa buong mundo po, pakibalik naman sa akin at para din kay pres.arroyo at pres.estrada at mayor lim at sa tatay ko tulungan nyo mahuli lahat ng law firm at call center at agent ng internet sa buong mundo kasi wala na akong work may allergy pa ako sa ubo,pantal sa katawan at Makati,mainitin ang ulo, wala na maisuot na maayos.gusto ko magkawork.tulungan nya ako at handa ako tumulong ,gusto ko po tulungan pa rin lahat sundalong milf.npa at iba pa dahil lahat sila ay matagal na nila ako hindi kinahiya sa work ko club pero traydor marami pa rin.

Opportunities maria cristina aberin is looking for:

Skills-based volunteering

maria cristina cares about:

Education

Organizations maria cristina supports:

el shaddai brother mike velarde with identity member of Makati city of brother mike velarde in el shaddai member , paranaque city and not michael barreto driver of attorney arquillo

Groups

Travel and Tour World

Travel and Tour World

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mariacristinabelgicaaberin mcba born in manila university of santo thomas hospital new manila, lacson st. espanya philippines

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin [nb 1] (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.

 

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. Gagarin later served as the deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre, which was subsequently named after him. He was elected as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union in 1962 and then to the Soviet of Nationalities, respectively the lower and upper chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Gagarin died in 1968 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 and education

2 Soviet Air Force service

3 Soviet space program

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 and monuments

7.4 50th anniversary

8 See also

9 Notes

10 References

10.1 Sources

11 Further reading

12 External links

 

Early life and education

 

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.[nb 2][4] Yuri was the third of four children: his siblings were brothers Valentin (1924) and Boris (1936), and sister Zoya (1927).[5][6]

 

Like millions of Soviet Union citizens, the Gagarin family suffered during the Nazi occupation of Russia 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. The family were allowed to build a mud hut approximately 3 by 3 metres (10 by 10 ft) inside on the land behind their house, where they spent twenty-one months until the end of the occupation.[7] 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.[5][8] In 1946, the family moved to Gzhatsk, where Gagarin continued his secondary education.[7]

 

In 1950, aged 16, Gagarin began an apprenticeship as a foundryman at the Lyubertsy steel plant near Moscow,[5][8] and enrolled at a local "young workers" school for seventh-grade evening classes.[9] After graduating in 1951 from both the seventh grade and the vocational school with honours in mouldmaking and foundry work,[9] he was selected for further training at the Saratov Industrial Technical School, where he studied tractors.[5][8][10] 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.[8][10] He earned extra money as a part-time dock labourer on the Volga River.[7]

Soviet Air Force service

 

In 1955, Gagarin was accepted to the 1st Chkalovsky Higher Air Force Pilots School, a flight school in Orenburg.[11][12] He initially began training on the Yak-18 already familiar to him and later graduated to training on the MiG-15 in February 1956.[11] 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,[13] Gagarin began flying solo in 1957.[5]

 

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 airbase close to the Norwegian border in Murmansk Oblast for a two-year assignment with the Northern Fleet.[14] On 7 July 1959, he was rated Military Pilot 3rd Class.[15] After expressing interest in space exploration following the launch of Luna 3 on 6 October 1959, his recommendation to the Soviet space program was endorsed and forward by Lieutenant Colonel Babushkin.[14][16] By this point, he had accumulated 265 hours of flight time.[14] Gagarin was promoted to the rank of senior lieutenant on 6 November 1959,[15] three weeks after he was interviewed by a medical commission for qualification to the space program.[14]

Soviet space program

Selection and training

See also: Vostok programme

Vostok I capsule on display at the RKK Energiya museum

 

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.[17]

 

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.[18] Gagarin began training at the Khodynka Airfield in downtown Moscow on 15 March 1960. The training regiment involved vigorous and repetitive physical exercises which Alexei Leonov, a member of the initial group of twelve, described as akin to training for the Olympics Games.[19] In April 1960, they began parachute training in Saratov Oblast and each completed about 40 to 50 jumps from both low and high altitude, and over land and water.[20]

 

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.[21] One of these candidates, Yevgeny Khrunov, believed that Gagarin was very focused and was demanding of himself and others when necessary.[22] On 30 May 1960, Gagarin was further selected for an accelerated training group, known as the Vanguard Six or Sochi Six,[23][nb 3] 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.[25]

 

As several of the candidates selected for the program including Gagarin did not have higher education degrees, they were enrolled into a correspondence course program at Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. Gagarin enrolled in the program in September 1960 and did not earn his specialist diploma until early 1968.[26][27] 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.[28][25] Psychological tests included placing the candidates in an anechoic chamber in complete isolation; Gagarin was in the chamber on July 26 – August 5.[29][20] 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.[21]

 

The Vanguard Six were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961[25] and entered a two-day examination conducted by a special interdepartmental commission led Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kamanin, tasked with ranking of the candidates based on their mission readiness for the first human Vostok mission. On 17 January 1961, 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 commission.[22] On the second day, they were given a written examination following which the special commission ranked Gagarin as the best candidate the first mission. He and the next two highest-ranked cosmonauts, Titov and Nelyubov, were sent to Tyuratam for final preparations.[22] Gagarin and Titov were selected to train in the flight-ready spacecraft on 7 April 1961. Historian Asif Siddiqi writes of the final selection:[30]

 

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, 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).[31] 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.[32][33]

 

Gagarin's farewell to Korolev using the informal phrase Poyekhali! (Russian: Поехали!)[nb 4] later became a popular expression in the Eastern Bloc that was used to refer to the beginning of the Space Age.[35][36] 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.[37] Gagarin became the first to orbit the Earth.[31]

File:1961-04-19 First Pictures-Yuri Gagarin-selection.ogvPlay media

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.[38] He also wrote in his autobiography released the same year that he sang the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows" (Russian: "Родина слышит, Родина знает") during re-entry.[39] Gagarin was qualified a Military Pilot 1st Class and promoted to the rank of major in a special order given during his flight.[15][39]

 

At about 23,000 feet (7,000 m), Gagarin ejected from the descending capsule as planned and landed using a parachute. 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.[40] Gagarin and Soviet officials initially refused to admit that he had not landed with his spacecraft,[41] 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 it rules, and acknowledge 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.[42]

After the Vostok 1 flight

Gagarin in Warsaw, 1961

 

Gagarin's flight was a triumph for the Soviet space program 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 World War II Victory Parades.[43]

Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova (seated to his right) sign autographs in 1964

 

Gagarin gained a reputation as an adept public figure and was noted for his charismatic smile.[44][45][46] On 15 April 1961, accompanied by official from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, he answered questions at a press conference in Moscow reportedly attended by 1,000 reporters.[47] Gagarin visited the United Kingdom three months after the Vostok 1 mission, going to London and Manchester.[48][44] 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.[44][49] Gagarin toured widely abroad, accepting the invitation of about 30 countries.[50] In just the first four months, he also went to Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, and Iceland.[51]

 

In 1962, Gagarin began serving as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union,[52] 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.[15] On 20 December 1963, Gagarin became Deputy Training Director of the Star City cosmonaut training base.[53] Soviet officials, including cosmonaut overseerer Nikolai 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".[54] 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.[5][10]

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.[52] The following year, he began to re-qualify as a fighter pilot[55] 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.[56]

 

The Soyuz 1 launch was rushed due to implicit political pressures[57] and despite Gagarin's protests that additional safety precautions were necessary.[58] Gagarin accompanied Komarov to the rocket before launch and relayed instructions to Komarov from ground control following multiple system failures aboard the spacecraft.[59] Despite their best efforts, Soyuz 1 crash landed after its parachutes failed to open, killing Komarov instantly.[60] After the Soyuz 1 crash, Gagarin was permanently banned from training for and participating in further spaceflights.[61] 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.[62] On 17 February 1968, Gagarin successfully defended his aerospace engineering thesis on the subject of spaceplane aerodynamic configuration and graduated cum laude from Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.[27][63][62]

Personal life

Gagarin and his wife Valentina clapping at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

Gagarin and his wife Valentina at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

 

Gagarin was a keen sportsman and fond of ice hockey as a goal keeper.[64] He was also a basketball fan and coached the Saratov Industrial Technical School team, as well as being a referee.[65]

 

In 1957, while a cadet in flight school, Gagarin met Valentina Goryacheva at the May Day celebrations at the Red Square in Moscow.[66] She was a medical technician who graduated from Orenburg Medical School.[8][10] They were married on 7 November 1957,[8] the same day Gagarin graduated from Orenburg, and they had two daughters.[67][68] Yelena Yurievna Gagarina, born 1959,[68] is an art historian who has worked as the director-general of the Moscow Kremlin Museums since 2001;[69][70] and Galina Yurievna Gagarina, born 1961,[68] is a professor of economics and the department chair at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow.[69][71] 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.[5][10]

Death

Plaque on a brick wall with inscription: Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин, 1934-03-09–1968-03-27

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 were buried in the walls of the Kremlin.[72] Wrapped in secrecy, the cause of the crash that killed Gagarin is uncertain and became the subject of several theories.[73][74] At least three investigations into the crash were conducted separately by the Air Force, official government commissions, and the KGB.[75][76] 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."[75]

 

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.[76] 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.[73] 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.[74]

 

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.[77] 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 manoeuvered 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".[78]

A Russian MiG-15UTI, the same type as Gagarin was flying

 

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, 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.[79] In a June 2013 interview with Russian television network RT, Leonov said a report on the incident confirmed the presence of a second, "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.[80]

Awards and honours

Medals and orders of merit

Jânio Quadros, President of Brazil, decorated Gagarin in 1961.

 

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,[81][82] Order of Lenin,[81] Merited Master of Sports of the Soviet Union[83] and the first Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.[82] On 15 April, the Soviet Academy of Sciences awarded him with the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal, named after the Russian pioneer of space aeronautics.[84] Gagarin had also been awarded four Soviet commemorative medals over the course of his career.[15]

 

He was honoured as a Hero of Socialist Labor (Czechoslovakia) on 29 April 1961,[85][86] and Hero of Socialist Labor (Bulgaria, including the Order of Georgi Dimitrov) on 24 May.[15][chronology citation needed] On the eighth anniversary of the beginning of 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.[87]

 

Gagarin was also awarded the 1960 Gold Air Medal and the 1961 De la Vaulx Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Switzerland.[88] 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,[15] the Italian Columbus Day Medal,[89] and a Gold Medal from the British Interplanetary Society.[90][91] President Jânio Quadros of Brazil decorated Gagarin on 2 August 1961 with the Order of Aeronautical Merit, Commander grade.[92] During a tour of Egypt in late January 1962, Gagarin received the Order of the Nile[93] and the golden keys to the gates of Cairo.[50] On 22 October 1963, Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova were honoured with the Order of Karl Marx from the German Democratic Republic.[94]

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.[95] Since 2000, Yuri's Night, an international celebration, is held annually to commemorate milestones in space exploration.[96] In 2011, it was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight by the United Nations.[97]

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, Russia, was named on 30 April 1968.[98] 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 Gagarin Air Force Academy in 1968.[99] A street in Warsaw, Poland, is called Yuri Gagarin Street.[100] The town of Gagarin, Armenia was renamed in his honour in 1961.[101]

 

Gagarin has been honoured on the Moon by astronauts and astronomers. During the American space program's Apollo 11 mission in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left a memorial satchel containing medals commemorating Gagarin and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov on the Moon's surface.[102][103] 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.[104][105] In 1970, a 262 km (163 mi)-wide crater on the far side after him.[106] Gagarin was inducted as a member of the 1976 inaugural class of the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico.[107]

 

Gagarin is memorialised in music; a cycle of Soviet patriotic songs titled The Constellation Gagarin (Russian: Созвездье Гагарина, tr. Sozvezdie Gagarina) was written by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov in 1970–1971.[108] The most famous of these songs refers to Gagarin's poyekhali!: in the lyrics, "He said 'let's go!' He waved his hand".[35][108] 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.[109]

Russian ten-ruble commemorating Gagarin in 2001

 

Vessels have been named for Gagarin; Soviet tracking ship Kosmonavt Yuri Gagarin was built in 1971[110] and the Armenian airline Armavia named their first Sukhoi Superjet 100 in his honour in 2011.[111]

 

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.[112] 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.[113]

 

In 2008, the Kontinental Hockey League named their championship trophy the Gagarin Cup.[114] In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Gagarin was ranked as the sixth-most-popular space hero, tied with Star Trek's fictional James T. Kirk.[115] 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.[116]

Statues and monuments

 

There are statues of Gagarin and monuments to him located in Gagarin (Smolensk Oblast), 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.[117] 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.[118]

Bust of Gagarin at Birla Planetarium in Kolkata, India

 

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.[119] In 2013, the statue was moved to a permanent location outside the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.[120]

 

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 artist and cosmonaut Alexei Leonov and was a gift to Houston by various Russian organisations. Houston Mayor Annise Parker, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were present for the dedication.[121][122] 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.[123]

 

In April 2018, a bust of Gagarin erected on the street in Belgrade, Serbia, that bears his name was removed, after less than 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.[124][125] 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.[126]

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.[127] 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.[128]

 

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 the first manned space mission.

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin [nb 1] (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.

 

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. Gagarin later served as the deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre, which was subsequently named after him. He was elected as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union in 1962 and then to the Soviet of Nationalities, respectively the lower and upper chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Gagarin died in 1968 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 and education

2 Soviet Air Force service

3 Soviet space program

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 and monuments

7.4 50th anniversary

8 See also

9 Notes

10 References

10.1 Sources

11 Further reading

12 External links

 

Early life and education

 

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.[nb 2][4] Yuri was the third of four children: his siblings were brothers Valentin (1924) and Boris (1936), and sister Zoya (1927).[5][6]

 

Like millions of Soviet Union citizens, the Gagarin family suffered during the Nazi occupation of Russia 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. The family were allowed to build a mud hut approximately 3 by 3 metres (10 by 10 ft) inside on the land behind their house, where they spent twenty-one months until the end of the occupation.[7] 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.[5][8] In 1946, the family moved to Gzhatsk, where Gagarin continued his secondary education.[7]

 

In 1950, aged 16, Gagarin began an apprenticeship as a foundryman at the Lyubertsy steel plant near Moscow,[5][8] and enrolled at a local "young workers" school for seventh-grade evening classes.[9] After graduating in 1951 from both the seventh grade and the vocational school with honours in mouldmaking and foundry work,[9] he was selected for further training at the Saratov Industrial Technical School, where he studied tractors.[5][8][10] 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.[8][10] He earned extra money as a part-time dock labourer on the Volga River.[7]

Soviet Air Force service

 

In 1955, Gagarin was accepted to the 1st Chkalovsky Higher Air Force Pilots School, a flight school in Orenburg.[11][12] He initially began training on the Yak-18 already familiar to him and later graduated to training on the MiG-15 in February 1956.[11] 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,[13] Gagarin began flying solo in 1957.[5]

 

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 airbase close to the Norwegian border in Murmansk Oblast for a two-year assignment with the Northern Fleet.[14] On 7 July 1959, he was rated Military Pilot 3rd Class.[15] After expressing interest in space exploration following the launch of Luna 3 on 6 October 1959, his recommendation to the Soviet space program was endorsed and forward by Lieutenant Colonel Babushkin.[14][16] By this point, he had accumulated 265 hours of flight time.[14] Gagarin was promoted to the rank of senior lieutenant on 6 November 1959,[15] three weeks after he was interviewed by a medical commission for qualification to the space program.[14]

Soviet space program

Selection and training

See also: Vostok programme

Vostok I capsule on display at the RKK Energiya museum

 

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.[17]

 

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.[18] Gagarin began training at the Khodynka Airfield in downtown Moscow on 15 March 1960. The training regiment involved vigorous and repetitive physical exercises which Alexei Leonov, a member of the initial group of twelve, described as akin to training for the Olympics Games.[19] In April 1960, they began parachute training in Saratov Oblast and each completed about 40 to 50 jumps from both low and high altitude, and over land and water.[20]

 

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.[21] One of these candidates, Yevgeny Khrunov, believed that Gagarin was very focused and was demanding of himself and others when necessary.[22] On 30 May 1960, Gagarin was further selected for an accelerated training group, known as the Vanguard Six or Sochi Six,[23][nb 3] 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.[25]

 

As several of the candidates selected for the program including Gagarin did not have higher education degrees, they were enrolled into a correspondence course program at Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. Gagarin enrolled in the program in September 1960 and did not earn his specialist diploma until early 1968.[26][27] 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.[28][25] Psychological tests included placing the candidates in an anechoic chamber in complete isolation; Gagarin was in the chamber on July 26 – August 5.[29][20] 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.[21]

 

The Vanguard Six were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961[25] and entered a two-day examination conducted by a special interdepartmental commission led Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kamanin, tasked with ranking of the candidates based on their mission readiness for the first human Vostok mission. On 17 January 1961, 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 commission.[22] On the second day, they were given a written examination following which the special commission ranked Gagarin as the best candidate the first mission. He and the next two highest-ranked cosmonauts, Titov and Nelyubov, were sent to Tyuratam for final preparations.[22] Gagarin and Titov were selected to train in the flight-ready spacecraft on 7 April 1961. Historian Asif Siddiqi writes of the final selection:[30]

 

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!

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Gagarin's voice

Problems playing this file? See media help.

 

On 12 April 1961, 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).[31] 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.[32][33]

 

Gagarin's farewell to Korolev using the informal phrase Poyekhali! (Russian: Поехали!)[nb 4] later became a popular expression in the Eastern Bloc that was used to refer to the beginning of the Space Age.[35][36] 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.[37] Gagarin became the first to orbit the Earth.[31]

File:1961-04-19 First Pictures-Yuri Gagarin-selection.ogvPlay media

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.[38] He also wrote in his autobiography released the same year that he sang the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows" (Russian: "Родина слышит, Родина знает") during re-entry.[39] Gagarin was qualified a Military Pilot 1st Class and promoted to the rank of major in a special order given during his flight.[15][39]

 

At about 23,000 feet (7,000 m), Gagarin ejected from the descending capsule as planned and landed using a parachute. 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.[40] Gagarin and Soviet officials initially refused to admit that he had not landed with his spacecraft,[41] 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 it rules, and acknowledge 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.[42]

After the Vostok 1 flight

Gagarin in Warsaw, 1961

 

Gagarin's flight was a triumph for the Soviet space program 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 World War II Victory Parades.[43]

Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova (seated to his right) sign autographs in 1964

 

Gagarin gained a reputation as an adept public figure and was noted for his charismatic smile.[44][45][46] On 15 April 1961, accompanied by official from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, he answered questions at a press conference in Moscow reportedly attended by 1,000 reporters.[47] Gagarin visited the United Kingdom three months after the Vostok 1 mission, going to London and Manchester.[48][44] 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.[44][49] Gagarin toured widely abroad, accepting the invitation of about 30 countries.[50] In just the first four months, he also went to Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, and Iceland.[51]

 

In 1962, Gagarin began serving as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union,[52] 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.[15] On 20 December 1963, Gagarin became Deputy Training Director of the Star City cosmonaut training base.[53] Soviet officials, including cosmonaut overseerer Nikolai 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".[54] 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.[5][10]

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.[52] The following year, he began to re-qualify as a fighter pilot[55] 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.[56]

 

The Soyuz 1 launch was rushed due to implicit political pressures[57] and despite Gagarin's protests that additional safety precautions were necessary.[58] Gagarin accompanied Komarov to the rocket before launch and relayed instructions to Komarov from ground control following multiple system failures aboard the spacecraft.[59] Despite their best efforts, Soyuz 1 crash landed after its parachutes failed to open, killing Komarov instantly.[60] After the Soyuz 1 crash, Gagarin was permanently banned from training for and participating in further spaceflights.[61] 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.[62] On 17 February 1968, Gagarin successfully defended his aerospace engineering thesis on the subject of spaceplane aerodynamic configuration and graduated cum laude from Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.[27][63][62]

Personal life

Gagarin and his wife Valentina clapping at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

Gagarin and his wife Valentina at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

 

Gagarin was a keen sportsman and fond of ice hockey as a goal keeper.[64] He was also a basketball fan and coached the Saratov Industrial Technical School team, as well as being a referee.[65]

 

In 1957, while a cadet in flight school, Gagarin met Valentina Goryacheva at the May Day celebrations at the Red Square in Moscow.[66] She was a medical technician who graduated from Orenburg Medical School.[8][10] They were married on 7 November 1957,[8] the same day Gagarin graduated from Orenburg, and they had two daughters.[67][68] Yelena Yurievna Gagarina, born 1959,[68] is an art historian who has worked as the director-general of the Moscow Kremlin Museums since 2001;[69][70] and Galina Yurievna Gagarina, born 1961,[68] is a professor of economics and the department chair at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow.[69][71] 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.[5][10]

Death

Plaque on a brick wall with inscription: Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин, 1934-03-09–1968-03-27

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 were buried in the walls of the Kremlin.[72] Wrapped in secrecy, the cause of the crash that killed Gagarin is uncertain and became the subject of several theories.[73][74] At least three investigations into the crash were conducted separately by the Air Force, official government commissions, and the KGB.[75][76] 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."[75]

 

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.[76] 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.[73] 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.[74]

 

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.[77] 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 manoeuvered 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".[78]

A Russian MiG-15UTI, the same type as Gagarin was flying

 

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, 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.[79] In a June 2013 interview with Russian television network RT, Leonov said a report on the incident confirmed the presence of a second, "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.[80]

Awards and honours

Medals and orders of merit

Jânio Quadros, President of Brazil, decorated Gagarin in 1961.

 

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,[81][82] Order of Lenin,[81] Merited Master of Sports of the Soviet Union[83] and the first Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.[82] On 15 April, the Soviet Academy of Sciences awarded him with the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal, named after the Russian pioneer of space aeronautics.[84] Gagarin had also been awarded four Soviet commemorative medals over the course of his career.[15]

 

He was honoured as a Hero of Socialist Labor (Czechoslovakia) on 29 April 1961,[85][86] and Hero of Socialist Labor (Bulgaria, including the Order of Georgi Dimitrov) on 24 May.[15][chronology citation needed] On the eighth anniversary of the beginning of 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.[87]

 

Gagarin was also awarded the 1960 Gold Air Medal and the 1961 De la Vaulx Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Switzerland.[88] 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,[15] the Italian Columbus Day Medal,[89] and a Gold Medal from the British Interplanetary Society.[90][91] President Jânio Quadros of Brazil decorated Gagarin on 2 August 1961 with the Order of Aeronautical Merit, Commander grade.[92] During a tour of Egypt in late January 1962, Gagarin received the Order of the Nile[93] and the golden keys to the gates of Cairo.[50] On 22 October 1963, Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova were honoured with the Order of Karl Marx from the German Democratic Republic.[94]

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.[95] Since 2000, Yuri's Night, an international celebration, is held annually to commemorate milestones in space exploration.[96] In 2011, it was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight by the United Nations.[97]

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, Russia, was named on 30 April 1968.[98] 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 Gagarin Air Force Academy in 1968.[99] A street in Warsaw, Poland, is called Yuri Gagarin Street.[100] The town of Gagarin, Armenia was renamed in his honour in 1961.[101]

 

Gagarin has been honoured on the Moon by astronauts and astronomers. During the American space program's Apollo 11 mission in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left a memorial satchel containing medals commemorating Gagarin and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov on the Moon's surface.[102][103] 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.[104][105] In 1970, a 262 km (163 mi)-wide crater on the far side after him.[106] Gagarin was inducted as a member of the 1976 inaugural class of the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico.[107]

 

Gagarin is memorialised in music; a cycle of Soviet patriotic songs titled The Constellation Gagarin (Russian: Созвездье Гагарина, tr. Sozvezdie Gagarina) was written by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov in 1970–1971.[108] The most famous of these songs refers to Gagarin's poyekhali!: in the lyrics, "He said 'let's go!' He waved his hand".[35][108] 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.[109]

Russian ten-ruble commemorating Gagarin in 2001

 

Vessels have been named for Gagarin; Soviet tracking ship Kosmonavt Yuri Gagarin was built in 1971[110] and the Armenian airline Armavia named their first Sukhoi Superjet 100 in his honour in 2011.[111]

 

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.[112] 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.[113]

 

In 2008, the Kontinental Hockey League named their championship trophy the Gagarin Cup.[114] In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Gagarin was ranked as the sixth-most-popular space hero, tied with Star Trek's fictional James T. Kirk.[115] 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.[116]

Statues and monuments

 

There are statues of Gagarin and monuments to him located in Gagarin (Smolensk Oblast), 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.[117] 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.[118]

Bust of Gagarin at Birla Planetarium in Kolkata, India

 

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.[119] In 2013, the statue was moved to a permanent location outside the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.[120]

 

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 artist and cosmonaut Alexei Leonov and was a gift to Houston by various Russian organisations. Houston Mayor Annise Parker, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were present for the dedication.[121][122] 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.[123]

 

In April 2018, a bust of Gagarin erected on the street in Belgrade, Serbia, that bears his name was removed, after less than 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.[124][125] 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.[126]

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.[127] 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.[128]

 

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 the first manned space mission.

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin [nb 1] (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.

 

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. Gagarin later served as the deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre, which was subsequently named after him. He was elected as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union in 1962 and then to the Soviet of Nationalities, respectively the lower and upper chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Gagarin died in 1968 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 and education

2 Soviet Air Force service

3 Soviet space program

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 and monuments

7.4 50th anniversary

8 See also

9 Notes

10 References

10.1 Sources

11 Further reading

12 External links

 

Early life and education

 

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.[nb 2][4] Yuri was the third of four children: his siblings were brothers Valentin (1924) and Boris (1936), and sister Zoya (1927).[5][6]

 

Like millions of Soviet Union citizens, the Gagarin family suffered during the Nazi occupation of Russia 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. The family were allowed to build a mud hut approximately 3 by 3 metres (10 by 10 ft) inside on the land behind their house, where they spent twenty-one months until the end of the occupation.[7] 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.[5][8] In 1946, the family moved to Gzhatsk, where Gagarin continued his secondary education.[7]

 

In 1950, aged 16, Gagarin began an apprenticeship as a foundryman at the Lyubertsy steel plant near Moscow,[5][8] and enrolled at a local "young workers" school for seventh-grade evening classes.[9] After graduating in 1951 from both the seventh grade and the vocational school with honours in mouldmaking and foundry work,[9] he was selected for further training at the Saratov Industrial Technical School, where he studied tractors.[5][8][10] 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.[8][10] He earned extra money as a part-time dock labourer on the Volga River.[7]

Soviet Air Force service

 

In 1955, Gagarin was accepted to the 1st Chkalovsky Higher Air Force Pilots School, a flight school in Orenburg.[11][12] He initially began training on the Yak-18 already familiar to him and later graduated to training on the MiG-15 in February 1956.[11] 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,[13] Gagarin began flying solo in 1957.[5]

 

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 airbase close to the Norwegian border in Murmansk Oblast for a two-year assignment with the Northern Fleet.[14] On 7 July 1959, he was rated Military Pilot 3rd Class.[15] After expressing interest in space exploration following the launch of Luna 3 on 6 October 1959, his recommendation to the Soviet space program was endorsed and forward by Lieutenant Colonel Babushkin.[14][16] By this point, he had accumulated 265 hours of flight time.[14] Gagarin was promoted to the rank of senior lieutenant on 6 November 1959,[15] three weeks after he was interviewed by a medical commission for qualification to the space program.[14]

Soviet space program

Selection and training

See also: Vostok programme

Vostok I capsule on display at the RKK Energiya museum

 

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.[17]

 

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.[18] Gagarin began training at the Khodynka Airfield in downtown Moscow on 15 March 1960. The training regiment involved vigorous and repetitive physical exercises which Alexei Leonov, a member of the initial group of twelve, described as akin to training for the Olympics Games.[19] In April 1960, they began parachute training in Saratov Oblast and each completed about 40 to 50 jumps from both low and high altitude, and over land and water.[20]

 

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.[21] One of these candidates, Yevgeny Khrunov, believed that Gagarin was very focused and was demanding of himself and others when necessary.[22] On 30 May 1960, Gagarin was further selected for an accelerated training group, known as the Vanguard Six or Sochi Six,[23][nb 3] 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.[25]

 

As several of the candidates selected for the program including Gagarin did not have higher education degrees, they were enrolled into a correspondence course program at Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. Gagarin enrolled in the program in September 1960 and did not earn his specialist diploma until early 1968.[26][27] 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.[28][25] Psychological tests included placing the candidates in an anechoic chamber in complete isolation; Gagarin was in the chamber on July 26 – August 5.[29][20] 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.[21]

 

The Vanguard Six were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961[25] and entered a two-day examination conducted by a special interdepartmental commission led Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kamanin, tasked with ranking of the candidates based on their mission readiness for the first human Vostok mission. On 17 January 1961, 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 commission.[22] On the second day, they were given a written examination following which the special commission ranked Gagarin as the best candidate the first mission. He and the next two highest-ranked cosmonauts, Titov and Nelyubov, were sent to Tyuratam for final preparations.[22] Gagarin and Titov were selected to train in the flight-ready spacecraft on 7 April 1961. Historian Asif Siddiqi writes of the final selection:[30]

 

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!

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Gagarin's voice

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On 12 April 1961, 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).[31] 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.[32][33]

 

Gagarin's farewell to Korolev using the informal phrase Poyekhali! (Russian: Поехали!)[nb 4] later became a popular expression in the Eastern Bloc that was used to refer to the beginning of the Space Age.[35][36] 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.[37] Gagarin became the first to orbit the Earth.[31]

File:1961-04-19 First Pictures-Yuri Gagarin-selection.ogvPlay media

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.[38] He also wrote in his autobiography released the same year that he sang the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows" (Russian: "Родина слышит, Родина знает") during re-entry.[39] Gagarin was qualified a Military Pilot 1st Class and promoted to the rank of major in a special order given during his flight.[15][39]

 

At about 23,000 feet (7,000 m), Gagarin ejected from the descending capsule as planned and landed using a parachute. 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.[40] Gagarin and Soviet officials initially refused to admit that he had not landed with his spacecraft,[41] 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 it rules, and acknowledge 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.[42]

After the Vostok 1 flight

Gagarin in Warsaw, 1961

 

Gagarin's flight was a triumph for the Soviet space program 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 World War II Victory Parades.[43]

Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova (seated to his right) sign autographs in 1964

 

Gagarin gained a reputation as an adept public figure and was noted for his charismatic smile.[44][45][46] On 15 April 1961, accompanied by official from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, he answered questions at a press conference in Moscow reportedly attended by 1,000 reporters.[47] Gagarin visited the United Kingdom three months after the Vostok 1 mission, going to London and Manchester.[48][44] 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.[44][49] Gagarin toured widely abroad, accepting the invitation of about 30 countries.[50] In just the first four months, he also went to Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, and Iceland.[51]

 

In 1962, Gagarin began serving as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union,[52] 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.[15] On 20 December 1963, Gagarin became Deputy Training Director of the Star City cosmonaut training base.[53] Soviet officials, including cosmonaut overseerer Nikolai 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".[54] 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.[5][10]

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.[52] The following year, he began to re-qualify as a fighter pilot[55] 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.[56]

 

The Soyuz 1 launch was rushed due to implicit political pressures[57] and despite Gagarin's protests that additional safety precautions were necessary.[58] Gagarin accompanied Komarov to the rocket before launch and relayed instructions to Komarov from ground control following multiple system failures aboard the spacecraft.[59] Despite their best efforts, Soyuz 1 crash landed after its parachutes failed to open, killing Komarov instantly.[60] After the Soyuz 1 crash, Gagarin was permanently banned from training for and participating in further spaceflights.[61] 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.[62] On 17 February 1968, Gagarin successfully defended his aerospace engineering thesis on the subject of spaceplane aerodynamic configuration and graduated cum laude from Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.[27][63][62]

Personal life

Gagarin and his wife Valentina clapping at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

Gagarin and his wife Valentina at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

 

Gagarin was a keen sportsman and fond of ice hockey as a goal keeper.[64] He was also a basketball fan and coached the Saratov Industrial Technical School team, as well as being a referee.[65]

 

In 1957, while a cadet in flight school, Gagarin met Valentina Goryacheva at the May Day celebrations at the Red Square in Moscow.[66] She was a medical technician who graduated from Orenburg Medical School.[8][10] They were married on 7 November 1957,[8] the same day Gagarin graduated from Orenburg, and they had two daughters.[67][68] Yelena Yurievna Gagarina, born 1959,[68] is an art historian who has worked as the director-general of the Moscow Kremlin Museums since 2001;[69][70] and Galina Yurievna Gagarina, born 1961,[68] is a professor of economics and the department chair at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow.[69][71] 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.[5][10]

Death

Plaque on a brick wall with inscription: Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин, 1934-03-09–1968-03-27

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 were buried in the walls of the Kremlin.[72] Wrapped in secrecy, the cause of the crash that killed Gagarin is uncertain and became the subject of several theories.[73][74] At least three investigations into the crash were conducted separately by the Air Force, official government commissions, and the KGB.[75][76] 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."[75]

 

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.[76] 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.[73] 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.[74]

 

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.[77] 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 manoeuvered 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".[78]

A Russian MiG-15UTI, the same type as Gagarin was flying

 

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, 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.[79] In a June 2013 interview with Russian television network RT, Leonov said a report on the incident confirmed the presence of a second, "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.[80]

Awards and honours

Medals and orders of merit

Jânio Quadros, President of Brazil, decorated Gagarin in 1961.

 

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,[81][82] Order of Lenin,[81] Merited Master of Sports of the Soviet Union[83] and the first Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.[82] On 15 April, the Soviet Academy of Sciences awarded him with the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal, named after the Russian pioneer of space aeronautics.[84] Gagarin had also been awarded four Soviet commemorative medals over the course of his career.[15]

 

He was honoured as a Hero of Socialist Labor (Czechoslovakia) on 29 April 1961,[85][86] and Hero of Socialist Labor (Bulgaria, including the Order of Georgi Dimitrov) on 24 May.[15][chronology citation needed] On the eighth anniversary of the beginning of 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.[87]

 

Gagarin was also awarded the 1960 Gold Air Medal and the 1961 De la Vaulx Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Switzerland.[88] 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,[15] the Italian Columbus Day Medal,[89] and a Gold Medal from the British Interplanetary Society.[90][91] President Jânio Quadros of Brazil decorated Gagarin on 2 August 1961 with the Order of Aeronautical Merit, Commander grade.[92] During a tour of Egypt in late January 1962, Gagarin received the Order of the Nile[93] and the golden keys to the gates of Cairo.[50] On 22 October 1963, Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova were honoured with the Order of Karl Marx from the German Democratic Republic.[94]

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.[95] Since 2000, Yuri's Night, an international celebration, is held annually to commemorate milestones in space exploration.[96] In 2011, it was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight by the United Nations.[97]

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, Russia, was named on 30 April 1968.[98] 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 Gagarin Air Force Academy in 1968.[99] A street in Warsaw, Poland, is called Yuri Gagarin Street.[100] The town of Gagarin, Armenia was renamed in his honour in 1961.[101]

 

Gagarin has been honoured on the Moon by astronauts and astronomers. During the American space program's Apollo 11 mission in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left a memorial satchel containing medals commemorating Gagarin and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov on the Moon's surface.[102][103] 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.[104][105] In 1970, a 262 km (163 mi)-wide crater on the far side after him.[106] Gagarin was inducted as a member of the 1976 inaugural class of the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico.[107]

 

Gagarin is memorialised in music; a cycle of Soviet patriotic songs titled The Constellation Gagarin (Russian: Созвездье Гагарина, tr. Sozvezdie Gagarina) was written by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov in 1970–1971.[108] The most famous of these songs refers to Gagarin's poyekhali!: in the lyrics, "He said 'let's go!' He waved his hand".[35][108] 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.[109]

Russian ten-ruble commemorating Gagarin in 2001

 

Vessels have been named for Gagarin; Soviet tracking ship Kosmonavt Yuri Gagarin was built in 1971[110] and the Armenian airline Armavia named their first Sukhoi Superjet 100 in his honour in 2011.[111]

 

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.[112] 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.[113]

 

In 2008, the Kontinental Hockey League named their championship trophy the Gagarin Cup.[114] In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Gagarin was ranked as the sixth-most-popular space hero, tied with Star Trek's fictional James T. Kirk.[115] 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.[116]

Statues and monuments

 

There are statues of Gagarin and monuments to him located in Gagarin (Smolensk Oblast), 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.[117] 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.[118]

Bust of Gagarin at Birla Planetarium in Kolkata, India

 

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.[119] In 2013, the statue was moved to a permanent location outside the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.[120]

 

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 artist and cosmonaut Alexei Leonov and was a gift to Houston by various Russian organisations. Houston Mayor Annise Parker, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were present for the dedication.[121][122] 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.[123]

 

In April 2018, a bust of Gagarin erected on the street in Belgrade, Serbia, that bears his name was removed, after less than 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.[124][125] 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.[126]

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.[127] 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.[128]

 

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 the first manned space mission.

but especially at Christmas :-)

 

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She deejays part time.

Erotica LA 2006 Day 1

Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin [nb 1] (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.

 

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. Gagarin later served as the deputy training director of the Cosmonaut Training Centre, which was subsequently named after him. He was elected as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union in 1962 and then to the Soviet of Nationalities, respectively the lower and upper chambers of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Gagarin died in 1968 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 and education

2 Soviet Air Force service

3 Soviet space program

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 and monuments

7.4 50th anniversary

8 See also

9 Notes

10 References

10.1 Sources

11 Further reading

12 External links

 

Early life and education

 

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.[nb 2][4] Yuri was the third of four children: his siblings were brothers Valentin (1924) and Boris (1936), and sister Zoya (1927).[5][6]

 

Like millions of Soviet Union citizens, the Gagarin family suffered during the Nazi occupation of Russia 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. The family were allowed to build a mud hut approximately 3 by 3 metres (10 by 10 ft) inside on the land behind their house, where they spent twenty-one months until the end of the occupation.[7] 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.[5][8] In 1946, the family moved to Gzhatsk, where Gagarin continued his secondary education.[7]

 

In 1950, aged 16, Gagarin began an apprenticeship as a foundryman at the Lyubertsy steel plant near Moscow,[5][8] and enrolled at a local "young workers" school for seventh-grade evening classes.[9] After graduating in 1951 from both the seventh grade and the vocational school with honours in mouldmaking and foundry work,[9] he was selected for further training at the Saratov Industrial Technical School, where he studied tractors.[5][8][10] 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.[8][10] He earned extra money as a part-time dock labourer on the Volga River.[7]

Soviet Air Force service

 

In 1955, Gagarin was accepted to the 1st Chkalovsky Higher Air Force Pilots School, a flight school in Orenburg.[11][12] He initially began training on the Yak-18 already familiar to him and later graduated to training on the MiG-15 in February 1956.[11] 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,[13] Gagarin began flying solo in 1957.[5]

 

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 airbase close to the Norwegian border in Murmansk Oblast for a two-year assignment with the Northern Fleet.[14] On 7 July 1959, he was rated Military Pilot 3rd Class.[15] After expressing interest in space exploration following the launch of Luna 3 on 6 October 1959, his recommendation to the Soviet space program was endorsed and forward by Lieutenant Colonel Babushkin.[14][16] By this point, he had accumulated 265 hours of flight time.[14] Gagarin was promoted to the rank of senior lieutenant on 6 November 1959,[15] three weeks after he was interviewed by a medical commission for qualification to the space program.[14]

Soviet space program

Selection and training

See also: Vostok programme

Vostok I capsule on display at the RKK Energiya museum

 

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.[17]

 

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.[18] Gagarin began training at the Khodynka Airfield in downtown Moscow on 15 March 1960. The training regiment involved vigorous and repetitive physical exercises which Alexei Leonov, a member of the initial group of twelve, described as akin to training for the Olympics Games.[19] In April 1960, they began parachute training in Saratov Oblast and each completed about 40 to 50 jumps from both low and high altitude, and over land and water.[20]

 

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.[21] One of these candidates, Yevgeny Khrunov, believed that Gagarin was very focused and was demanding of himself and others when necessary.[22] On 30 May 1960, Gagarin was further selected for an accelerated training group, known as the Vanguard Six or Sochi Six,[23][nb 3] 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.[25]

 

As several of the candidates selected for the program including Gagarin did not have higher education degrees, they were enrolled into a correspondence course program at Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy. Gagarin enrolled in the program in September 1960 and did not earn his specialist diploma until early 1968.[26][27] 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.[28][25] Psychological tests included placing the candidates in an anechoic chamber in complete isolation; Gagarin was in the chamber on July 26 – August 5.[29][20] 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.[21]

 

The Vanguard Six were given the title of pilot-cosmonaut in January 1961[25] and entered a two-day examination conducted by a special interdepartmental commission led Lieutenant-General Nikolai Kamanin, tasked with ranking of the candidates based on their mission readiness for the first human Vostok mission. On 17 January 1961, 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 commission.[22] On the second day, they were given a written examination following which the special commission ranked Gagarin as the best candidate the first mission. He and the next two highest-ranked cosmonauts, Titov and Nelyubov, were sent to Tyuratam for final preparations.[22] Gagarin and Titov were selected to train in the flight-ready spacecraft on 7 April 1961. Historian Asif Siddiqi writes of the final selection:[30]

 

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!

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Gagarin's voice

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On 12 April 1961, 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).[31] 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.[32][33]

 

Gagarin's farewell to Korolev using the informal phrase Poyekhali! (Russian: Поехали!)[nb 4] later became a popular expression in the Eastern Bloc that was used to refer to the beginning of the Space Age.[35][36] 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.[37] Gagarin became the first to orbit the Earth.[31]

File:1961-04-19 First Pictures-Yuri Gagarin-selection.ogvPlay media

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.[38] He also wrote in his autobiography released the same year that he sang the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows" (Russian: "Родина слышит, Родина знает") during re-entry.[39] Gagarin was qualified a Military Pilot 1st Class and promoted to the rank of major in a special order given during his flight.[15][39]

 

At about 23,000 feet (7,000 m), Gagarin ejected from the descending capsule as planned and landed using a parachute. 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.[40] Gagarin and Soviet officials initially refused to admit that he had not landed with his spacecraft,[41] 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 it rules, and acknowledge 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.[42]

After the Vostok 1 flight

Gagarin in Warsaw, 1961

 

Gagarin's flight was a triumph for the Soviet space program 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 World War II Victory Parades.[43]

Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova (seated to his right) sign autographs in 1964

 

Gagarin gained a reputation as an adept public figure and was noted for his charismatic smile.[44][45][46] On 15 April 1961, accompanied by official from the Soviet Academy of Sciences, he answered questions at a press conference in Moscow reportedly attended by 1,000 reporters.[47] Gagarin visited the United Kingdom three months after the Vostok 1 mission, going to London and Manchester.[48][44] 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.[44][49] Gagarin toured widely abroad, accepting the invitation of about 30 countries.[50] In just the first four months, he also went to Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, and Iceland.[51]

 

In 1962, Gagarin began serving as a deputy to the Soviet of the Union,[52] 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.[15] On 20 December 1963, Gagarin became Deputy Training Director of the Star City cosmonaut training base.[53] Soviet officials, including cosmonaut overseerer Nikolai 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".[54] 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.[5][10]

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.[52] The following year, he began to re-qualify as a fighter pilot[55] 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.[56]

 

The Soyuz 1 launch was rushed due to implicit political pressures[57] and despite Gagarin's protests that additional safety precautions were necessary.[58] Gagarin accompanied Komarov to the rocket before launch and relayed instructions to Komarov from ground control following multiple system failures aboard the spacecraft.[59] Despite their best efforts, Soyuz 1 crash landed after its parachutes failed to open, killing Komarov instantly.[60] After the Soyuz 1 crash, Gagarin was permanently banned from training for and participating in further spaceflights.[61] 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.[62] On 17 February 1968, Gagarin successfully defended his aerospace engineering thesis on the subject of spaceplane aerodynamic configuration and graduated cum laude from Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy.[27][63][62]

Personal life

Gagarin and his wife Valentina clapping at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

Gagarin and his wife Valentina at a concert in Moscow in 1964.

 

Gagarin was a keen sportsman and fond of ice hockey as a goal keeper.[64] He was also a basketball fan and coached the Saratov Industrial Technical School team, as well as being a referee.[65]

 

In 1957, while a cadet in flight school, Gagarin met Valentina Goryacheva at the May Day celebrations at the Red Square in Moscow.[66] She was a medical technician who graduated from Orenburg Medical School.[8][10] They were married on 7 November 1957,[8] the same day Gagarin graduated from Orenburg, and they had two daughters.[67][68] Yelena Yurievna Gagarina, born 1959,[68] is an art historian who has worked as the director-general of the Moscow Kremlin Museums since 2001;[69][70] and Galina Yurievna Gagarina, born 1961,[68] is a professor of economics and the department chair at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics in Moscow.[69][71] 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.[5][10]

Death

Plaque on a brick wall with inscription: Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин, 1934-03-09–1968-03-27

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 were buried in the walls of the Kremlin.[72] Wrapped in secrecy, the cause of the crash that killed Gagarin is uncertain and became the subject of several theories.[73][74] At least three investigations into the crash were conducted separately by the Air Force, official government commissions, and the KGB.[75][76] 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."[75]

 

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.[76] 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.[73] 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.[74]

 

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.[77] 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 manoeuvered 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".[78]

A Russian MiG-15UTI, the same type as Gagarin was flying

 

Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, 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.[79] In a June 2013 interview with Russian television network RT, Leonov said a report on the incident confirmed the presence of a second, "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.[80]

Awards and honours

Medals and orders of merit

Jânio Quadros, President of Brazil, decorated Gagarin in 1961.

 

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,[81][82] Order of Lenin,[81] Merited Master of Sports of the Soviet Union[83] and the first Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR.[82] On 15 April, the Soviet Academy of Sciences awarded him with the Konstantin Tsiolkovsky Gold Medal, named after the Russian pioneer of space aeronautics.[84] Gagarin had also been awarded four Soviet commemorative medals over the course of his career.[15]

 

He was honoured as a Hero of Socialist Labor (Czechoslovakia) on 29 April 1961,[85][86] and Hero of Socialist Labor (Bulgaria, including the Order of Georgi Dimitrov) on 24 May.[15][chronology citation needed] On the eighth anniversary of the beginning of 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.[87]

 

Gagarin was also awarded the 1960 Gold Air Medal and the 1961 De la Vaulx Medal from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in Switzerland.[88] 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,[15] the Italian Columbus Day Medal,[89] and a Gold Medal from the British Interplanetary Society.[90][91] President Jânio Quadros of Brazil decorated Gagarin on 2 August 1961 with the Order of Aeronautical Merit, Commander grade.[92] During a tour of Egypt in late January 1962, Gagarin received the Order of the Nile[93] and the golden keys to the gates of Cairo.[50] On 22 October 1963, Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova were honoured with the Order of Karl Marx from the German Democratic Republic.[94]

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.[95] Since 2000, Yuri's Night, an international celebration, is held annually to commemorate milestones in space exploration.[96] In 2011, it was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight by the United Nations.[97]

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, Russia, was named on 30 April 1968.[98] 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 Gagarin Air Force Academy in 1968.[99] A street in Warsaw, Poland, is called Yuri Gagarin Street.[100] The town of Gagarin, Armenia was renamed in his honour in 1961.[101]

 

Gagarin has been honoured on the Moon by astronauts and astronomers. During the American space program's Apollo 11 mission in 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin left a memorial satchel containing medals commemorating Gagarin and fellow cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov on the Moon's surface.[102][103] 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.[104][105] In 1970, a 262 km (163 mi)-wide crater on the far side after him.[106] Gagarin was inducted as a member of the 1976 inaugural class of the International Space Hall of Fame in New Mexico.[107]

 

Gagarin is memorialised in music; a cycle of Soviet patriotic songs titled The Constellation Gagarin (Russian: Созвездье Гагарина, tr. Sozvezdie Gagarina) was written by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov in 1970–1971.[108] The most famous of these songs refers to Gagarin's poyekhali!: in the lyrics, "He said 'let's go!' He waved his hand".[35][108] 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.[109]

Russian ten-ruble commemorating Gagarin in 2001

 

Vessels have been named for Gagarin; Soviet tracking ship Kosmonavt Yuri Gagarin was built in 1971[110] and the Armenian airline Armavia named their first Sukhoi Superjet 100 in his honour in 2011.[111]

 

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.[112] 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.[113]

 

In 2008, the Kontinental Hockey League named their championship trophy the Gagarin Cup.[114] In a 2010 Space Foundation survey, Gagarin was ranked as the sixth-most-popular space hero, tied with Star Trek's fictional James T. Kirk.[115] 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.[116]

Statues and monuments

 

There are statues of Gagarin and monuments to him located in Gagarin (Smolensk Oblast), 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.[117] 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.[118]

Bust of Gagarin at Birla Planetarium in Kolkata, India

 

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.[119] In 2013, the statue was moved to a permanent location outside the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.[120]

 

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 artist and cosmonaut Alexei Leonov and was a gift to Houston by various Russian organisations. Houston Mayor Annise Parker, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were present for the dedication.[121][122] 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.[123]

 

In April 2018, a bust of Gagarin erected on the street in Belgrade, Serbia, that bears his name was removed, after less than 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.[124][125] 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.[126]

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.[127] 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.[128]

 

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 the first manned space mission.

2005 and 2009

talent in abs-cbn and gma7

January 2005 – Present (10 years 2 months)

i am talent of walking in the bridge of wild life quezon city accompany of celebrity/actor tonton gutierrez and kim chu it is the time there is no pinoy big brother that time. pinoy big brother was conducted during Liberal party list campaigned active with councilor francisco domagoso nickname isko moreno before he winner for vicemayor of city hall of manila and he is a bold star images and reason i was hate him so much for discriminates me as a guest relation officer wworking student and same time part time talent in television. i am not commit aids /hiv illness just what i heard from his part 2nd floor staff of isko moreno are all bugaw "case red tape" during black nazarene fiesta january 09, 2014

Test Scores

maria cristina aberin

Score: perfect 100%

July 1999

greg book translation and brief words for steno typing letter and show the abbreviation of the letter in yellow paper.

Courses

Independent Coursework

3rd year nursing internship

Honors & Awards

alcove 101 digital camera april 04, 2009 and april 05 2009

april 04, 2009

April 2009

black and white photo in computer but we take photo colored using our digital camera by individual with other abs-cbn anchor name karen davila but she is not coming with in 2 days workshop but all of them greet my secret birthday and and derma clinic bake some pizza for me she is allen wong valdez of cityland condominium the assistant of doctor lacson during my liposuction with 300,000.00 cash 2009

Organizations

liberal party list

volunteer model

October 2009 – Present

Case# 10189636: I can't LOG IN(2)

People

Twitter Support Hello, I’m having trouble locating a Twitter ACCOUNT using the information you’ve provided. Please reply with the following details: What is the email address you used on this account? Do you stil

Jan 9 at 6:03 PMme

To Twitter Support Jan 9 at 6:13 PM

i don't have any work at all since my internet was hacked, i've could never attached any documents at any of my accounts. sindicated gang or group was having changing my any detailed documents at my live birth. i've alone and scary to proceeding staff in government that i've noticed all of them was payabled in cash to keep my name show to any person to please send support and help with me personally. could i've do a chance to seek my documents even i've don't any had MONEYyet. i was walk in the road for small garbage waste to pick it up like for examples plastic bottles, steel,old boxes,7 eleven waste bag pick -up with me it is too very heavy and very tired with me for amounting 5.00 pesos up to 20.00 and up to buy or purshasing any documents that commit with the government. please do not insulting this is a real condition of mind. i am accompany take some food with other concerns relative but totally got financial problems, are you government officials? kindly proceeding at my place naguilan road san fernando la union and look for me personally i am maria cristina belgica aberin " tin" i've no mobile phone i was able to take insert the new simcard of tm new simcard right now to any person got very kind personality but now i have left the simcard in the computer operator 2nd floor of naguilan road san fernando la union market just look the simcard

vendors party list with commander milf sultan datu abdulatif paglala sr. and nor miswari in barangay 649 baseco tondo manila, region arrmm mindanao, philippine normal university taft avenue manila with students cadette and cadet officials

volunteer model

Case# 10189636: I can't LOG IN(2)

People

Twitter Support Hello, I’m having trouble locating a Twitter ACCOUNT using the information you’ve provided. Please reply with the following details: What is the email address you used on this account? Do you stil

Jan 9 at 6:03 PM

me

To Twitter Support Jan 9 at 6:13 PM

i don't have any work at all since my internet was hacked, i've could never attached any documents at any of my ACCOUNTS. sindicated gang or group was having changing my any detailed documents at my live birth. i've alone and scary to proceeding staff in government that i've noticed all of them was payabled in cash to keep my name show to any person to please send support and help with me personally. could i've do a chance to seek my documents even i've don't any had money yet. i was walk in the road for small garbage waste to pick it up like for examples plastic bottles, steel,old boxes,7 eleven waste bag pick -up with me it is too very heavy and very tired with me for amounting 5.00 pesos up to 20.00 and up to buy or purshasing any documents that commit with the government. please do not insulting this is a real condition of mind. i am accompany take some food with other concerns relative but totally got financial problems, are you government officials? kindly proceeding at my place naguilan road san fernando la union and look for me personally i am maria cristina belgica aberin " tin" i've no mobile phone i was able to take insert the new simcard of tm new simcard right now to any person got very kind personality but now i have left the simcard

Education

Manila Adventist Medical Center and Colleges

3rd year internship / community nurse student 3rd yr. 2009, exposure in barangay makati in the barangay clinic to teach them for early pregnant afraid vaccine.

2007 – 2011

i am always wait for good cheater to teach me what is the answer key in fundamental major subject in nursing and i was failured for that to passed the exam.

Activities and Societies: lefrizer missionary was collecting blood and their families was staff of uniliver along taft avenue back of malacanang palace in the house of presidential body guard you can drop by uniliver and caritas foundation.all of are staff of manila adventist medical center colleges was recruit to boycott marcos and enter those secret of gold.

earn computer school tesda government

2 years computer secretarial office management (associate) tesda government passer, insurance plan saint peter officer in charge for on the job training

1998 – 2007

i am doing well reading the greg letter for abbreviation of the letter format with the letter head and doing steno typing

Activities and Societies: texas chicken at iba pa i am registrar operator cashier and female and male comfort room cleaning, to carry the heavy steel chair and table, and carry heavy waste put outside the building, scrubbing all inside and outside the store, opening and closing i am key holder while studying at 2nd year in earn school of tesda government.

Skills

porfoliopick-up garbage waste...i am good public...FacebookCustomer ServiceMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft WordPowerPointTypingTelevisionTeamworkSocial MediaOutlooksurfing

Certifications

certification of anti-virus in employment apprenticeship research network in government tesda agency

anti-virus "bugs kill to avoid slowly computer program" and avoid deleted program and back to zero

April 1998 – Present

Languages

English, Old (ca.450-1100)

japanese basic only

Native or bilingual proficiency

french basic

Limited working proficiency

Volunteer Experience & Causes

pcp3 barbosa station3 accompany of 4 police commander pinsp.armando claveria macaraeg

bautista st. quezon blvd. quiapo manila and the extension of police central front of f.e.u.

November 2012 – April 2014 (1 year 6 months)

i am polish the 2 armalites very heavy and 2 bullet box with 2 extra bullet in the table desk Barbosa pcp3 station3 and shabu operation show evidence from quiapo with manila city hall vehicle and proceeding in the camp crame edsa with psinsp.robinson valenciano maranion on rain non-stop we are all wet cloths and vehicle of manila city hall pick-up all respondents and police operations directly go to camp crame in middle in the night it is over time police officer on duty with out pay and me I am volunteer girl but not knowledge in criminology course, I am alone maria cristina aberin, interested to the operations which all police lack of support of other co-police,they where want first come first served for promotions, how if the police table desk claimed the letter in the fax we need all fax letter send it to all police stations for reinforces coming when shabu operation turns for having traitor ,red tape, under the table “pwedeng mag-operate ng intelligence at detective for shabu at female trafficking kung may babaeng magpapagamit for trapped and end the gang rape and shabu trafficking” ang labanang ito dapat ay may fax letter na ipakikita sa mga police station para sa biglaang barilan shoot-out at rub-out kapag narinig naming ang putukan may darating na s.o.s. na babaril sa mga kalaban ito ay 1st body 44 tao police maglalakad at sa likod ng 44 police may kalaban sa likod at hindi sila nasaklolohan dahil walang dumating na 2nd body na 44 police na dapat sila ang nasa likod at titingin kung may kalaban at kapag wala kalaban dapat may 3rd body pa na darating, katulad sa maguindanao massacre isang 1st body lang dumating at walang dumating para tumulong sa halip na makipagkaibigan sa mga sultan ay ginalit at ayaw na nilang making, ito ang resulta ng mga taong gusto promote sa work at ayaw mawalan ng trabaho kaya lahat ng illegal ay gagawin nila ang tawag ditto ay parol evidence “sounds to keep secret of original documents na may fax letter na may operations for detective at intillegence galling ang tawag at suppose to be dapat kabisado ng intelligence at detective ang lugar at kahit may muslim na kasama ay hindi niya alam na ginamit ang muslim sa mamasapano died ito ay malinaw na paninira sa administrasiyong milf na hindi sila mapagkatiwalaan, ang milf ay hindi sinungaling, may attorney Melvin alcantara arquillo ang natuwa sa andal ampatuan na wala na daw pera, ito lahat ay mga assassination or pagpatay sa mga milf sultan at mga sultan na muslim ay lagi sila papatay ng matatalino. Resisting arrest: pagtalikod sa sumpa na maging tapat sa trabaho pero sila ay kakausapin sa mobile phone pero may ibang nakikinig sa ibang linya katulad ng 3line call sa mobile phone at ilang tao ang ambush. Paano naman ako maria cristina aberin? Paulit-ulit po ba ako magpapagamit ng katawan ko sa mga lalaki upang mamatay man ako ay hindi ako tumanggap ng anumang halaga sa mga lalaki kapalit ng pagpatay sa president Gloria macapagal arroyo at iba pang middle class. Sino pa ang susunud papatayin? Mga babaeng working mother sa club? Student nurse ? katulong sa bahay nila president of international rotary club homemaker s amakati attorney Melvin alcantara arquillo home tangerine st. Marikina city at mis jovita torres arquillo ng sienna college del monte quezon city ?makati mayor at mga anak na alex Gonzaga at toni Gonzaga ng pinoy big brother? At sisihin si mayor alfredo limn a may utang sa meralco? Paano magkakautang ang manila mayor lim kung noon ay mayaman na talaga ang manila city hall kaysa naman sa Makati city na halos development premature pa po noon kasi nagsisimula palang sila at malalayo ang lugar ng office kung saan magwork sila, talaga bang international rotary club sila si atty. Arquillo or dori(muslim wedding with money),paano natin aalisin ang foreigner na hilig ay mag-asawa at uutang nga pera at hihiwalayan ang babaeng pinakasalan at pinapirma sa Citibank credit card at paano naman biktima maria cristina aberin hindi kasal sa Japanese pero may credit card at siya pa ang pinapirma na magnanakaw? Sino din ngayon gumagamit ng internet account ng maria cristina aberin at passport? Kalian hustisya? Hanggang kalian ang trapped na ito sa biktima maria cristina aberin? Wala naman na naniniwala sa akin dahil may pinatay na walang awa sa quiapo muslim barangay chairman na babae pero walang tumulong? Kalian ito makukuhang matapos? Sino ang magbabayad sa akin? Sarado na ang club sa malate, siniraan pa ako sa japan na magnanakaw ako, sino ang uutusan kong babae na magpapgamit ng katawan pero walang sahod pero all around katulong para lang mahuli ang mga grupo ni isko Moreno na pawing female trafficking syempre magpapanggap sila na asawa kahit hindi, paano ako? Hindi na ako makawork?sana bigyan nya pansin ako na magtraining baril naman for operations pero may bayad po. 2 years ako volunteer at ako pa nakulong sa mental hospital mandaluyong? Hanggang kalian ang pustahan ni many paquiao na world boxing champion for billion dollar account sa America? Dapat may show si manny paquiao bago pustahan sa malakihang pustahan na ito kasi hindi papaya ang America kung maliit ang pustahan pero dollar account dapat, paano na ako sa club lang ako umaasa at hirap pa matulog akala ko may cancer na ako sa utak sobrang sakit pero kulang sa tulog pala ako,paano din ako magrereklamo kay isko Moreno may tauhan siya registered nurse jake viray ng manila Adventist medical center colleges hawak nya ang identity password ko at bigla ako black listed at walang pera atm bank account ko? Ako po ay may credit card in behalf of kazumichi mada toyoda pero lahat binayaran ko na po, aari ba itong gamitin ni isko Moreno sa mga seaman ,school,travel agency show money ang atm ko na may pangalan din ng kazumichi mada toyoda na maraming utang sa japan? Hindi naman ako kabit kasi wala pong asawa kami parehong hiwalay po. Paano na ako work? Ako ba talaga ang bitag nila? Paano naman mga artista tulad Andrew e. at iba pang japan entertainer alam ko na mahirap sa japan pero pawing traydor lahat ang ginawa nila kaya ang boss ko naghirap, may mga sex bomb dancer noon kina vic sotto at joey de leon pero ng gro na ako sa club si willie revillame ng channel 5 ay kinuha nya ring dancer ang isa sa mga tauhan ng boss ko dun sa vito cruz sa tapata bahay ni loren legarda brother na nagrehab daw I am not sure pero under medicine administration because of high dosage special substance or shabu intake “verbalized only pero I’ve seen na lagging may bantay sa gate” I was there before I’ve got in malate and meet atty.imme marcos with willie espiritu and isko Moreno.

Kinuha ang passport ng tatay ko jose tilo aberin ng media man willie espiritu, paano naman ang teleserye of judy ann santos ang jane alcantara “the nursing hospital mother was in trauma of third party of same daughter nurse in hospital jane alcanatara is judy ann santos , ako ang reporter dito ni judy ann santos “bakit ako naman ang kinulong sa mental hospital sa 2011 totoong buhay? Next lorna tolentino ay namatay si rudy Fernandez with secret award of army with son mark Anthony Fernandez inside rehabilitation sa totoong buhay. In kidnapping at the age of 3 years old in wild life I am not kidnap victim in wild life quezon city “ in wild life I am with kim chu and tonton gutierrez in taping in the bridge of wild life” , in baseco compound it is not the utang na payable it was a campaigned of liberal party list and it was robin padilla or abubakar and daughter sounds wedding in sultan with dori “bakit naman bigla ang magundanao massacre? I am amature contestant join in fiesta when I was in grades school and won 20 pesos only, how sarah Geronimo become anting-anting daw ang piso so that she winner in the contest, marian rivera with mucalidin usman while me is donate my things that liberal campaigned continues won in elections after that I am not claimed any support , I am the one losing my dream. And now the mucalidin usman is died who can help me from milf Mindanao?now mayor alfredo lim is sad to hear he is meralco bill na pay who can give me work in abroad I have no birth certificate and no passport?sino law firm and lagi utang ng utang ng dollar account at lahat ng public attorney office po ba ay nakipagpustahan din kay world champion many paquiao ng dollar account show many? Paano ang mga government bread winner na mga kamag-anak ni jose tilo aberin at mga sundalo na galing America

Na walang pustahan sa dollar account pero lahat kami walang trabaho? Dapat ibalik ang pera kay president Ferdinand marcos at lahat kami ay makabalik sa government immigrant sa ibat ibang bansa at hindi kami baliw.frame-up lang kami ng bugaw at fake asawa kahit hiwalay na ay ginagamit ang nso at sss marriage documents at sino public attorney office pa po ang pwede kong lapitan? Dapat ay government public attorney na ang volunteer na tutulong kay original maria cristina aberin kasi pagod na po ako work sa club at ayaw naman ako bigyan ng certificate of volunteers ng mga police for 2 years at wala din akong certificates for intelligence sa mga news editor at school editor na plagiarized book editor po. Sana si president benigno noynoy smeon cojuangco Aquino III and search ng nagnakaw ng internet account ko na alam ko ako po ang may ari at kumita ito ng dollar account sa buong mundo po, pakibalik naman sa akin at para din kay pres.arroyo at pres.estrada at mayor lim at sa tatay ko tulungan nyo mahuli lahat ng law firm at call center at agent ng internet sa buong mundo kasi wala na akong work may allergy pa ako sa ubo,pantal sa katawan at Makati,mainitin ang ulo, wala na maisuot na maayos.gusto ko magkawork.tulungan nya ako at handa ako tumulong ,gusto ko po tulungan pa rin lahat sundalong milf.npa at iba pa dahil lahat sila ay matagal na nila ako hindi kinahiya sa work ko club pero traydor marami pa rin.

Opportunities maria cristina aberin is looking for:

Skills-based volunteering

maria cristina cares about:

Education

Organizations maria cristina supports:

el shaddai brother mike velarde with identity member of Makati city of brother mike velarde in el shaddai member , paranaque city and not michael barreto driver of attorney arquillo

Groups

Travel and Tour World

Travel and Tour World

View maria cristina's full profile to...

See who you know in common

Get introduced

Contact maria cristina aberin of naguilan municipal in baguio directly

  

mariacristinabelgicaaberin mcba born in manila university of santo thomas hospital new manila, lacson st. espanya philippines

2005 and 2009

talent in abs-cbn and gma7

January 2005 – Present (10 years 2 months)

i am talent of walking in the bridge of wild life quezon city accompany of celebrity/actor tonton gutierrez and kim chu it is the time there is no pinoy big brother that time. pinoy big brother was conducted during Liberal party list campaigned active with councilor francisco domagoso nickname isko moreno before he winner for vicemayor of city hall of manila and he is a bold star images and reason i was hate him so much for discriminates me as a guest relation officer wworking student and same time part time talent in television. i am not commit aids /hiv illness just what i heard from his part 2nd floor staff of isko moreno are all bugaw "case red tape" during black nazarene fiesta january 09, 2014

Test Scores

maria cristina aberin

Score: perfect 100%

July 1999

greg book translation and brief words for steno typing letter and show the abbreviation of the letter in yellow paper.

Courses

Independent Coursework

3rd year nursing internship

Honors & Awards

alcove 101 digital camera april 04, 2009 and april 05 2009

april 04, 2009

April 2009

black and white photo in computer but we take photo colored using our digital camera by individual with other abs-cbn anchor name karen davila but she is not coming with in 2 days workshop but all of them greet my secret birthday and and derma clinic bake some pizza for me she is allen wong valdez of cityland condominium the assistant of doctor lacson during my liposuction with 300,000.00 cash 2009

Organizations

liberal party list

volunteer model

October 2009 – Present

Case# 10189636: I can't LOG IN(2)

People

Twitter Support Hello, I’m having trouble locating a Twitter ACCOUNT using the information you’ve provided. Please reply with the following details: What is the email address you used on this account? Do you stil

Jan 9 at 6:03 PMme

To Twitter Support Jan 9 at 6:13 PM

i don't have any work at all since my internet was hacked, i've could never attached any documents at any of my accounts. sindicated gang or group was having changing my any detailed documents at my live birth. i've alone and scary to proceeding staff in government that i've noticed all of them was payabled in cash to keep my name show to any person to please send support and help with me personally. could i've do a chance to seek my documents even i've don't any had MONEYyet. i was walk in the road for small garbage waste to pick it up like for examples plastic bottles, steel,old boxes,7 eleven waste bag pick -up with me it is too very heavy and very tired with me for amounting 5.00 pesos up to 20.00 and up to buy or purshasing any documents that commit with the government. please do not insulting this is a real condition of mind. i am accompany take some food with other concerns relative but totally got financial problems, are you government officials? kindly proceeding at my place naguilan road san fernando la union and look for me personally i am maria cristina belgica aberin " tin" i've no mobile phone i was able to take insert the new simcard of tm new simcard right now to any person got very kind personality but now i have left the simcard in the computer operator 2nd floor of naguilan road san fernando la union market just look the simcard

vendors party list with commander milf sultan datu abdulatif paglala sr. and nor miswari in barangay 649 baseco tondo manila, region arrmm mindanao, philippine normal university taft avenue manila with students cadette and cadet officials

volunteer model

Case# 10189636: I can't LOG IN(2)

People

Twitter Support Hello, I’m having trouble locating a Twitter ACCOUNT using the information you’ve provided. Please reply with the following details: What is the email address you used on this account? Do you stil

Jan 9 at 6:03 PM

me

To Twitter Support Jan 9 at 6:13 PM

i don't have any work at all since my internet was hacked, i've could never attached any documents at any of my ACCOUNTS. sindicated gang or group was having changing my any detailed documents at my live birth. i've alone and scary to proceeding staff in government that i've noticed all of them was payabled in cash to keep my name show to any person to please send support and help with me personally. could i've do a chance to seek my documents even i've don't any had money yet. i was walk in the road for small garbage waste to pick it up like for examples plastic bottles, steel,old boxes,7 eleven waste bag pick -up with me it is too very heavy and very tired with me for amounting 5.00 pesos up to 20.00 and up to buy or purshasing any documents that commit with the government. please do not insulting this is a real condition of mind. i am accompany take some food with other concerns relative but totally got financial problems, are you government officials? kindly proceeding at my place naguilan road san fernando la union and look for me personally i am maria cristina belgica aberin " tin" i've no mobile phone i was able to take insert the new simcard of tm new simcard right now to any person got very kind personality but now i have left the simcard

Education

Manila Adventist Medical Center and Colleges

3rd year internship / community nurse student 3rd yr. 2009, exposure in barangay makati in the barangay clinic to teach them for early pregnant afraid vaccine.

2007 – 2011

i am always wait for good cheater to teach me what is the answer key in fundamental major subject in nursing and i was failured for that to passed the exam.

Activities and Societies: lefrizer missionary was collecting blood and their families was staff of uniliver along taft avenue back of malacanang palace in the house of presidential body guard you can drop by uniliver and caritas foundation.all of are staff of manila adventist medical center colleges was recruit to boycott marcos and enter those secret of gold.

earn computer school tesda government

2 years computer secretarial office management (associate) tesda government passer, insurance plan saint peter officer in charge for on the job training

1998 – 2007

i am doing well reading the greg letter for abbreviation of the letter format with the letter head and doing steno typing

Activities and Societies: texas chicken at iba pa i am registrar operator cashier and female and male comfort room cleaning, to carry the heavy steel chair and table, and carry heavy waste put outside the building, scrubbing all inside and outside the store, opening and closing i am key holder while studying at 2nd year in earn school of tesda government.

Skills

porfoliopick-up garbage waste...i am good public...FacebookCustomer ServiceMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft WordPowerPointTypingTelevisionTeamworkSocial MediaOutlooksurfing

Certifications

certification of anti-virus in employment apprenticeship research network in government tesda agency

anti-virus "bugs kill to avoid slowly computer program" and avoid deleted program and back to zero

April 1998 – Present

Languages

English, Old (ca.450-1100)

japanese basic only

Native or bilingual proficiency

french basic

Limited working proficiency

Volunteer Experience & Causes

pcp3 barbosa station3 accompany of 4 police commander pinsp.armando claveria macaraeg

bautista st. quezon blvd. quiapo manila and the extension of police central front of f.e.u.

November 2012 – April 2014 (1 year 6 months)

i am polish the 2 armalites very heavy and 2 bullet box with 2 extra bullet in the table desk Barbosa pcp3 station3 and shabu operation show evidence from quiapo with manila city hall vehicle and proceeding in the camp crame edsa with psinsp.robinson valenciano maranion on rain non-stop we are all wet cloths and vehicle of manila city hall pick-up all respondents and police operations directly go to camp crame in middle in the night it is over time police officer on duty with out pay and me I am volunteer girl but not knowledge in criminology course, I am alone maria cristina aberin, interested to the operations which all police lack of support of other co-police,they where want first come first served for promotions, how if the police table desk claimed the letter in the fax we need all fax letter send it to all police stations for reinforces coming when shabu operation turns for having traitor ,red tape, under the table “pwedeng mag-operate ng intelligence at detective for shabu at female trafficking kung may babaeng magpapagamit for trapped and end the gang rape and shabu trafficking” ang labanang ito dapat ay may fax letter na ipakikita sa mga police station para sa biglaang barilan shoot-out at rub-out kapag narinig naming ang putukan may darating na s.o.s. na babaril sa mga kalaban ito ay 1st body 44 tao police maglalakad at sa likod ng 44 police may kalaban sa likod at hindi sila nasaklolohan dahil walang dumating na 2nd body na 44 police na dapat sila ang nasa likod at titingin kung may kalaban at kapag wala kalaban dapat may 3rd body pa na darating, katulad sa maguindanao massacre isang 1st body lang dumating at walang dumating para tumulong sa halip na makipagkaibigan sa mga sultan ay ginalit at ayaw na nilang making, ito ang resulta ng mga taong gusto promote sa work at ayaw mawalan ng trabaho kaya lahat ng illegal ay gagawin nila ang tawag ditto ay parol evidence “sounds to keep secret of original documents na may fax letter na may operations for detective at intillegence galling ang tawag at suppose to be dapat kabisado ng intelligence at detective ang lugar at kahit may muslim na kasama ay hindi niya alam na ginamit ang muslim sa mamasapano died ito ay malinaw na paninira sa administrasiyong milf na hindi sila mapagkatiwalaan, ang milf ay hindi sinungaling, may attorney Melvin alcantara arquillo ang natuwa sa andal ampatuan na wala na daw pera, ito lahat ay mga assassination or pagpatay sa mga milf sultan at mga sultan na muslim ay lagi sila papatay ng matatalino. Resisting arrest: pagtalikod sa sumpa na maging tapat sa trabaho pero sila ay kakausapin sa mobile phone pero may ibang nakikinig sa ibang linya katulad ng 3line call sa mobile phone at ilang tao ang ambush. Paano naman ako maria cristina aberin? Paulit-ulit po ba ako magpapagamit ng katawan ko sa mga lalaki upang mamatay man ako ay hindi ako tumanggap ng anumang halaga sa mga lalaki kapalit ng pagpatay sa president Gloria macapagal arroyo at iba pang middle class. Sino pa ang susunud papatayin? Mga babaeng working mother sa club? Student nurse ? katulong sa bahay nila president of international rotary club homemaker s amakati attorney Melvin alcantara arquillo home tangerine st. Marikina city at mis jovita torres arquillo ng sienna college del monte quezon city ?makati mayor at mga anak na alex Gonzaga at toni Gonzaga ng pinoy big brother? At sisihin si mayor alfredo limn a may utang sa meralco? Paano magkakautang ang manila mayor lim kung noon ay mayaman na talaga ang manila city hall kaysa naman sa Makati city na halos development premature pa po noon kasi nagsisimula palang sila at malalayo ang lugar ng office kung saan magwork sila, talaga bang international rotary club sila si atty. Arquillo or dori(muslim wedding with money),paano natin aalisin ang foreigner na hilig ay mag-asawa at uutang nga pera at hihiwalayan ang babaeng pinakasalan at pinapirma sa Citibank credit card at paano naman biktima maria cristina aberin hindi kasal sa Japanese pero may credit card at siya pa ang pinapirma na magnanakaw? Sino din ngayon gumagamit ng internet account ng maria cristina aberin at passport? Kalian hustisya? Hanggang kalian ang trapped na ito sa biktima maria cristina aberin? Wala naman na naniniwala sa akin dahil may pinatay na walang awa sa quiapo muslim barangay chairman na babae pero walang tumulong? Kalian ito makukuhang matapos? Sino ang magbabayad sa akin? Sarado na ang club sa malate, siniraan pa ako sa japan na magnanakaw ako, sino ang uutusan kong babae na magpapgamit ng katawan pero walang sahod pero all around katulong para lang mahuli ang mga grupo ni isko Moreno na pawing female trafficking syempre magpapanggap sila na asawa kahit hindi, paano ako? Hindi na ako makawork?sana bigyan nya pansin ako na magtraining baril naman for operations pero may bayad po. 2 years ako volunteer at ako pa nakulong sa mental hospital mandaluyong? Hanggang kalian ang pustahan ni many paquiao na world boxing champion for billion dollar account sa America? Dapat may show si manny paquiao bago pustahan sa malakihang pustahan na ito kasi hindi papaya ang America kung maliit ang pustahan pero dollar account dapat, paano na ako sa club lang ako umaasa at hirap pa matulog akala ko may cancer na ako sa utak sobrang sakit pero kulang sa tulog pala ako,paano din ako magrereklamo kay isko Moreno may tauhan siya registered nurse jake viray ng manila Adventist medical center colleges hawak nya ang identity password ko at bigla ako black listed at walang pera atm bank account ko? Ako po ay may credit card in behalf of kazumichi mada toyoda pero lahat binayaran ko na po, aari ba itong gamitin ni isko Moreno sa mga seaman ,school,travel agency show money ang atm ko na may pangalan din ng kazumichi mada toyoda na maraming utang sa japan? Hindi naman ako kabit kasi wala pong asawa kami parehong hiwalay po. Paano na ako work? Ako ba talaga ang bitag nila? Paano naman mga artista tulad Andrew e. at iba pang japan entertainer alam ko na mahirap sa japan pero pawing traydor lahat ang ginawa nila kaya ang boss ko naghirap, may mga sex bomb dancer noon kina vic sotto at joey de leon pero ng gro na ako sa club si willie revillame ng channel 5 ay kinuha nya ring dancer ang isa sa mga tauhan ng boss ko dun sa vito cruz sa tapata bahay ni loren legarda brother na nagrehab daw I am not sure pero under medicine administration because of high dosage special substance or shabu intake “verbalized only pero I’ve seen na lagging may bantay sa gate” I was there before I’ve got in malate and meet atty.imme marcos with willie espiritu and isko Moreno.

Kinuha ang passport ng tatay ko jose tilo aberin ng media man willie espiritu, paano naman ang teleserye of judy ann santos ang jane alcantara “the nursing hospital mother was in trauma of third party of same daughter nurse in hospital jane alcanatara is judy ann santos , ako ang reporter dito ni judy ann santos “bakit ako naman ang kinulong sa mental hospital sa 2011 totoong buhay? Next lorna tolentino ay namatay si rudy Fernandez with secret award of army with son mark Anthony Fernandez inside rehabilitation sa totoong buhay. In kidnapping at the age of 3 years old in wild life I am not kidnap victim in wild life quezon city “ in wild life I am with kim chu and tonton gutierrez in taping in the bridge of wild life” , in baseco compound it is not the utang na payable it was a campaigned of liberal party list and it was robin padilla or abubakar and daughter sounds wedding in sultan with dori “bakit naman bigla ang magundanao massacre? I am amature contestant join in fiesta when I was in grades school and won 20 pesos only, how sarah Geronimo become anting-anting daw ang piso so that she winner in the contest, marian rivera with mucalidin usman while me is donate my things that liberal campaigned continues won in elections after that I am not claimed any support , I am the one losing my dream. And now the mucalidin usman is died who can help me from milf Mindanao?now mayor alfredo lim is sad to hear he is meralco bill na pay who can give me work in abroad I have no birth certificate and no passport?sino law firm and lagi utang ng utang ng dollar account at lahat ng public attorney office po ba ay nakipagpustahan din kay world champion many paquiao ng dollar account show many? Paano ang mga government bread winner na mga kamag-anak ni jose tilo aberin at mga sundalo na galing America

Na walang pustahan sa dollar account pero lahat kami walang trabaho? Dapat ibalik ang pera kay president Ferdinand marcos at lahat kami ay makabalik sa government immigrant sa ibat ibang bansa at hindi kami baliw.frame-up lang kami ng bugaw at fake asawa kahit hiwalay na ay ginagamit ang nso at sss marriage documents at sino public attorney office pa po ang pwede kong lapitan? Dapat ay government public attorney na ang volunteer na tutulong kay original maria cristina aberin kasi pagod na po ako work sa club at ayaw naman ako bigyan ng certificate of volunteers ng mga police for 2 years at wala din akong certificates for intelligence sa mga news editor at school editor na plagiarized book editor po. Sana si president benigno noynoy smeon cojuangco Aquino III and search ng nagnakaw ng internet account ko na alam ko ako po ang may ari at kumita ito ng dollar account sa buong mundo po, pakibalik naman sa akin at para din kay pres.arroyo at pres.estrada at mayor lim at sa tatay ko tulungan nyo mahuli lahat ng law firm at call center at agent ng internet sa buong mundo kasi wala na akong work may allergy pa ako sa ubo,pantal sa katawan at Makati,mainitin ang ulo, wala na maisuot na maayos.gusto ko magkawork.tulungan nya ako at handa ako tumulong ,gusto ko po tulungan pa rin lahat sundalong milf.npa at iba pa dahil lahat sila ay matagal na nila ako hindi kinahiya sa work ko club pero traydor marami pa rin.

Opportunities maria cristina aberin is looking for:

Skills-based volunteering

maria cristina cares about:

Education

Organizations maria cristina supports:

el shaddai brother mike velarde with identity member of Makati city of brother mike velarde in el shaddai member , paranaque city and not michael barreto driver of attorney arquillo

Groups

Travel and Tour World

Travel and Tour World

View maria cristina's full profile to...

See who you know in common

Get introduced

Contact maria cristina aberin of naguilan municipal in baguio directly

  

mariacristinabelgicaaberin mcba born in manila university of santo thomas hospital new manila, lacson st. espanya philippines

GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES VICTIMS OF CRIME ACT (VOCA)

PROGRAM GRANT AWARDS

  

Charleston – Governor Earl Ray Tomblin announced on Wednesday, October 28, 2015, that he has awarded $3,463,389. in Victims of Crime Act Assistance (VOCA) sub-grant funds to fifty-seven (57) public and private non-profit agencies throughout the State.

The Victims of Crime Act Victim Assistance Grant Program funds will provide direct services, such as counseling, personal advocacy, court advocacy, client transportation and support services to victims of crimes including domestic violence, sexual violence, child abuse, and elderly abuse. The funds will also finance assistance to victims as they move through the criminal justice system.

These funds are awarded from the U. S. Department of Justice, the Office of Justice Programs of the U. S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime, and these funds are administered by the West Virginia Division of Justice and Community Services.

Funds were awarded to the following:

BROOKE, HANCOCK

A Child's Place CASA, Ltd. $14,500.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a part-time CASA Volunteer Coordinator to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Brooke and Hancock Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Rhonda Stubbs

Phone: (304) 737-4444

Email: childsplacecasa@comcast.net

 

CABELL

 

Cabell County Commission $77,383.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of three full-time Victim Advocates in the Cabell County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Cabell County.

 

Contact:Mr. Sean K. Hammers

Phone: (304) 526-8653

Email: shammers@cabellcounty.org

 

CABELL, WAYNE, KANAWHA

 

TEAM for West Virginia Children, Inc. $75,466.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time CASA Coordinator for Cabell County, a Cabell/Wayne CASA Volunteer Coordinator, and a Kanawha Volunteer Coordinator to provide direct services to child abuse and neglect victims in Cabell, Wayne, and Kanawha Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Kim Runyon Wilds

Phone: (304) 523-9587

Email: kwilds@teamwv.org

 

CABELL, WAYNE, LINCOLN

 

Family Service a Division of Goodwill Industries of KYOWVA Area, Inc. $57,048.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of three part-time Victim Therapists to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse in Cabell, Lincoln, and Wayne Counties.

 

Contact:Mr. Alan C. Cole MA, LPC

Phone: (304) 523-9454

Email: acole@goodwillhunting.org

 

CABELL, WAYNE, MASON, LINCOLN

 

CONTACT Huntington, Inc. $30,264.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate to provide direct services to victims of sexual assault in Cabell, Wayne, Lincoln, and Mason Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Sharon Pressman

Phone: (304) 523-3447

Email: execdirector@contacthuntington.com

 

CABELL, WAYNE, PUTNAM, LINCOLN, MASON

 

Branches Domestic Violence Shelter, Inc. $177,503.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Adult Counselor, a Mason County Advocate, a Putnam County Advocate, a Lincoln County Advocate, and a porition of the salary for a full-time Wayne County Outreach Advocate to provide direct services to domestic violence victims.

 

Contact:Ms. Amanda McComas

Phone: (304) 529-2382

Email: mccomas@branchesdvs.org

  

GREENBRIER, MONROE, POCAHONTAS

 

Family Refuge Center $79,088.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of the full-time Lead Shelter Advocate, a Shelter Advocate, an Overnight Monitor, and an Outreach Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in Greenbrier, Monroe, and Pocahontas Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Kenosha Davenport

Phone: (304) 645-6334

Email: kenoshad@familyrefugecenter.org

 

GREENBRIER, POCAHONTAS, SUMMERS

 

CASA of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, WV, Inc. $11,623.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the part-time salary of a Volunteer Coordinator to provide direct services to victims of child abuse in Greenbrier, Summers, and Pocahontas Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Jenny Castle

Phone: (304) 645-5437

Email: casa11c@live.com

 

HANCOCK, BROOKE

 

CHANGE, Inc. $54,245.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate and part-time Victim Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence in Brooke and Hancock Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Debra Fair

Phone: (304) 748-0332

Email: dfair@changeinc.org

 

HANCOCK, BROOKE, OHIO

 

Hancock County Commission $105,661.00

These funds will provide for the full-time salaries of a Hancock County Advocate, a Brooke County Advocate, and a portion of the salary of a full-time Ohio County Advocate to provide direct services to crime victims in Hancock, Brooke, and Ohio Counties.

 

Contact:Mr. Michael Traubert

Phone: (304) 234-3896

Email: Jgruberva@yahoo.com

  

HARRISON

 

Harrison County CASA Program, Inc. $40,730.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time Volunteer Advocate and the Program Director to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Harrison County.

 

Contact:Ms. Alisha Madia

Phone: (304) 623-5749

Email: harrisoncountycasa@frontier.com

 

JACKSON

 

Jackson County Commission $31,600.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Jackson County Sheriff's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Jackson County.

 

Contact:Sheriff Tony Boggs

Phone: (304) 373-2294

Email: tony.boggs@jacksoncountywv.com

 

CASA of the Fifth Judicial Circuit, Inc. $15,614.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of the Program Director to provide direct services to child abuse and neglect victims in Jackson County.

 

Contact:Ms. Kathie King

Phone: (304) 373-1165

Email: circuit5casawv@gmail.com

 

JACKSON, RITCHIE

 

Family Crisis Intervention Center $37,751.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time Ritchie County Advocate and part-time Jackson County Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence in Jackson and Ritchie Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Emily S. Larkins

Phone: (304) 428-2333

Email: eelarkins@suddenlink.net

 

JEFFERSON

 

Jefferson County Commission $60,623.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of two full-time Victim Advocates in the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Jefferson County.

 

Contact:Mr. Ralph A. Lorenzetti Jr.

Phone: (304) 728-3243

Email: rlorenzetti@jeffersoncountywv.org

 

JEFFERSON, BERKELEY, MORGAN

 

CASA of the Eastern Panhandle, Inc. $13,645.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a part-time Volunteer Coordinator to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Vicki L. Barnard

Phone: (304) 263-5100

Email: vicki@mycasaep.org

 

Shenandoah Women's Center, Inc. $105,582.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Berkeley County Outreach Advocate, a Morgan County Outreach Advocate, a Jefferson County Outreach Advocate and a Shelter Advocate to provide direct services to child victims, victims of domestic violence, and sexual assault in Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Pippa McCullough

Phone: (304) 263-8522

Email: executivedirector@swcinc.org

 

KANAWHA

 

Kanawha County Commission $106,827.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of two full-time Victim Advocates in the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department and two Victim Advocates in the Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Kanawha County.

 

Contact:Capt. R. P. Boone

Phone: (304) 357-2022

Email: patboone@kcso.us

City of Charleston $31,000.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Services Coordinator in the Charleston Police Department to provide direct services to crime victims in the City of Charleston.

 

Contact:Sgt. James Hunt

Phone: (304) 348-6480

Email: jahunt@charlestonwvpolice.org

 

KANAWHA, CLAY, BOONE

 

YWCA of Charleston, WV, Inc. $103,294.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Racial Justice/Court Advocate, a Boone County Coordinator, a part-time Clay County Coordinator and a portion of the salaries for a full-time Court Advocate and a Contracted Counselor to provide direct services to domestic violence victims in Kanawha, Clay, and Boone Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Pam Gillenwater

Phone: (304) 340-3554

Email: pgillenwater@ywcacharleston.org

 

KANAWHA, PUTNAM, JACKSON

 

Family Counseling Connection, Inc. $137,455.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time REACH Director and eight Victim Therapist positions and a porition of two Sexual Violence Victim Specialists to provide direct services to victims of sexual violence, child abuse, and domestic violence in Kanawha, Jackson, and Putnam Counties.

 

Contact:Mr. Frank S. Fazzolari

Phone: (304) 340-3676

Email: ffazzolari@tccwv.org

 

LEWIS

 

Lewis County Commission $35,865.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Lewis County Prosecutor's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Lewis County.

 

Contact:Ms. Christine Flanigan

Phone: (304) 269-8240

Email: Flanigan.lcpa@frontier.com

 

LOGAN

 

Logan County Commission $48,498.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time and a part-time Victim Advocate in the Logan County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Logan County.

 

Contact:Mr. John W. Bennett

Phone: (304) 792-8670

Email: jwbennett75@verizon.net

 

MARION

 

Marion County Commission $34,394.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Assistance Coordinator in the Marion County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Marion County.

 

Contact:Mr. Patrick N. Wilson

Phone: (304) 367-5380

Email: khawkins@marioncountywv.com

  

CASA of Marion County $28,083.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a Program Director to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Marion County.

 

Contact:Ms. Vesna Meinert

Phone: (304) 366-4198

Email: casaofmarion@frontier.com

 

MARION, DODDRIDGE, GILMER, HARRISON, LEWIS

 

Task Force on Domestic Violence, "HOPE, Inc." $235,328.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Lewis County Case Manger, a Harrison/Doddridge County Case Manger, a Gilmer County Case Manager and a portion of the salaries for a full-time Family Therapist, a Marion County Case Manager Specialist, a Marion County Victim Advocate, two Harrison County Victim Advocates, and a porition of the salaries for a part-time Marion County Case Manager and a part-time Children's Case Manager to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child victims in Doddridge, Gilmer, Harrison, Lewis, and Marion Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Harriet Sutton

Phone: (304) 367-1100

Email: hmsutton@hopeincwv.org

 

MARSHALL, WETZEL, TYLER, OHIO

 

CASA for Children, Inc. $29,105.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of the Program Director, a Ohio County Volunteer Coordinator, and a Volunteer Coordinator in the 2nd Circuit to provide direct services to child abuse and neglect victims in Ohio, Marshall, Tyler, and Wetzel Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Susan Harrison

Phone: (304) 810-0952

Email: executivedirector@wvcasaforchildren.com

 

MASON

 

Mason County Commission $29,667.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Mason County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Mason County.

 

Contact:Mr. R. Craig Tatterson

Phone: (304) 675-5734

Email: masonprosatty@yahoo.com

  

MCDOWELL, MERCER, WYOMING

 

Stop Abusive Family Environments, Inc., SAFE Inc. $106,060.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time McDowell County Advocate, a part-time Wyoming County Victim Advocate, and two full-time Mercer County Advocates to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child victims in McDowell, Mercer, and Wyoming Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Pat Daniels

Phone: (304) 436-8117

Email: patengland82@hotmail.com

 

MERCER

 

Child Protect of Mercer County, Inc. $35,652.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Family Advocate to provide direct services to child abuse victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Mercer County.

 

Contact:Ms. Shiloh Woodard

Phone: (304) 425-2710

Email: swoodard@mercerchildprotect.com

 

MERCER, MCDOWELL

 

ChildLaw Services, Inc. $10,068.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a part-time Victim Advocate and a part-time Counselor to provide direct services to child victims of abuse and neglect and children who witness domestic violence in Mercer and McDowell Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Catherine Bond Wallace

Phone: (304) 425-9973

Email: cathy.childlawservices@gmail.com

 

MINERAL

 

Mineral County Court Appointed Special Advocates $16,803.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a Volunteer Coordinator to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Mineral County.

 

Contact:Ms. Dayla Harvey

Phone: (304) 788-0068

Email: mincocasa@hotmail.com

  

MINERAL, GRANT, HAMPSHIRE

 

Family Crisis Center, Inc. $55,000.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time Grant County Victim Advocate, a Mineral County Advocate, and a part-time Hampshire County Victim Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence in Mineral, Grant, and Hampshire Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Sonya Fazzalore

Phone: (304) 788-6061

Email: fcc911@frontier.com

 

MINGO, LOGAN

 

Tug Valley Recovery Shelter $70,919.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Logan/Mingo County Victim Advocate, a part-time Court Advocate, a full-time Logan County Advocate and a part-time Mingo County Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child victims in Mingo and Logan Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Kimberly Ryan

Phone: (304) 235-6121

Email: k.s.ryan@hotmail.com

 

The Logan County Child Advocacy Center $10,128.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a part-time Mingo County Advocate to provide direct services to child abuse victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Mingo County.

 

Contact:Ms. Beth Cook

Phone: (304) 792-6261

Email: thelogancac@gmail.com

 

MONONGALIA

 

Monongalia County Commission $71,458.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time and two part-time Victim Assistance Coordinators in the Monongalia County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Monongalia County.

 

Contact:Ms. Marcia Ashdown

Phone: (304) 291-7250

Email: ashdown@court.state.wv.us

  

MONONGALIA, PRESTON

 

Monongalia County Youth Services Center, Inc / CASA For Kids $37,293.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time Preston County Volunteer Coordinator, a full-time Monongalia County Volunteer Coordinator, and a portion of the salary for the Program Director to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Preston and Monongalia Counties.

  

Contact:Ms. Tammy Renzelli

Phone: (304) 599-1087

Email: casadirector@hotmail.com

 

MONONGALIA, PRESTON, TAYLOR

 

The Rape & Domestic Violence Information Center, Inc.$77,094.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Victim Advocate in Monongalia County and Taylor County Victim Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse in Monongalia and Taylor Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Judy King

Phone: (304) 292-5100

Email: rdvic99@earthlink.net

 

OHIO

 

Ohio County Commission $44,832.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Assistance Coordinator in the Ohio County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Ohio County.

 

Contact:Mr. Scott R. Smith

Phone: (304) 234-3631

Email: shar4park@yahoo.com

 

OHIO, BROOKE, HANCOCK, MARSHALL, WETZEL

 

Upper Ohio Valley Sexual Assault Help Center $111,233.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Adult Victim Advocate and a Child Victim Advocate, and the part-time salaries of three Victim Advocates and a licensed counselor/therapist to provide direct services to adult and child victims of sexual assault in Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, and Wetzel Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Susan Knight

Phone: (304) 234-1783

Email: sahcexecutivedirector@gmai.com

 

OHIO, MARSHALL

 

Harmony House, Inc. $17,836.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Child and Family Advocate to provide direct services to child abuse victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Ohio and Marshall Counties.

  

Contact:Ms. Leslie Vassilaros

Phone: (304) 230-2205

Email: harmonyhousecac@yahoo.com

 

OHIO, MARSHALL, WETZEL

 

YWCA Wheeling Family Violence Prevention Program $134,441.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Child Advocate, a part-time Employment Advocate and a full-time Marshall County Advocate and a portion of the salaries of a full-time Shelter Advocate, two full-time Wetzel County Advocates, and a Ohio County Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child victims in Ohio, Marshall, and Wetzel Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Patricia Flanigan

Phone: (304) 232-2748

Email: tflanigan@ywcawheeling.org

 

PRESTON

 

Preston County Commission $28,800.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Preston County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Preston County.

 

Contact:Mr. Mel Snyder

Phone: (304) 329-1885

Email: msnyder@prestoncountywv.gov

 

PUTNAM

 

Putnam County Commission (Sheriff's Department) $30,000.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Putnam County Sheriff's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Putnam County.

 

Contact:Sheriff Steve Deweese

Phone: (304) 586-0256

Email: sdeweese@putnamwv.org

 

Putnam County Commission $46,000.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary for a full-time Victim Liaison and provide for the salary of a part-time Victim Liaison in the Putnam County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Putnam County.

 

Contact:Mr. Mark A. Sorsaia

Phone: (304) 586-0205

Email: Mark.Sorsaia@putnamwv.org

 

RALEIGH, FAYETTE, NICHOLAS, SUMMERS

 

Comprehensive Women's Service Council, Inc. $170,433.00

These funds will provide for the salaries for a full-time Shelter Advocate and an Outreach Office Advocate in Raleigh County, a full-time Nicholas County Advocate, two part-time Summers County Advocates, a part-time Counselor/Support Group Specialist, and a part-time Raleigh County Advocate in the Beckley Police Department and an Underserved Populations Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in Raleigh, Fayette, Summers, and Nicholas Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Patricia M. Bailey

Phone: (304) 255-2559

Email: pbailey@wrcwv.org

 

RANDOLPH

 

Randolph County Commission $28,577.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Services Coordinator in the Randolph County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide services to crime victims in Randolph County.

 

Contact:Mr. Michael W. Parker

Phone: (304) 636-2053

Email: mparker@rcpwv.com

 

RANDOLPH, UPSHUR, BARBOUR, TUCKER, WEBSTER, BRAXTON

 

Women's Aid in Crisis $244,524.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of two Shelter Managers in Randolph County, a Barbour County Outreach Coordinator, a Tucker County Outreach Coordinatory, an Upshur County Outreach Coordinator, a Webster County Outreach Coordinator, a Legal Advocate in Randolph County, and a Braxton County Outreach Coordinator to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, child victims, and sexual assault victims in Randolph, Barbour, Tucker, Upshur, Webster, and Braxton Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Marcia R. Drake

Phone: (304) 636-8433

Email: mdrake@waicwv.org

  

ROANE

 

Roane County Commission $19,877.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Roane County Prosecuting Attorney's office to provide direct services to crime victims in Roane County.

 

Contact:Mr. Joshua Downey

Phone: (304) 927-2091

Email: jdowney@court.state.wv.us

 

TYLER

 

Tyler County Commission $35,500.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Tyler County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Tyler County.

 

Contact:Mr. D. Luke Furbee

Phone: (304) 758-2860

Email: dlfurbeepa.tylercopa@frontier.com

 

UPSHUR

 

Upshur County Commission $34,662.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Upshur County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Upshur County.

 

Contact:Mr. David E. Godwin

Phone: (304) 472-9699

Email: degodwin@upshurcounty.org

 

WETZEL

 

Wetzel County Commission $18,568.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a Victim Advocate in the Wetzel County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Wetzel County.

 

Contact:Mr. Timothy E. Haught

Phone: (304) 455-8220

Email: abowman1@frontier.com

 

WOOD

 

Wood County Commission $65,387.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of two full-time Victim Advocates in the Wood County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Wood County.

 

Contact:Ms. Toni Tiano

Phone: (304) 428-7760

Email: tianoknopp@suddenlink.net

 

WOOD, WIRT, PLEASANT, RITCHIE

 

Voices for Children Foundation $31,058.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the Program Director’s salary to provide direct services to child abuse and neglect victims in Wood, Wirt, Pleasants, and Ritchie Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Margaret Burdette

Phone: (304) 422-3390

Email: voicesforchildrencasa@gmail.com

 

WYOMING

 

Wyoming County Commission $30,483.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Wyoming County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Wyoming County.

 

Contact:Mr. Sante "Sonny" E. Boninsegna Jr.

Phone: (304) 732-8000

Email: sante.boninsegna@wyomingcountyprosecutor.com

 

STATEWIDE

 

Mothers Against Drunk Driving $34,049.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time statewide Victim Advocate to provide direct services and support to victims of Driving Under the Influence cases throughout the State of West Virginia.

 

Contact:Ms. Catrina Clemens

Phone: (469) 420-4515

Email: Catrina.Clemens@madd.org

 

West Virginia Division of Corrections $38,812.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a Victim Services Specialist to provide direct services to the crime victims of inmates under the custody of the Division of Corrections.

 

Contact:Ms. Jennifer Ballard

Phone: (304) 558-2036

Email: jennifer.m.ballard@wv.gov

The Astrodome and NRG Stadium from the air, looking South. I-610 is in the background.

 

The Astrodome is the world's first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium. It served as the second home to the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB) from its opening in 1965 until 1999, and the home to the Houston Oilers of the National Football League (NFL) from 1968 until 1996, and also the part-time home of the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1971 until 1975. Additionally, the Astrodome was the primary venue of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo from 1966 until 2002. When opened, it was named the Harris County Domed Stadium and was nicknamed the "Eighth Wonder of the World".

 

NRG Stadium (formerly Reliant Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium, in Houston, Texas, USA. NRG Stadium has a seating capacity of 71,795, a total area of 1,900,000 square feet (180,000 m2) with a 97,000 sq ft (9,000 m2) playing surface.

 

The stadium is the home of the National Football League's Houston Texans, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the Texas Bowl, host to many international soccer matches for the USA National Soccer Team, and other events. The stadium served as the host facility for Super Bowl XXXVIII on February 1, 2004 and WrestleMania XXV on April 5, 2009.

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i don't have any work at all since my internet was hacked, i've could never attached any documents at any of my accounts. sindicated gang or group was having changing my any detailed documents at my live birth. i've alone and scary to proceeding staff in government that i've noticed all of them was payabled in cash to keep my name show to any person to please send support and help with me personally. could i've do a chance to seek my documents even i've don't any had MONEYyet. i was walk in the road for small garbage waste to pick it up like for examples plastic bottles, steel,old boxes,7 eleven waste bag pick -up with me it is too very heavy and very tired with me for amounting 5.00 pesos up to 20.00 and up to buy or purshasing any documents that commit with the government. please do not insulting this is a real condition of mind. i am accompany take some food with other concerns relative but totally got financial problems, are you government officials? kindly proceeding at my place naguilan road san fernando la union and look for me personally i am maria cristina belgica aberin " tin" i've no mobile phone i was able to take insert the new simcard of tm new simcard right now to any person got very kind personality but now i have left the simcard in the computer operator 2nd floor of naguilan road san fernando la union market just look the simcard

vendors party list with commander milf sultan datu abdulatif paglala sr. and nor miswari in barangay 649 baseco tondo manila, region arrmm mindanao, philippine normal university taft avenue manila with students cadette and cadet officials

volunteer model

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People

Twitter Support Hello, I’m having trouble locating a Twitter ACCOUNT using the information you’ve provided. Please reply with the following details: What is the email address you used on this account? Do you stil

Jan 9 at 6:03 PM

me

To Twitter Support Jan 9 at 6:13 PM

i don't have any work at all since my internet was hacked, i've could never attached any documents at any of my ACCOUNTS. sindicated gang or group was having changing my any detailed documents at my live birth. i've alone and scary to proceeding staff in government that i've noticed all of them was payabled in cash to keep my name show to any person to please send support and help with me personally. could i've do a chance to seek my documents even i've don't any had money yet. i was walk in the road for small garbage waste to pick it up like for examples plastic bottles, steel,old boxes,7 eleven waste bag pick -up with me it is too very heavy and very tired with me for amounting 5.00 pesos up to 20.00 and up to buy or purshasing any documents that commit with the government. please do not insulting this is a real condition of mind. i am accompany take some food with other concerns relative but totally got financial problems, are you government officials? kindly proceeding at my place naguilan road san fernando la union and look for me personally i am maria cristina belgica aberin " tin" i've no mobile phone i was able to take insert the new simcard of tm new simcard right now to any person got very kind personality but now i have left the simcard

Education

Manila Adventist Medical Center and Colleges

3rd year internship / community nurse student 3rd yr. 2009, exposure in barangay makati in the barangay clinic to teach them for early pregnant afraid vaccine.

2007 – 2011

i am always wait for good cheater to teach me what is the answer key in fundamental major subject in nursing and i was failured for that to passed the exam.

Activities and Societies: lefrizer missionary was collecting blood and their families was staff of uniliver along taft avenue back of malacanang palace in the house of presidential body guard you can drop by uniliver and caritas foundation.all of are staff of manila adventist medical center colleges was recruit to boycott marcos and enter those secret of gold.

earn computer school tesda government

2 years computer secretarial office management (associate) tesda government passer, insurance plan saint peter officer in charge for on the job training

1998 – 2007

i am doing well reading the greg letter for abbreviation of the letter format with the letter head and doing steno typing

Activities and Societies: texas chicken at iba pa i am registrar operator cashier and female and male comfort room cleaning, to carry the heavy steel chair and table, and carry heavy waste put outside the building, scrubbing all inside and outside the store, opening and closing i am key holder while studying at 2nd year in earn school of tesda government.

Skills

porfoliopick-up garbage waste...i am good public...FacebookCustomer ServiceMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft WordPowerPointTypingTelevisionTeamworkSocial MediaOutlooksurfing

Certifications

certification of anti-virus in employment apprenticeship research network in government tesda agency

anti-virus "bugs kill to avoid slowly computer program" and avoid deleted program and back to zero

April 1998 – Present

Languages

English, Old (ca.450-1100)

japanese basic only

Native or bilingual proficiency

french basic

Limited working proficiency

Volunteer Experience & Causes

pcp3 barbosa station3 accompany of 4 police commander pinsp.armando claveria macaraeg

bautista st. quezon blvd. quiapo manila and the extension of police central front of f.e.u.

November 2012 – April 2014 (1 year 6 months)

i am polish the 2 armalites very heavy and 2 bullet box with 2 extra bullet in the table desk Barbosa pcp3 station3 and shabu operation show evidence from quiapo with manila city hall vehicle and proceeding in the camp crame edsa with psinsp.robinson valenciano maranion on rain non-stop we are all wet cloths and vehicle of manila city hall pick-up all respondents and police operations directly go to camp crame in middle in the night it is over time police officer on duty with out pay and me I am volunteer girl but not knowledge in criminology course, I am alone maria cristina aberin, interested to the operations which all police lack of support of other co-police,they where want first come first served for promotions, how if the police table desk claimed the letter in the fax we need all fax letter send it to all police stations for reinforces coming when shabu operation turns for having traitor ,red tape, under the table “pwedeng mag-operate ng intelligence at detective for shabu at female trafficking kung may babaeng magpapagamit for trapped and end the gang rape and shabu trafficking” ang labanang ito dapat ay may fax letter na ipakikita sa mga police station para sa biglaang barilan shoot-out at rub-out kapag narinig naming ang putukan may darating na s.o.s. na babaril sa mga kalaban ito ay 1st body 44 tao police maglalakad at sa likod ng 44 police may kalaban sa likod at hindi sila nasaklolohan dahil walang dumating na 2nd body na 44 police na dapat sila ang nasa likod at titingin kung may kalaban at kapag wala kalaban dapat may 3rd body pa na darating, katulad sa maguindanao massacre isang 1st body lang dumating at walang dumating para tumulong sa halip na makipagkaibigan sa mga sultan ay ginalit at ayaw na nilang making, ito ang resulta ng mga taong gusto promote sa work at ayaw mawalan ng trabaho kaya lahat ng illegal ay gagawin nila ang tawag ditto ay parol evidence “sounds to keep secret of original documents na may fax letter na may operations for detective at intillegence galling ang tawag at suppose to be dapat kabisado ng intelligence at detective ang lugar at kahit may muslim na kasama ay hindi niya alam na ginamit ang muslim sa mamasapano died ito ay malinaw na paninira sa administrasiyong milf na hindi sila mapagkatiwalaan, ang milf ay hindi sinungaling, may attorney Melvin alcantara arquillo ang natuwa sa andal ampatuan na wala na daw pera, ito lahat ay mga assassination or pagpatay sa mga milf sultan at mga sultan na muslim ay lagi sila papatay ng matatalino. Resisting arrest: pagtalikod sa sumpa na maging tapat sa trabaho pero sila ay kakausapin sa mobile phone pero may ibang nakikinig sa ibang linya katulad ng 3line call sa mobile phone at ilang tao ang ambush. Paano naman ako maria cristina aberin? Paulit-ulit po ba ako magpapagamit ng katawan ko sa mga lalaki upang mamatay man ako ay hindi ako tumanggap ng anumang halaga sa mga lalaki kapalit ng pagpatay sa president Gloria macapagal arroyo at iba pang middle class. Sino pa ang susunud papatayin? Mga babaeng working mother sa club? Student nurse ? katulong sa bahay nila president of international rotary club homemaker s amakati attorney Melvin alcantara arquillo home tangerine st. Marikina city at mis jovita torres arquillo ng sienna college del monte quezon city ?makati mayor at mga anak na alex Gonzaga at toni Gonzaga ng pinoy big brother? At sisihin si mayor alfredo limn a may utang sa meralco? Paano magkakautang ang manila mayor lim kung noon ay mayaman na talaga ang manila city hall kaysa naman sa Makati city na halos development premature pa po noon kasi nagsisimula palang sila at malalayo ang lugar ng office kung saan magwork sila, talaga bang international rotary club sila si atty. Arquillo or dori(muslim wedding with money),paano natin aalisin ang foreigner na hilig ay mag-asawa at uutang nga pera at hihiwalayan ang babaeng pinakasalan at pinapirma sa Citibank credit card at paano naman biktima maria cristina aberin hindi kasal sa Japanese pero may credit card at siya pa ang pinapirma na magnanakaw? Sino din ngayon gumagamit ng internet account ng maria cristina aberin at passport? Kalian hustisya? Hanggang kalian ang trapped na ito sa biktima maria cristina aberin? Wala naman na naniniwala sa akin dahil may pinatay na walang awa sa quiapo muslim barangay chairman na babae pero walang tumulong? Kalian ito makukuhang matapos? Sino ang magbabayad sa akin? Sarado na ang club sa malate, siniraan pa ako sa japan na magnanakaw ako, sino ang uutusan kong babae na magpapgamit ng katawan pero walang sahod pero all around katulong para lang mahuli ang mga grupo ni isko Moreno na pawing female trafficking syempre magpapanggap sila na asawa kahit hindi, paano ako? Hindi na ako makawork?sana bigyan nya pansin ako na magtraining baril naman for operations pero may bayad po. 2 years ako volunteer at ako pa nakulong sa mental hospital mandaluyong? Hanggang kalian ang pustahan ni many paquiao na world boxing champion for billion dollar account sa America? Dapat may show si manny paquiao bago pustahan sa malakihang pustahan na ito kasi hindi papaya ang America kung maliit ang pustahan pero dollar account dapat, paano na ako sa club lang ako umaasa at hirap pa matulog akala ko may cancer na ako sa utak sobrang sakit pero kulang sa tulog pala ako,paano din ako magrereklamo kay isko Moreno may tauhan siya registered nurse jake viray ng manila Adventist medical center colleges hawak nya ang identity password ko at bigla ako black listed at walang pera atm bank account ko? Ako po ay may credit card in behalf of kazumichi mada toyoda pero lahat binayaran ko na po, aari ba itong gamitin ni isko Moreno sa mga seaman ,school,travel agency show money ang atm ko na may pangalan din ng kazumichi mada toyoda na maraming utang sa japan? Hindi naman ako kabit kasi wala pong asawa kami parehong hiwalay po. Paano na ako work? Ako ba talaga ang bitag nila? Paano naman mga artista tulad Andrew e. at iba pang japan entertainer alam ko na mahirap sa japan pero pawing traydor lahat ang ginawa nila kaya ang boss ko naghirap, may mga sex bomb dancer noon kina vic sotto at joey de leon pero ng gro na ako sa club si willie revillame ng channel 5 ay kinuha nya ring dancer ang isa sa mga tauhan ng boss ko dun sa vito cruz sa tapata bahay ni loren legarda brother na nagrehab daw I am not sure pero under medicine administration because of high dosage special substance or shabu intake “verbalized only pero I’ve seen na lagging may bantay sa gate” I was there before I’ve got in malate and meet atty.imme marcos with willie espiritu and isko Moreno.

Kinuha ang passport ng tatay ko jose tilo aberin ng media man willie espiritu, paano naman ang teleserye of judy ann santos ang jane alcantara “the nursing hospital mother was in trauma of third party of same daughter nurse in hospital jane alcanatara is judy ann santos , ako ang reporter dito ni judy ann santos “bakit ako naman ang kinulong sa mental hospital sa 2011 totoong buhay? Next lorna tolentino ay namatay si rudy Fernandez with secret award of army with son mark Anthony Fernandez inside rehabilitation sa totoong buhay. In kidnapping at the age of 3 years old in wild life I am not kidnap victim in wild life quezon city “ in wild life I am with kim chu and tonton gutierrez in taping in the bridge of wild life” , in baseco compound it is not the utang na payable it was a campaigned of liberal party list and it was robin padilla or abubakar and daughter sounds wedding in sultan with dori “bakit naman bigla ang magundanao massacre? I am amature contestant join in fiesta when I was in grades school and won 20 pesos only, how sarah Geronimo become anting-anting daw ang piso so that she winner in the contest, marian rivera with mucalidin usman while me is donate my things that liberal campaigned continues won in elections after that I am not claimed any support , I am the one losing my dream. And now the mucalidin usman is died who can help me from milf Mindanao?now mayor alfredo lim is sad to hear he is meralco bill na pay who can give me work in abroad I have no birth certificate and no passport?sino law firm and lagi utang ng utang ng dollar account at lahat ng public attorney office po ba ay nakipagpustahan din kay world champion many paquiao ng dollar account show many? Paano ang mga government bread winner na mga kamag-anak ni jose tilo aberin at mga sundalo na galing America

Na walang pustahan sa dollar account pero lahat kami walang trabaho? Dapat ibalik ang pera kay president Ferdinand marcos at lahat kami ay makabalik sa government immigrant sa ibat ibang bansa at hindi kami baliw.frame-up lang kami ng bugaw at fake asawa kahit hiwalay na ay ginagamit ang nso at sss marriage documents at sino public attorney office pa po ang pwede kong lapitan? Dapat ay government public attorney na ang volunteer na tutulong kay original maria cristina aberin kasi pagod na po ako work sa club at ayaw naman ako bigyan ng certificate of volunteers ng mga police for 2 years at wala din akong certificates for intelligence sa mga news editor at school editor na plagiarized book editor po. Sana si president benigno noynoy smeon cojuangco Aquino III and search ng nagnakaw ng internet account ko na alam ko ako po ang may ari at kumita ito ng dollar account sa buong mundo po, pakibalik naman sa akin at para din kay pres.arroyo at pres.estrada at mayor lim at sa tatay ko tulungan nyo mahuli lahat ng law firm at call center at agent ng internet sa buong mundo kasi wala na akong work may allergy pa ako sa ubo,pantal sa katawan at Makati,mainitin ang ulo, wala na maisuot na maayos.gusto ko magkawork.tulungan nya ako at handa ako tumulong ,gusto ko po tulungan pa rin lahat sundalong milf.npa at iba pa dahil lahat sila ay matagal na nila ako hindi kinahiya sa work ko club pero traydor marami pa rin.

Opportunities maria cristina aberin is looking for:

Skills-based volunteering

maria cristina cares about:

Education

Organizations maria cristina supports:

el shaddai brother mike velarde with identity member of Makati city of brother mike velarde in el shaddai member , paranaque city and not michael barreto driver of attorney arquillo

Groups

Travel and Tour World

Travel and Tour World

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Contact maria cristina aberin of naguilan municipal in baguio directly

  

mariacristinabelgicaaberin mcba born in manila university of santo thomas hospital new manila, lacson st. espanya philippines

I guess she showed me! (I don't know what, but she made some kind of point here.)

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Day #38

www.132daysofdarkness.com

 

Jeff was on another angry streak. It was the worst one since the month following Dad’s departure. It had been 7 years without him now and even though it hurt us all, Jeff was the only one still making a fuss about it. He was 17 for god sake, throwing tantrums like a constipated kid. It was really a sight. He yelled and screamed and cried and licked the snot off of his upper lip. I always wanted to film him freaking out, but our family 8mm took off with Dad and my part-time job mowing lawns only paid enough for mower maintenance and gas. How sweet it would have been though to project all 6’2 of Jeff onto the auditorium walls for all the kids he bullied to enjoy. With or without embarrassment, Jeff would eventually learn his lesson, but for now he was just one angry son of a bitch.

 

It was a particularly bad day for Jeff. The night before, he wrecked his car going head to head with some greasers in a Century after they revved on him. The confrontation began while out cruising Van Nuys and ended when Jeff lost it on the take off and whipped it into the curb. He broke the front axle and bent the frame; front corner panel was toast too. The next morning he had to catch the bus to school. He missed the 7:50 pick-up and was late to first period P.E. As punishment Coach Gunny made him come back during lunch and run laps. He quit after two and a half and walked up the bleachers towards the shade. He reached the top and rounded the announcer’s booth only to see Mandy Romero, the girl he’d been crushing on since September, making out with some guy who he swore was queer. To top off the day, he got chewed out by Mr. Copley, the new vice dean of students who had just moved here from the outback’s of Australia, or so we joked, for smoking in the locker-room.

 

I saw him walking up to the house. Mom was outside gardening and I was washing my grandma's car, a butter cream yellow 1950 Merc. "Jeffrey, Mr. Copley called today", Mom said with a cigarette dangling from the side of her mouth. "Yeah, and? You can't make me quit, you'd be a hypocrite." "Quit? Why would I make you quit? You need to be in school. Mr. Copley informed me you’re in danger of flunking the 11th grade. He recommended you stay for some of the after school study sessions in the library. It sounded like he was really concerned." Jeff scoffed. "Are you kidding me? Why would I willingly go to detention? Fuck Mom, are you that stupid?" Mom cussed more than any of us, but always acted surprised when we let it slip in front of her. "Jeffrey!" She shook her head. " Mom! God, Mr. Copley doesn't give two shits about me. He chewed me out once today and now he's calling my house, trying to bother me here too? Why can’t he just leave me alone?" Jeff was in many ways the man of the house since dad left and always called it "his house", in the way a homeowner would. "Jeffrey, I think you should give it a chance." "Oh so you’re on his side, huh Mom? You're gunna just believe that kangaroo fucker over your own son? Is that it Ma? Is that it?" All the while I had been laying low behind the Merc, enjoying the show from a safe distance. Jeff was so predicable. His hands for instance; they were balled into fists. Whenever he got tense he'd clinch his fists and start hitting anything with in arms reach. Usually it was the wall or the desk in our bedroom, but the more spectacular times included the front porch windows, all three of them, the particleboard door in the pantry, he left a big ol’ hole in that, and the finale the neighbors dog. Yup, he punched the neighbors dog straight in the mouth after it pissed on his catchers glove. I egged him on most of the time, but paid the price for it too. More often than not he'd catch me and lump me up pretty good. The Charlie-horses and monkey bumps wouldn’t loosen up for days. I couldn’t help myself though. I thought his little tantrums were hilarious, I still do.

 

Mom and Jeff were still going at it and creating quite a scene. I saw him move closer to mom, towering over her by nearly a foot. "Jeffery, calm down. The neighbors are staring." She smiled and waved to Fran, the nosey fat lady who lived across the driveway from our small bungalow. "God I hate you. You're the worst fucking mother in this entire city. No wonder dad left you." I had heard enough and started to cross the grass towards them. The running hose had made it soppy and muddy and I hated that feeling. "Yeah well he left you too Jeff. Must not have impressed him that much either." "Ah go fuck yourself." He knew he had gone too far, but when Jeff freaked out, he couldn't control his words or actions. You could see in his eyes that he was conscious of his irrationality, but being aware didn't stop him. Mom stared at him. "What Mom, WHAT? ... SAY SOMETH.." She slapped him. She slapped him good and hard and slapped him like he had never been slapped before. Fran ran inside to call the cops. Jeff clinched his jaw. He panted like an running asthmatic and held his eyes open so wide that even from a distance I could see the veins that held them inside their sockets. It had never happened before, but I knew it was going to happen now. Jeff cocked back and hit mom, square on the chin with a left hook. She fell, spinning on her way down, sending her pearl necklace and golden heart hairpin flying through the air, staining the lace around the neck of her blouse as she hit the soggy grass and curled up in agony. I ran, and Jeff was waiting for me with his fists up. I avoided him, ducked under two of his wide swings and headed straight for mom. The rage had taken Jeff at this point. I saw the coward in him come out through his glare, but his hubris was in control now and no matter how cowardly he felt in his core, a flow of prideful magma had hardened around it, suffocating any chance of decency arising. I tried to reason with this rock, "Jeff its over. Just get away from her, Just fucking get away." He lurked closer, still under the influence. "Jeff the cops are coming. I fucking hear their sirens man. If you're here when they show up you can bet you'll be spending the night in Van Nuys." He grinned and said, "Ain't nothing new to me." He was within arms reach now and I knew he'd hit either me or Mom, so I stood up and prepared to take the blow. I put my fists up and so did Jeff. He came straight for me and I jumped to the right. He came at me again and I jumped to the left. He came at me a third time and before I could jump Mom hit him across the head with a shovel. I locked eye’s with him as he collapsed, and in his descent I saw remorse. Mom saw it too and even though her cheek was red and her lips were fat and bloody, she forgave him and blamed the real monster, Dad. The cops ended up stopping by, but Jeff's antics were nothing new. When they saw him out cold on the front lawn they winked at us and kept on driving. Mom went inside and started dinner and I turned off the hose and put away the shovel. I finished up with Grammies Merc and helped Jeff off the grass before calling it a night.

 

GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES VICTIMS OF CRIME ACT (VOCA)

PROGRAM GRANT AWARDS

  

Charleston – Governor Earl Ray Tomblin announced on Wednesday, October 28, 2015, that he has awarded $3,463,389. in Victims of Crime Act Assistance (VOCA) sub-grant funds to fifty-seven (57) public and private non-profit agencies throughout the State.

The Victims of Crime Act Victim Assistance Grant Program funds will provide direct services, such as counseling, personal advocacy, court advocacy, client transportation and support services to victims of crimes including domestic violence, sexual violence, child abuse, and elderly abuse. The funds will also finance assistance to victims as they move through the criminal justice system.

These funds are awarded from the U. S. Department of Justice, the Office of Justice Programs of the U. S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime, and these funds are administered by the West Virginia Division of Justice and Community Services.

Funds were awarded to the following:

BROOKE, HANCOCK

A Child's Place CASA, Ltd. $14,500.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a part-time CASA Volunteer Coordinator to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Brooke and Hancock Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Rhonda Stubbs

Phone: (304) 737-4444

Email: childsplacecasa@comcast.net

 

CABELL

 

Cabell County Commission $77,383.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of three full-time Victim Advocates in the Cabell County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Cabell County.

 

Contact:Mr. Sean K. Hammers

Phone: (304) 526-8653

Email: shammers@cabellcounty.org

 

CABELL, WAYNE, KANAWHA

 

TEAM for West Virginia Children, Inc. $75,466.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time CASA Coordinator for Cabell County, a Cabell/Wayne CASA Volunteer Coordinator, and a Kanawha Volunteer Coordinator to provide direct services to child abuse and neglect victims in Cabell, Wayne, and Kanawha Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Kim Runyon Wilds

Phone: (304) 523-9587

Email: kwilds@teamwv.org

 

CABELL, WAYNE, LINCOLN

 

Family Service a Division of Goodwill Industries of KYOWVA Area, Inc. $57,048.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of three part-time Victim Therapists to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse in Cabell, Lincoln, and Wayne Counties.

 

Contact:Mr. Alan C. Cole MA, LPC

Phone: (304) 523-9454

Email: acole@goodwillhunting.org

 

CABELL, WAYNE, MASON, LINCOLN

 

CONTACT Huntington, Inc. $30,264.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate to provide direct services to victims of sexual assault in Cabell, Wayne, Lincoln, and Mason Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Sharon Pressman

Phone: (304) 523-3447

Email: execdirector@contacthuntington.com

 

CABELL, WAYNE, PUTNAM, LINCOLN, MASON

 

Branches Domestic Violence Shelter, Inc. $177,503.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Adult Counselor, a Mason County Advocate, a Putnam County Advocate, a Lincoln County Advocate, and a porition of the salary for a full-time Wayne County Outreach Advocate to provide direct services to domestic violence victims.

 

Contact:Ms. Amanda McComas

Phone: (304) 529-2382

Email: mccomas@branchesdvs.org

  

GREENBRIER, MONROE, POCAHONTAS

 

Family Refuge Center $79,088.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of the full-time Lead Shelter Advocate, a Shelter Advocate, an Overnight Monitor, and an Outreach Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in Greenbrier, Monroe, and Pocahontas Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Kenosha Davenport

Phone: (304) 645-6334

Email: kenoshad@familyrefugecenter.org

 

GREENBRIER, POCAHONTAS, SUMMERS

 

CASA of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, WV, Inc. $11,623.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the part-time salary of a Volunteer Coordinator to provide direct services to victims of child abuse in Greenbrier, Summers, and Pocahontas Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Jenny Castle

Phone: (304) 645-5437

Email: casa11c@live.com

 

HANCOCK, BROOKE

 

CHANGE, Inc. $54,245.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate and part-time Victim Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence in Brooke and Hancock Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Debra Fair

Phone: (304) 748-0332

Email: dfair@changeinc.org

 

HANCOCK, BROOKE, OHIO

 

Hancock County Commission $105,661.00

These funds will provide for the full-time salaries of a Hancock County Advocate, a Brooke County Advocate, and a portion of the salary of a full-time Ohio County Advocate to provide direct services to crime victims in Hancock, Brooke, and Ohio Counties.

 

Contact:Mr. Michael Traubert

Phone: (304) 234-3896

Email: Jgruberva@yahoo.com

  

HARRISON

 

Harrison County CASA Program, Inc. $40,730.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time Volunteer Advocate and the Program Director to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Harrison County.

 

Contact:Ms. Alisha Madia

Phone: (304) 623-5749

Email: harrisoncountycasa@frontier.com

 

JACKSON

 

Jackson County Commission $31,600.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Jackson County Sheriff's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Jackson County.

 

Contact:Sheriff Tony Boggs

Phone: (304) 373-2294

Email: tony.boggs@jacksoncountywv.com

 

CASA of the Fifth Judicial Circuit, Inc. $15,614.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of the Program Director to provide direct services to child abuse and neglect victims in Jackson County.

 

Contact:Ms. Kathie King

Phone: (304) 373-1165

Email: circuit5casawv@gmail.com

 

JACKSON, RITCHIE

 

Family Crisis Intervention Center $37,751.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time Ritchie County Advocate and part-time Jackson County Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence in Jackson and Ritchie Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Emily S. Larkins

Phone: (304) 428-2333

Email: eelarkins@suddenlink.net

 

JEFFERSON

 

Jefferson County Commission $60,623.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of two full-time Victim Advocates in the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Jefferson County.

 

Contact:Mr. Ralph A. Lorenzetti Jr.

Phone: (304) 728-3243

Email: rlorenzetti@jeffersoncountywv.org

 

JEFFERSON, BERKELEY, MORGAN

 

CASA of the Eastern Panhandle, Inc. $13,645.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a part-time Volunteer Coordinator to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Vicki L. Barnard

Phone: (304) 263-5100

Email: vicki@mycasaep.org

 

Shenandoah Women's Center, Inc. $105,582.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Berkeley County Outreach Advocate, a Morgan County Outreach Advocate, a Jefferson County Outreach Advocate and a Shelter Advocate to provide direct services to child victims, victims of domestic violence, and sexual assault in Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Pippa McCullough

Phone: (304) 263-8522

Email: executivedirector@swcinc.org

 

KANAWHA

 

Kanawha County Commission $106,827.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of two full-time Victim Advocates in the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department and two Victim Advocates in the Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Kanawha County.

 

Contact:Capt. R. P. Boone

Phone: (304) 357-2022

Email: patboone@kcso.us

City of Charleston $31,000.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Services Coordinator in the Charleston Police Department to provide direct services to crime victims in the City of Charleston.

 

Contact:Sgt. James Hunt

Phone: (304) 348-6480

Email: jahunt@charlestonwvpolice.org

 

KANAWHA, CLAY, BOONE

 

YWCA of Charleston, WV, Inc. $103,294.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Racial Justice/Court Advocate, a Boone County Coordinator, a part-time Clay County Coordinator and a portion of the salaries for a full-time Court Advocate and a Contracted Counselor to provide direct services to domestic violence victims in Kanawha, Clay, and Boone Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Pam Gillenwater

Phone: (304) 340-3554

Email: pgillenwater@ywcacharleston.org

 

KANAWHA, PUTNAM, JACKSON

 

Family Counseling Connection, Inc. $137,455.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time REACH Director and eight Victim Therapist positions and a porition of two Sexual Violence Victim Specialists to provide direct services to victims of sexual violence, child abuse, and domestic violence in Kanawha, Jackson, and Putnam Counties.

 

Contact:Mr. Frank S. Fazzolari

Phone: (304) 340-3676

Email: ffazzolari@tccwv.org

 

LEWIS

 

Lewis County Commission $35,865.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Lewis County Prosecutor's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Lewis County.

 

Contact:Ms. Christine Flanigan

Phone: (304) 269-8240

Email: Flanigan.lcpa@frontier.com

 

LOGAN

 

Logan County Commission $48,498.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time and a part-time Victim Advocate in the Logan County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Logan County.

 

Contact:Mr. John W. Bennett

Phone: (304) 792-8670

Email: jwbennett75@verizon.net

 

MARION

 

Marion County Commission $34,394.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Assistance Coordinator in the Marion County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Marion County.

 

Contact:Mr. Patrick N. Wilson

Phone: (304) 367-5380

Email: khawkins@marioncountywv.com

  

CASA of Marion County $28,083.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a Program Director to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Marion County.

 

Contact:Ms. Vesna Meinert

Phone: (304) 366-4198

Email: casaofmarion@frontier.com

 

MARION, DODDRIDGE, GILMER, HARRISON, LEWIS

 

Task Force on Domestic Violence, "HOPE, Inc." $235,328.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Lewis County Case Manger, a Harrison/Doddridge County Case Manger, a Gilmer County Case Manager and a portion of the salaries for a full-time Family Therapist, a Marion County Case Manager Specialist, a Marion County Victim Advocate, two Harrison County Victim Advocates, and a porition of the salaries for a part-time Marion County Case Manager and a part-time Children's Case Manager to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child victims in Doddridge, Gilmer, Harrison, Lewis, and Marion Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Harriet Sutton

Phone: (304) 367-1100

Email: hmsutton@hopeincwv.org

 

MARSHALL, WETZEL, TYLER, OHIO

 

CASA for Children, Inc. $29,105.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of the Program Director, a Ohio County Volunteer Coordinator, and a Volunteer Coordinator in the 2nd Circuit to provide direct services to child abuse and neglect victims in Ohio, Marshall, Tyler, and Wetzel Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Susan Harrison

Phone: (304) 810-0952

Email: executivedirector@wvcasaforchildren.com

 

MASON

 

Mason County Commission $29,667.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Mason County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Mason County.

 

Contact:Mr. R. Craig Tatterson

Phone: (304) 675-5734

Email: masonprosatty@yahoo.com

  

MCDOWELL, MERCER, WYOMING

 

Stop Abusive Family Environments, Inc., SAFE Inc. $106,060.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time McDowell County Advocate, a part-time Wyoming County Victim Advocate, and two full-time Mercer County Advocates to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child victims in McDowell, Mercer, and Wyoming Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Pat Daniels

Phone: (304) 436-8117

Email: patengland82@hotmail.com

 

MERCER

 

Child Protect of Mercer County, Inc. $35,652.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Family Advocate to provide direct services to child abuse victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Mercer County.

 

Contact:Ms. Shiloh Woodard

Phone: (304) 425-2710

Email: swoodard@mercerchildprotect.com

 

MERCER, MCDOWELL

 

ChildLaw Services, Inc. $10,068.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a part-time Victim Advocate and a part-time Counselor to provide direct services to child victims of abuse and neglect and children who witness domestic violence in Mercer and McDowell Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Catherine Bond Wallace

Phone: (304) 425-9973

Email: cathy.childlawservices@gmail.com

 

MINERAL

 

Mineral County Court Appointed Special Advocates $16,803.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a Volunteer Coordinator to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Mineral County.

 

Contact:Ms. Dayla Harvey

Phone: (304) 788-0068

Email: mincocasa@hotmail.com

  

MINERAL, GRANT, HAMPSHIRE

 

Family Crisis Center, Inc. $55,000.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time Grant County Victim Advocate, a Mineral County Advocate, and a part-time Hampshire County Victim Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence in Mineral, Grant, and Hampshire Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Sonya Fazzalore

Phone: (304) 788-6061

Email: fcc911@frontier.com

 

MINGO, LOGAN

 

Tug Valley Recovery Shelter $70,919.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Logan/Mingo County Victim Advocate, a part-time Court Advocate, a full-time Logan County Advocate and a part-time Mingo County Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child victims in Mingo and Logan Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Kimberly Ryan

Phone: (304) 235-6121

Email: k.s.ryan@hotmail.com

 

The Logan County Child Advocacy Center $10,128.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a part-time Mingo County Advocate to provide direct services to child abuse victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Mingo County.

 

Contact:Ms. Beth Cook

Phone: (304) 792-6261

Email: thelogancac@gmail.com

 

MONONGALIA

 

Monongalia County Commission $71,458.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time and two part-time Victim Assistance Coordinators in the Monongalia County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Monongalia County.

 

Contact:Ms. Marcia Ashdown

Phone: (304) 291-7250

Email: ashdown@court.state.wv.us

  

MONONGALIA, PRESTON

 

Monongalia County Youth Services Center, Inc / CASA For Kids $37,293.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time Preston County Volunteer Coordinator, a full-time Monongalia County Volunteer Coordinator, and a portion of the salary for the Program Director to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Preston and Monongalia Counties.

  

Contact:Ms. Tammy Renzelli

Phone: (304) 599-1087

Email: casadirector@hotmail.com

 

MONONGALIA, PRESTON, TAYLOR

 

The Rape & Domestic Violence Information Center, Inc.$77,094.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Victim Advocate in Monongalia County and Taylor County Victim Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse in Monongalia and Taylor Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Judy King

Phone: (304) 292-5100

Email: rdvic99@earthlink.net

 

OHIO

 

Ohio County Commission $44,832.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Assistance Coordinator in the Ohio County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Ohio County.

 

Contact:Mr. Scott R. Smith

Phone: (304) 234-3631

Email: shar4park@yahoo.com

 

OHIO, BROOKE, HANCOCK, MARSHALL, WETZEL

 

Upper Ohio Valley Sexual Assault Help Center $111,233.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Adult Victim Advocate and a Child Victim Advocate, and the part-time salaries of three Victim Advocates and a licensed counselor/therapist to provide direct services to adult and child victims of sexual assault in Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, and Wetzel Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Susan Knight

Phone: (304) 234-1783

Email: sahcexecutivedirector@gmai.com

 

OHIO, MARSHALL

 

Harmony House, Inc. $17,836.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Child and Family Advocate to provide direct services to child abuse victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Ohio and Marshall Counties.

  

Contact:Ms. Leslie Vassilaros

Phone: (304) 230-2205

Email: harmonyhousecac@yahoo.com

 

OHIO, MARSHALL, WETZEL

 

YWCA Wheeling Family Violence Prevention Program $134,441.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Child Advocate, a part-time Employment Advocate and a full-time Marshall County Advocate and a portion of the salaries of a full-time Shelter Advocate, two full-time Wetzel County Advocates, and a Ohio County Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child victims in Ohio, Marshall, and Wetzel Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Patricia Flanigan

Phone: (304) 232-2748

Email: tflanigan@ywcawheeling.org

 

PRESTON

 

Preston County Commission $28,800.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Preston County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Preston County.

 

Contact:Mr. Mel Snyder

Phone: (304) 329-1885

Email: msnyder@prestoncountywv.gov

 

PUTNAM

 

Putnam County Commission (Sheriff's Department) $30,000.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Putnam County Sheriff's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Putnam County.

 

Contact:Sheriff Steve Deweese

Phone: (304) 586-0256

Email: sdeweese@putnamwv.org

 

Putnam County Commission $46,000.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary for a full-time Victim Liaison and provide for the salary of a part-time Victim Liaison in the Putnam County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Putnam County.

 

Contact:Mr. Mark A. Sorsaia

Phone: (304) 586-0205

Email: Mark.Sorsaia@putnamwv.org

 

RALEIGH, FAYETTE, NICHOLAS, SUMMERS

 

Comprehensive Women's Service Council, Inc. $170,433.00

These funds will provide for the salaries for a full-time Shelter Advocate and an Outreach Office Advocate in Raleigh County, a full-time Nicholas County Advocate, two part-time Summers County Advocates, a part-time Counselor/Support Group Specialist, and a part-time Raleigh County Advocate in the Beckley Police Department and an Underserved Populations Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in Raleigh, Fayette, Summers, and Nicholas Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Patricia M. Bailey

Phone: (304) 255-2559

Email: pbailey@wrcwv.org

 

RANDOLPH

 

Randolph County Commission $28,577.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Services Coordinator in the Randolph County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide services to crime victims in Randolph County.

 

Contact:Mr. Michael W. Parker

Phone: (304) 636-2053

Email: mparker@rcpwv.com

 

RANDOLPH, UPSHUR, BARBOUR, TUCKER, WEBSTER, BRAXTON

 

Women's Aid in Crisis $244,524.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of two Shelter Managers in Randolph County, a Barbour County Outreach Coordinator, a Tucker County Outreach Coordinatory, an Upshur County Outreach Coordinator, a Webster County Outreach Coordinator, a Legal Advocate in Randolph County, and a Braxton County Outreach Coordinator to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, child victims, and sexual assault victims in Randolph, Barbour, Tucker, Upshur, Webster, and Braxton Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Marcia R. Drake

Phone: (304) 636-8433

Email: mdrake@waicwv.org

  

ROANE

 

Roane County Commission $19,877.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Roane County Prosecuting Attorney's office to provide direct services to crime victims in Roane County.

 

Contact:Mr. Joshua Downey

Phone: (304) 927-2091

Email: jdowney@court.state.wv.us

 

TYLER

 

Tyler County Commission $35,500.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Tyler County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Tyler County.

 

Contact:Mr. D. Luke Furbee

Phone: (304) 758-2860

Email: dlfurbeepa.tylercopa@frontier.com

 

UPSHUR

 

Upshur County Commission $34,662.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Upshur County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Upshur County.

 

Contact:Mr. David E. Godwin

Phone: (304) 472-9699

Email: degodwin@upshurcounty.org

 

WETZEL

 

Wetzel County Commission $18,568.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a Victim Advocate in the Wetzel County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Wetzel County.

 

Contact:Mr. Timothy E. Haught

Phone: (304) 455-8220

Email: abowman1@frontier.com

 

WOOD

 

Wood County Commission $65,387.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of two full-time Victim Advocates in the Wood County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Wood County.

 

Contact:Ms. Toni Tiano

Phone: (304) 428-7760

Email: tianoknopp@suddenlink.net

 

WOOD, WIRT, PLEASANT, RITCHIE

 

Voices for Children Foundation $31,058.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the Program Director’s salary to provide direct services to child abuse and neglect victims in Wood, Wirt, Pleasants, and Ritchie Counties.

 

Contact:Ms. Margaret Burdette

Phone: (304) 422-3390

Email: voicesforchildrencasa@gmail.com

 

WYOMING

 

Wyoming County Commission $30,483.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Wyoming County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Wyoming County.

 

Contact:Mr. Sante "Sonny" E. Boninsegna Jr.

Phone: (304) 732-8000

Email: sante.boninsegna@wyomingcountyprosecutor.com

 

STATEWIDE

 

Mothers Against Drunk Driving $34,049.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time statewide Victim Advocate to provide direct services and support to victims of Driving Under the Influence cases throughout the State of West Virginia.

 

Contact:Ms. Catrina Clemens

Phone: (469) 420-4515

Email: Catrina.Clemens@madd.org

 

West Virginia Division of Corrections $38,812.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a Victim Services Specialist to provide direct services to the crime victims of inmates under the custody of the Division of Corrections.

 

Contact:Ms. Jennifer Ballard

Phone: (304) 558-2036

Email: jennifer.m.ballard@wv.gov

GOVERNOR TOMBLIN PRESENTS $9.3 MILLION IN GRANTS

 

TO LOCAL GROUPS, COMMUNITY JUSTICE PROGRAMS

   

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (September 9, 2016) – Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin today presented more than $9.3 million in grant funding to community support groups and justice programs across the state. This funding will be used to develop new programming and enhance existing initiatives to support West Virginia’s communities and state justice system.

   

“With this needed funding, community programs from all corners of our state will be better equipped to serve children and families and further strengthen West Virginia’s justice system.” Gov. Tomblin said. “We are expanding direct services to victims of crime, putting programs in place to help at-risk youth get back on track and preparing parents with the life skills they need to foster a healthy, nurturing environment to raise their families.”

   

The total grant funding was allocated as follows:

   

$7,023,255 in Victims of Crime Act/Victim Assistance Grants - 75 grantees;

$529, 254 in Justice Reinvestment Treatment Supervision Grants - 4 grantees;

$1,203,175 in Justice Assistance Grants - 34 grantees;

$543,222 in Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Grants - 18 grantees.

  

Victims of Crime Act/Victim Assistance Grants:

BARBOUR

Barbour County Commission $38,936.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Assistance Coordinator in the Barbour County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Barbour County.

BERKELEY, JEFFERSON, MORGAN

Children's Home Society of West Virginia $35,576.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Family Advocate to provide direct services to child abuse victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Jefferson, Berkeley, and Morgan Counties.

BROOKE, HANCOCK

A Child's Place CASA, Ltd. $25,090.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a part-time CASA Volunteer Coordinator and Program Director to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Brooke and Hancock Counties.

CABELL

Cabell County Commission $129,895.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of three full-time Victim Advocates and two part-time Victim Advocates in the Cabell County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Cabell County.

CABELL, WAYNE, KANAWHA, PUTNAM

TEAM for West Virginia Children, Inc. $192,075.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time CASA Coordinator for Cabell County, a

Cabell/Wayne CASA Volunteer Coordinator, a Kanawha/Boone/Lincoln Volunteer Coordinator and a

Putnam/Cabell Volunteer Coordinator to provide direct services to child abuse and neglect victims in Cabell, Wayne, Putnam and Kanawha Counties.

CABELL, WAYNE, LINCOLN

Family Service a Division of Goodwill, Inc. $61,748.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of three part-time Victim Therapists to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse in Cabell, Lincoln, and Wayne Counties.

CABELL, WAYNE, LINCOLN

CONTACT Huntington Inc. $143,338.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Wayne & Lincoln County Advocate, Campus Victim Advocate, and Community Victim Advocate, and for a part-time Victim Advocate to provide direct services to victims of sexual assault in Cabell, Wayne, and Lincoln.

CABELL, WAYNE, PUTNAM, LINCOLN, MASON

Branches Domestic Violence Shelter, Inc. $292,641.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time Social Worker, a Mason County Advocate, a

Putnam County Advocate, a Lincoln County Advocate, Wayne County Advocate, Evening Advocate, Case Manager, and part-time Putnam County Advocate to provide direct services to domestic violence victims in Cabell, Lincoln, Putnam, Wayne, and Mason Counties.

GREENBRIER

Greenbrier County Commission $54,685.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Services Coordinator in the Greenbrier County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Greenbrier County.

GREENBRIER, MONROE, POCAHONTAS

Child and Youth Advocacy Center $88,469.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Family Advocate and full-time Forensic Interviewer, and a portion of the salaries of a full-time Therapist and Program Director to provide direct services to child abuse victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Greenbrier, Pocahontas, and Monroe Counties.

GREENBRIER, MONROE, POCAHONTAS

Family Refuge Center $168,120.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of the full-time Lead Shelter Advocate, a Daytime Shelter

Advocate, Overnight Shelter Advocate, Monroe County Advocate, Pocahontas County Advocate, and part-time Weekend Shelter Advocate, and Victim Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in Greenbrier, Monroe, and Pocahontas Counties.

GREENBRIER, POCAHONTAS

CASA of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, Inc. $42,424.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the part-time salary of a Volunteer Coordinator and full-time Program Director to provide direct services to victims of child abuse in Greenbrier and Pocahontas Counties.

HANCOCK, BROOKE

CHANGE, Inc. $54,285.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate and part-time Victim Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence in Brooke and Hancock Counties.

HANCOCK, BROOKE, OHIO

Hancock County Commission $125,979.00

These funds will provide for the full-time salaries of a Hancock County Advocate, a Brooke County Advocate, and a portion of the salary of a full-time Ohio County Advocate to provide direct services to crime victims in Brooke, Hancock, and Ohio Counties.

HARRISON

Harrison County CASA Program, Inc. $42,907.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time Volunteer Coordinator and the Program Director to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Harrison County.

HARRISON, DODDRIDGE

Harrison County Child Advocacy Center $40,991.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Family Advocate to provide direct services to child abuse victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Harrison County.

JACKSON

Jackson County Commission $35,000.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Jackson County Sheriff's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Jackson County.

JACKSON, ROANE, CALHOUN

CASA of the Fifth Judicial Circuit, Inc. $46,101.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of the Program Director and two Volunteer Coordinators to provide direct services to child abuse and neglect victims in Jackson, Roane, and Calhoun Counties.

JEFFERSON

Jefferson County Commission $67,104.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of two full-time Victim Advocates in the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Jefferson County.

JEFFERSON, BERKELEY, MORGAN

Shenandoah Women's Center, Inc. $355,035.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Jefferson County Outreach Advocate, and two Shelter

Advocates, and a portion of the salaries for a full-time Morgan County Outreach Advocate, a Jefferson County Outreach Advocate, two Berkeley County Outreach Advocates, Evening and Weekend Shelter Advocate positions, and two part-time Counselors to provide direct services to child victims, victims of domestic violence, and sexual assault in Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties.

CASA of the Eastern Panhandle, Inc. $103,218.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a Senior Volunteer Coordinator, two Volunteer Coordinators, and a part-time Volunteer Coordinator to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Berkeley, Jefferson, and Morgan Counties.

KANAWHA

City of Charleston $36,600.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Services Coordinator in the Charleston Police Department to provide direct services to crime victims in the City of Charleston.

CAMC Health Education & Research Institute $105,966.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Family Advocate and a portion of the salary of a full-time Social Worker/Forensic Interviewer to provide direct services to child abuse victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Kanawha County.

Kanawha County Commission $67,360.00

These funds will provide for the salary of two full-time Victim Advocates and portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Kanawha County.

Kanawha County Commission $83,353.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of two full-time Victim Advocates in the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department to provide direct services to crime victims in Kanawha County.

KANAWHA, CLAY, BOONE

YWCA of Charleston, WV, Inc. $184,189.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Racial Justice/Court Advocate, a Boone County

Coordinator, a part-time Clay County Coordinator and a portion of the salaries for three full-time Court Advocate positions, Youth Services Coordinator, and a Contracted Counselor to provide direct services to domestic violence victims in Kanawha, Clay, and Boone Counties.

KANAWHA, PUTNAM, JACKSON, BOONE

Family Counseling Connection $208,311.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time REACH Director, three REACH Sexual Violence Victim Specialist, a Victim Support Specialist, and seven Victim Therapist positions and a portion of two Sexual Violence Victim Specialists to provide direct services to victims of sexual violence, child abuse, and domestic violence in Kanawha, Boone, Jackson, and Putnam Counties.

LEWIS

Lewis County Commission $38,942.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Lewis County Prosecutor's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Lewis County.

LOGAN

Logan County Commission $48,498.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time and a part-time Victim Advocate in the Logan County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Logan County.

Logan County Commission $36,500.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Services Coordinator in the Logan County Sheriff's Department to provide direct services to crime victims in Logan County.

LOGAN, MINGO

The Logan County Child Advocacy Center, Inc. $46,748.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a part-time Mingo County Advocate and Child & Youth Forensic Interviewer and for a portion of the salary for a full-time Logan County Family Advocate to provide direct services to child abuse victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Logan and Mingo Counties.

MARION

CASA of Marion County $46,069.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of the salaries for a Program Director and Volunteer Coordinator to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Marion County.

Marion County Commission $45,278.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Assistance Coordinator in the Marion County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Marion County.

MARION, DODDRIDGE, GILMER, HARRISON, LEWIS

Task Force on Domestic Violence, "HOPE, Inc." $338,084.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time Family Therapist, Marion County Case

Manager, Children's Case Manager, Lewis County Case Manager, Harrison County Case Manager, Harrison

County Case Manager/Outreach Coordinator, Gilmer County Case Manager, Marion County Victim Advocate, Harrison County Victim Advocate, Doddridge County Case Manager, and Family Therapist and a portion of the salary for a part-time Marion County Case Manager to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child victims in Doddridge, Gilmer, Harrison, Lewis, and Marion Counties.

MARSHALL, WETZEL, TYLER, OHIO

CASA for Children Inc. $58,805.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of the Program Director, a Ohio County Volunteer Coordinator, and a Volunteer Coordinator in the 2nd Circuit to provide direct services to child abuse and neglect victims in Ohio, Marshall, Tyler, and Wetzel Counties.

MASON

Mason County Commission $29,830.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Mason County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Mason County.

MCDOWELL

Stop the Hurt, Inc., Children's Advocacy Center $34,436.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Family Advocate to provide direct services to child abuse victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in McDowell County.

MCDOWELL, MERCER, WYOMING

Stop Abusive Family Environments, Inc. $257,416.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time McDowell County Advocate, a part-time

Wyoming County Victim Advocate, Resident Program Coordinator, Advocate Coordinator, Night Shelter Advocate, Evening Shelter Advocate, Weekend Shelter Advocate, Case Worker, Administrator, and for the salaries of two full-time Mercer County Advocates and Wyoming County Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child victims in McDowell, Mercer, and Wyoming Counties.

MERCER

Child Protect of Mercer County, Inc. $70,220.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Family Advocate, part-time Forensic Interviewer and a portion of a Contract Therapist to provide direct services to child abuse victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Mercer County.

MERCER, MCDOWELL

ChildLaw Services, Inc. $16,000.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a part-time Victim Advocate/Counselor to provide direct services to child victims of abuse and neglect and children who witness domestic violence in Mercer and McDowell Counties.

MINERAL

Mineral County Court Appointed Special Advocates $49,686.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of the Program Director and for the salary of a full-time Volunteer Coordinator to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Mineral County.

MINERAL, GRANT, HAMPSHIRE

Family Crisis Center, Inc. $55,000.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time Grant County Victim Advocate, a Mineral County Advocate, and a part-time Hampshire County Victim Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence in Mineral, Grant, and Hampshire Counties.

MINERAL, HAMPSHIRE, PENDLETON

Burlington United Methodist Family Services, Inc. $20,982.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Forensic Interviewer to provide direct services to child abuse victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Hampshire, Mineral, and Pendleton Counties.

MINGO

Mingo County Commission $22,100.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Assistance Coordinator in the Mingo County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Mingo County.

MINGO, LOGAN

Tug Valley Recovery Shelter $89,434.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Logan/Mingo County Victim Advocate, a part-time Court Advocate, a full-time Logan County Advocate and a part-time Mingo County Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child victims in Mingo and Logan Counties.

MONONGALIA

Monongalia County Commission $78,544.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time and two part-time Victim Assistance Coordinators in the Monongalia County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Monongalia County.

Monongalia County Child Advocacy Center, Inc. $17,302.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Family Advocate to provide direct services to child abuse victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Monongalia County.

MONONGALIA, PRESTON

Monongalia County Youth Services Center / CASA for Kids $42,649.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time Preston County Volunteer Coordinator, a full-time Monongalia County Volunteer Coordinator, and a portion of the salary for the Program Director to provide direct services to victims of child abuse and neglect in Preston and Monongalia Counties.

MONONGALIA, PRESTON, TAYLOR

The Rape & Domestic Violence Information Center, Inc. $177,082.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Monongalia County Victim Advocate, Case Manager,

Taylor County Victim Advocate and for a portion of the salary for a full-time Outreach Advocate for Monongalia, Preston, and Taylor Counties to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse in Monongalia, Preston, and Taylor Counties.

OHIO

Ohio County Commission $35,242.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Assistance Coordinator in the Ohio County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Ohio County.

OHIO, BROOKE, HANCOCK, MARSHALL, WETZEL

Upper Ohio Valley Sexual Assault Help Center $161,670.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Adult Victim Advocate and a Child Victim Advocate, and the part-time salaries of three Victim Advocates and a licensed Counselor/Therapist to provide direct services to adult and child victims of sexual assault in Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, and Wetzel Counties.

OHIO, MARSHALL

Harmony House, Inc. $46,323.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Child and Family Advocate and a portion of the salary of a Child and Family Therapist to provide direct services to child abuse victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Ohio and Marshall Counties.

OHIO, MARSHALL, WETZEL

Young Womens Christian Associaton of Wheeling, WV $153,405.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Child Advocate, Ohio County Advocate, Marshall County Advocate, and Wetzel County Advocate, a part-time Employment Advocate, and a portion of the salaries of a

full-time Shelter Advocate and Wetzel County Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child victims in Ohio, Marshall, and Wetzel Counties.

PRESTON

Preston County Commission $35,125.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Preston County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Preston County.

PUTNAM

Putnam County Commission $34,000.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Putnam County Sheriff's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Putnam County.

Putnam County Commission $48,784.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary for a full-time Victim Liaison and provide for the salary of a part-time Victim Liaison in the Putnam County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Putnam County.

RALEIGH, FAYETTE, NICHOLAS, SUMMERS

Comprehensive Women's Service Council, Inc. $432,866.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Summers County Advocate, Nicholas County Advocate, Raleigh County Advocate in the Beckley Police Department, and Raleigh County Shelter Advocate and for a

portion of the salaries for a full-time Evening Shelter Advocate, Weekend Shelter Advocate, Night Shelter

Advocate, Day Shelter Advocate, and for a portion of the salaries of a part-time Underserved Populations

Advocate, Raleigh County Victim Services Advocate, Fayette County Advocate, Nicholas County Advocate, and

Weekend Shelter Advocate, and for a portion of two Contractual Adult and Child Therapist to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse in Raleigh, Fayette, Nicholas, and Summers Counties.

RALEIGH, FAYETTE, WYOMING

Just For Kids Child Advocacy Center $76,250.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Family Advocate, Forensic Interviewer, and Counselor to provide direct services to child abuse victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Fayette, Raleigh, and Wyoming Counties.

RANDOLPH

Randolph County Commission $40,436.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Services Coordinator in the Randolph County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide services to crime victims in Randolph County.

RANDOLPH, TUCKER

Randolph-Tucker Children's Advocacy Center $65,222.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of a full-time Family Advocate and part-time Forensic Interviewer and for the salary of a part-time Tucker County Child and Family Advocate to provide direct services to child abuse victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Randolph and Tucker Counties.

RANDOLPH, UPSHUR, TUCKER, BRAXTON, WEBSTER, BARBOUR

Women's Aid in Crisis $396,775.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries for a full-time Barbour County Outreach Coordinator,

Braxton County Outreach Coordinator, Tucker County Outreach Coordinator, Upshur County Outreach

Coordinator, Webster County Outreach Coordinator, Randolph County Legal Advocate, Randolph County Victim Advocate, and two Shelter Managers and a Contracted Counselor to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence, child victims, and sexual assault victims in Randolph, Barbour, Tucker, Upshur, Webster, and Braxton Counties.

ROANE

Roane County Commission $22,068.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Roane County Prosecuting Attorney's office to provide direct services to crime victims in Roane County.

SUMMERS

REACHH-Family Resource Center $15,715.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a part-time Family Advocate and Forensic Interviewer to provide direct services to child abuse victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Summers County.

TYLER

Tyler County Commission $37,920.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Tyler County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Tyler County.

UPSHUR

Upshur County Commission $34,662.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Upshur County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Upshur County.

UPSHUR, LEWIS

Mountain CAP of West Virginia, Inc., a CAC $32,574.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Family Advocate to provide direct services to child abuse victims and adult survivors of child sexual abuse in Upshur and Lewis Counties.

WETZEL

Wetzel County Commission $40,000.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Wetzel County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Wetzel County.

WOOD

Wood County Commission $83,126.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of two full-time Victim Advocates in the Wood County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Wood County.

WOOD, CALHOUN, JACKSON, LOGAN, WIRT

Harmony Mental Health, Inc. $138,450.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of a full-time Social Worker and Counselor, and Contractual Counseling to provide services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse in Calhoun, Jackson, Wirt, and Wood Counties.

WOOD, JACKSON, RITCHIE, PLEASANTS, WIRT

Family Crisis Intervention Center $224,087.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salaries of three part-time Shelter Advocates, three full-tim Shelter

Advocates, Legal Advocate, Sexual Assault Advocate, Ritchie County Advocate, Wirt County Advocate, Pleasants County Advocate, and part-time Jackson County Advocate to provide direct services to victims of domestic violence in Jackson, Ritchie, Wirt, Pleasants, and Wood Counties.

WOOD, WIRT, PLEASANTS, RITCHIE

Voices for Children Foundation - CASA Program $51,939.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the Program Director’s salary to provide direct services to child abuse and neglect victims in Wood, Wirt, Pleasants, and Ritchie Counties.

WYOMING

Wyoming County Commission $30,114.00

These funds will provide for the salary of a full-time Victim Advocate in the Wyoming County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to provide direct services to crime victims in Wyoming County.

STATEWIDE

West Virginia Division of Corrections $81,158.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a Victim Services Specialist to provide direct services to the crime victims of inmates under the custody of the Division of Corrections.

Legal Aid of West Virginia, Inc. $216,890.00

These funds will provide for the salaries of three full-time Attorneys to provide emergency legal services to victims of crime in West Virginia.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving West Virginia $39,453.00

These funds will provide for a portion of the salary of a full-time statewide Victim Advocate to provide direct services and support to victims of Driving Under the Influence cases throughout the State of West Virginia.

Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Grants:

BARBOUR

Barbour County Commission $20,000.00

These funds will be utilized to support the position of a Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) in Philip Barbour High School.

CABELL

City of Barboursville $20,000.00

These funds will be utilized to support the position of a Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) in Barboursville Middle School.

DODDRIDGE

Doddridge County Commission $40,000.00

These funds will be utilized to support the Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) positions in Doddridge County High and Dordddridge County Middle Schools.

HARDY

Hardy County Commission $20,000.00

These funds will be utilized to support the position of a Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) in East Hardy High School.

HARRISON

Harrison County Commission $20,000.00

These funds will be utilized to support the position of a Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) in South Harrison High School.

KANAWHA

HOPE Community Development Corporation $60,000.00

These funds will be utilized to implement the Disproportionate Minority Reduction Cycle in Kanawha County.

Kanawha County Commission $25,000.00

These funds will be utilzed to support the Project INTER-CEPT Program (Interventions Needed To End Recidivism-Critical Entry Point Treatment) in Kanawha County.

Partnership of African American Churches $60,000.00

These funds will be utilized to decrease Disproportionate MinortyContact in Kanawha County by expanding current initiatives between law enforcement, clergy, youth and families, including public defenders and prosecuting attorneys.

LOGAN

Logan County Commission $20,000.00

These funds will be utilized to support the position of a Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) in Man High School.

MONONGALIA

Monongalia County Commission $20,000.00

These funds will be utilized to support the VOICES II, a deliquency prevention program that focuses on at-risk and delinquent female teens.

Monongalia County Child Advocacy Center $18,612.00

These funds will be utilized to provide Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to child vicitims of abuse in Monongalia County.

Monongalia County Commission $60,000.00

These funds will be utilized to support a countywide Disproportionate Minorty Contact Reduction Initiative by utlizing an evidence-based intervention model to prevent at-risk minority youth’s involvement in the criminal justice system.

Morgantown Police Department $20,000.00

These funds will be utilized to support the position of a Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) in Mountaineer Middle School.

Mountaineer Boys and Girls Club $45,000.00

These funds will be utilized to implement the Disproportionate Minorty Reduction Cycle in Monongalia County.

MORGAN

Morgan County Commission $20,000.00

These funds will be utilized to support a school and community based program that provides a school-based violence prevention curriculum and a developmental asset program to cultivate youth strengths and self-esteem.

Morgan County Commission $20,000.00

These funds will be utilized to support the position of a Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) in Berkeley Springs High School.

STATEWIDE

West Virginia Child Advocacy Network $23,592.00

These funds will be utilized to assess and improve the data tracking and evaluation on both a statewide and local program level, and assist local Child Advocacy centers with data-informed strategic planning, interrupting the cycle of abuse and preventing adverse lifetime outcomes.

West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals $31,018.00

These funds will be utilized to provide current juvenile justice probation data to the State of West Virginia, the Federal Government, West Virginia Division of Justice and Community Services, the State Advisory Group and the citizens of West Virginia through the maintenance and daily management of the Juvenile Section of the Offender Case Management System. Funding will also provide analysis and a statewide report on the Juvenile Justice system as well as the collection of juvenile data and analysis to provide the numbers to create the DMC ratio.

Justice Assistance Grants:

BRAXTON

Braxton County Commission $20,000.00

Funds will provide one Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) at Braxton County High School.

CABELL

Cabell County Commission $69,000.00

Funds will provide for officer salaries to continue a multi-jurisdictional drug and violent crime task force.

GREENBRIER

Greenbrier County Commission $23,000.00

Funds will provide for officer salaries to continue a multi-jurisdictional drug and violent crime task force.

HAMPSHIRE

Hampshire County Commission $20,000.00

Funds will provide one Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) at Hampshire County High School.

HANCOCK

Hancock County Commission $40,000.00

Funds will provide for two Prevention Resource Officers (PRO) at Oak Glen High School and Weir High School.

Hancock County Commission $46,000.00

Funds will provide for officer salaries to continue a multi-jurisdictional drug and violent crime task force.

HARRISON

City of Bridgeport $20,000.00

Funds will provide one Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) at Bridgeport High School.

City of Bridgeport $46,000.00

Funds will provide for officer salaries to continue a multi-jurisdictional drug and violent crime task force.

City of Clarksburg $20,000.00

Funds will provide for one Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) at Robert C. Byrd High School.

JACKSON

City of Ripley $20,000.00

Funds will provide one Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) at Ripley High School.

City of Ravenswood $20,000.00

Funds will provide one Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) at Ravenswood High School.

KANAWHA

City of South Charleston $20,000.00

Funds will provide one Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) at South Charleston High School.

City of Charleston $69,000.00

Funds will provide for officer salaries to continue a multi-jurisdictional drug and violent crime task force.

City of Dunbar $20,000.00

Funds will provide one Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) at Dunbar Middle School.

City of Charleston $40,000.00

Funds will provide for two Prevention Resource Officers (PRO) at Capitol High School and Stonewall Jackson Middle School.

LEWIS

Lewis County Commission $20,000.00

Funds will provide one Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) at Lewis County High School.

LOGAN

Logan County Commission $46,000.00

Funds will provide for officer salaries to continue a multi-jurisdictional drug and violent crime task force and salary for one Prosecutor to work closely with the Drug Task Force.

MARSHALL

Marshall County Commission $23,000.00

Funds will provide for officer salaries to continue a multi-jurisdictional drug and violent crime task force.

MERCER

City of Bluefield $46,000.00

Funds will provide for officer salaries to continue a multi-jurisdictional drug and violent crime task force.

MINERAL

Mineral County Commission $20,000.00

Funds will provide one Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) at Frankfort High School.

MONROE

Monroe County Commission $20,000.00

Funds will provide one Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) at James Monroe High School.

OHIO

Ohio County Commission $46,000.00

Funds will provide for officer salaries to continue a multi-jurisdictional drug and violent crime task force.

City of Wheeling $40,000.00

Funds will provide for two Prevention Resource Officers (PRO) at Bridge Street Middle School and Triadelphia Middle School.

PUTNAM

Putnam County Commission $20,000.00

Funds will provide one Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) at Poca High School.

City of Winfield $20,000.00

Funds will provide one Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) at Winfield High School.

City of Nitro $20,000.00

These funds will be utilized to support a Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) at Nitro High School.

RALEIGH

City of Beckley Police Department $20,000.00

Funds will provide one Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) at Woodrow Wilson High School.

ROANE

Roane County Commission $20,000.00

Funds will provide one Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) at Roane County High School.

TAYLOR

City of Grafton $20,000.00

Funds will provide one Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) at Grafton High School.

UPSHUR

Upshur County Commission $20,000.00

Funds will provide one Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) at Buckhannon-Upshur Middle School.

WETZEL

Wetzel County Commission $20,000.00

Funds will provide one Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) at Valley High School.

WOOD

City of Vienna $46,000.00

Funds will provide for officer salaries for a multi-jurisdictional drug and violent crime task force.

City of Williamstown $20,000.00

Funds will provide one Prevention Resource Officer (PRO) at Williamstown High School.

STATEWIDE

West Virginia State Police $223,175.00

Funds will provide for officer overtime to continue a multi-jurisdictional drug and violent crime task force.

Justice Reinvestment Treatment Supervision Grants:

BERKELEY, JEFFERSON, MORGAN

Jefferson Day Report Center, Inc. $140,998.00

These funds will be utilized to support the ongoing work through the Justice Reinvestment Treatment Supervision Program.

CABELL

Prestera Center for Mental HealthServices, Inc. $134,514.00

These funds will be utilized to support the ongoing work through the Justice Reinvestment Treatment Supervision Program.

HARRISON

Harrison County Commission $125,000.00

These funds will be utilized to support the ongoing work through the Justice Reinvestment Treatment Supervision Program.

United Summit Center, Inc. $118,753.00

These funds will be utilized to support the ongoing work through the JusticGOVERNOR TOMBLIN PRESENTS $9.3 MILLION IN GRANTS

 

TO LOCAL GROUPS, COMMUNITY JUSTICE PROGRAMS

   

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (September 9, 2016) – Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin today presented more than $9.3 million in grant funding to community support groups and justice programs across the state. This funding will be used to develop new programming and enhance existing initiatives to support West Virginia’s communities and state justice system.

   

“With this needed funding, community programs from all corners of our state will be better equipped to serve children and families and further strengthen West Virginia’s justice system.” Gov. Tomblin said. “We are expanding direct services to victims of crime, putting programs in place to help at-risk youth get back on track and preparing parents with the life skills they need to foster a healthy, nurturing environment to raise their families.”

   

The total grant funding was allocated as follows:

   

$7,023,255 in Victims of Crime Act/Victim Assistance Grants - 75 grantees;

$529, 254 in Justice Reinvestment Treatment Supervision Grants - 4 grantees;

$1,203,175 in Justice Assistance Grants - 34 grantees;

$543,222 in Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Grants - 18 grantees.

  

Photos available for media use. All photos should be attributed “Photo courtesy of Office of the Governor.”

Or so he thinks.

 

I work part time at Queen's University here in Kingston Ontario. I had to go into the office this evening and so after dinner I thought I would bring Travis along so he could see a bit of Kingston after hanging around the house all day.

 

Of course, he had to go off on his own after asking to use the loo to check out one of the rooms in Mackintosh Corry Hall and I caught him trying to teach some of the students what he referred to as Quantum Physics. Of course, I didn't have the heart to tell him that it was all jibberish. He chalked it up to his Scottish accent that the students just didn't understand the theories that he was teaching.

 

I told him that perhaps he might better have a captive audience at the daycare tomorrow when we drop off my favorite model but he didn't seem to keen on that saying that the university students were more advanced in their learning and should have no problem understanding his teaching.

 

Of course, I didn't have the heart to tell him either that he just can't get up and teach without having a contract with the university so instead I promised him that we could go out and watch the Gael's practice on the field before heading home in order to get him out of the classroom and to allow the professor to continue teaching.

 

Make sure you check out his adventure's so far on his own flickr group Travis's World Tour.

 

If you think you would like to host Travis make sure you sign up on his flickr group. He doesn't eat much and the only cost to you is an envelope and postage to send him onto his next destination.

Photo taken Feb. 2020

Trump National Doral Miami

 

-- The Kaskel Years --

 

Immigrating from Poland in the 1920's, Alfred L. Kaskel (1901–1968) used his skills to open in the Coney Island neighborhood a small building supplies store which led to early opportunities as a building contractor. Kaskel saved his money and was able to build his first apartment building on Parkside Avenue in Brooklyn. By the age of 30 he was a millionaire. He reinvested the profits and rose to prominence in New York City real estate in the postwar period - as did Donald Trump's father, Fred Trump and Sam Lefrak - by securing low cost government loans to build housing for returning GIs. Kaskel realized the potential for affordable housing in New York City and developed apartments in Forest Hills-Kew Gardens-Rego Park, Queens. In 1945 Kaskel bought the Belmont Plaza Hotel on Lexington and 49th Street - which marked his beginning of a rapid acceleration into the hotel real estate. Kaskel (Carol Management named after his daughter Carole) bought Coney Island's famed Half Moon Hotel for $900,000 in 1947. Kaskel sold the hotel in 1949 for $1,000,000 to the Harbor Hospital of Brooklyn.

 

By 1958 Kaskel was a part time resident of Miami and built the Carillon, a 620 room palace designed by Norman Giller, the celebrated “father” of Miami Modern (MiMo) architecture at Collins and 68th. The Carillon epitomized resort culture in Miami Beach. In 1959, it was voted Miami Beach’s “Hotel of the Year.” A glamorous night spot, the Carillon became known during the 1960s for its famous guests, lavish parties, cabaret shows, and big-name entertainment. Kaskel enjoyed golf - it led him to the swampland west of the Miami Airport and the Doral Country Club. Alfred and Doris Kaskel purchased 2,400 acres of swampland between NW 36 Street and NW 74 Street and from NW 79 Avenue to NW 117 Avenue for about $49,000 with the intention of building a golf course and hotel. At that time there was no paved road to the property. Kaskel's wife and daughter thought he was crazy to purchase the property and called it "Kaskel's folly". In 1962, the Kaskel's dream came true when they opened a hotel and country club that featured the Blue, Red and Par 3 golf courses. They named it Doral - a combination of Alfred and Doris. The Doral was the most luxurious resort constructed in South Florida since the Miami Biltmore in Coral Gables opened in the 1920's. The Doral Country Club was built for $10 million by Kaskel's family owned real estate firm, Carol Management. The Doral golf concept was to build multiple golf courses with a central country club, dining, meeting facilities and lodge rooms and reserve the fairway views for future house, condo and apartment buildings. In 1963 Kaskel also opened the 420- room Doral-on-Ocean - as the sister hotel to the Doral Country Club. The Doral Beach Hotel was long considered the most elegant and luxurious hotel in the area. It won several Mobil Five Star awards. It was said Kaskel did not have a mortgage on the Carillon Hotel, Doral Beach of the Doral Country Club - all funded by the thousands of apartment houses he owned in New York City.

 

Kaskel hired Louis Sibbett "Dick" Wilson and his assistants Joe Lee and Bob Hagge (Robert von Hagge) to design Doral's two regulation length golf courses plus a par-3 course. Wilson was the architect for Bay Hill in Orlando and La Costa in Carlsbad, CA. Since much of the land was swamp Mr. Hagge excavated enough land to route fairways through the water infested terrain just as Kaskel had requested. The intention was to use existing water as an ever-present hazard compensating for the very flat landscape. In May, 1963 construction began on the White Course, for the Doral complex, but it needed dirt, and so the lakes were dredged and enlarged on the Blue course from 60 acres to 75 acres. Kaskel hired Bob Hagge to design the White course. As a result of the building of the new White course, the par-3 course was redesigned since they were both located on the same parcel of land. On January 20, 1966 the Doral Country Club White Course opened and in December 1966 the redesigned Par 3 course reopened. Since the Blue Course had been renamed the Blue Monster, the other courses were renamed as well. The Red Course was renamed the Red Tiger, as Jackie Gleason once called the course. The White Course became known as the White Wonder, and the Par-3 Course became known as the Green Course or the Green Hornet. In 1968, Robert von Hagge and Bruce Devlin were hired to build the fifth course at the Doral Country Club - the Gold Course. In January, 1970 the Gold Course opened for business and received the moniker of Bachelor's Gold.

 

Kaskel put up a large purse to attract a PGA event at Doral in 1962. The tournament was held on the Blue Course and was named the Doral Country Club Open Invitational. Billy Casper was the inaugural winner of the Doral tournament. For that triumph, Casper earned $9,000 of the $50,000 purse. After watching the professionals struggle on the Blue Course, the tournament director Frank Strafaci gave the Blue Course the nickname 'The Blue Monster' which stuck. Doral's Touring Golf Pro for many years was Seve Ballesteros.

 

By 1978 the Kaskel family had grown the Doral brand to 8 hotels including in NYC: Doral Tuscany (now the St Giles Tuscany), Doral Park Avenue (now the Iberostar), Doral Court (now the St. Giles The Court) and the Doral Inn (originally the Belmont Plaza and the former W Flagship hotel now the Maxwell). In 1987, a spa wing was added to the Doral Country Club's hotel and the facility was renamed as the Doral Golf Resort and Spa. Prior to its renovation, the 800 acre complex was reported to feature "four golf courses; 700 hotel rooms across 10 lodges; more than 86,000-square-foot of meeting space, including a 25,000-square-foot ballroom; a 50,000-square-foot spa with 33 treatment rooms; six food and beverage outlets; extensive retail; and a private members' clubhouse.

 

--- The next five owners - KSL, CNL, Morgan Stanley, Paulson & Co. and Donald J. Trump ---

 

In 1994, the Kaskel family (Carol Management) sold the resort to KSL Recreation, a Kohlberg Kravis Roberts affiliate focused on premier golf facilities, for approximately $100 million. KSL Recreation was formed in 1992 (Henry Kravis, Michael Shannon and Larry Lichliter) as a portfolio company of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. KSL investors include public and private pensions and high net worth individuals. KSL appointed Hans Turnovszky as the new general manager. KSL planned a $30 million renovation. Starwood Capital was another interested buyer. The renovation included the remodel of ground floor restaurants (Terraza and Champions Sports Bar and Grill), all rooms and the 4 golf courses.

 

By 1995 the 4 courses (Blue Monster, Gold, White and Red) at Doral were frayed around the edges after some years of neglect. The Blue Monster was dropped off Golf Digest's list of the best 100 courses in 1993. In an effort to update the Blue Monster's difficulty in relation to changes in golf technology and skill, KSL contracted Ray Floyd to renovate the course in 1995. Floyd added and enlarged the already numerous bunkers narrowing many landing areas from the tee. The course was challenging under ideal conditions, but in normal tradewinds the alterations proved too penal and very unpopular. In 1999 Jim McLean, the Doral golf instructor, was asked to take the edges off Floyd's modifications.

 

In 1999 KSL sold 36 acres next to the Doral's golf courses to Marriott Vacation Club International for 240 timeshare villas. The sale marks the first time the Doral's owner, KSL Hotel Corp., relinquished a part of its property, said Joel Paige, KSL president and general manager of the Doral Golf Resort & Spa. KSL has agreed to let Marriott feed off the Doral's amenities by granting timeshare owners the same 40 percent discount and preferred access as guests at KSL's 700-room hotel. That includes the spa, golf courses, tennis courts.

 

In 2004 CNL acquired KSL for $1.366 billion and debt of $794 million for total acquisition cost of $2.16 billion. The resort portfolio of six included: 692-room Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Miami, Florida, 780-room Grand Wailea Resort & Spa on Maui, Hawaii, 796-room La Quinta Resort & Club and PGA West in La Quinta, California, 738-room Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa in Phoenix, Arizona, 279-room Claremont Resort & Spa in Berkeley, California, 246-room Lake Lanier Islands Resort near Atlanta, Georgia. CNL placed the Doral resort under the management of Marriott International and renamed the property the Doral Golf Resort and Spa, a Marriott Resort. CNL said it would spend $40 million over the next three years on capital improvements at the Doral.

 

In 2007, CNL Hotels was acquired by the real estate arm of Morgan Stanley. The Doral was included in the portfolio of 8 resorts acquired by Morgan Stanley Real Estate for a total transaction cost of $6.6 billion. Michael Franco, the managing director of Morgan Stanley Real Estate said the resorts are extremely hard to replicate and will show excellent future growth from increased corporate group travel and leisure traveler markets.

 

In 2009, Doral's Silver Course was redesigned by Jim McLean and the course was renamed as the Doral Golf Resort & Spa - Jim McLean Signature Course.

 

In 2011, a group of creditors led by hedge fund giant Paulson & Co. seized control of the Doral and seven other properties from Morgan Stanley real estate funds. Morgan Stanley could not handle a $1 billion bond payment coming due. They quickly placed the Doral under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and began seeking a buyer for the Doral. By selling Doral now the Paulson-led owners can use the cash to pay down debts and avoid making overdue capital expenditures of updating the property.

 

Donald Trump announced in October 2011 that he would buy Doral for $150 million and invest more than the purchase price to restore the property and make Doral great again. When asked what the renovation budget would be Trump has said "unlimited" which publicly became $250 million. The renovations were financed with $125 million in loans from Deutsche Bank. The Trump Organization's hotel management unit, Trump Hotel Collection, took over Doral's management in June 2012. Donald Trrump's daughter Ivanka took charge of the 700 guest rooms' redesign featuring Ivanka's "stylish palette of elegant neutrals, including ivory, champagne and caramel - accentuated with mahogany veneers and gold leaf Spanish revival details". Ivanka introduced her own brand synonymous with quality, elegance, and sophistication into every aspect; from the imported Austrian crystal chandeliers to the handmade Italian bed linens. The rooms were made over in to luxury suites that include massive marble baths with European styled whirlpools. All existing restaurants were gutted and a classic five-star "gourmet stunner" opened - BLT Prime.

 

Doral Golf Resort & Spa was renamed Trump National Doral Miami. The Blue Monster course was renovated by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner and reopened in December 2013. After a Hanse/Wagner renovation, the Silver Fox course reopened in December 2014. The White Course was closed in January, 2015. The Red Tiger course reopened on January 12, 2015 and the Golden Palm course reopened in September 2015 after the Hanse/Wagner renovations.

 

The Blue Monster played host to the Doral Open on the PGA Tour from 1962 to 2006, and from 2007 to 2016 the WGC-Cadillac Championship made its home there. In 2016, it was announced that the tournament would be moved to Mexico City. In 2017 Rick Smith, best known as Phil Mickelson's former swing coach, replaced Jim McLean as the lead instructor at Trump National Doral Miami. McLean, a fixture at Doral through five owners and 26 years, moved his golf school to the nearby Biltmore Miami Hotel, where ownership has promised significant upgrades to its existing practice facilities. McLean called the move to Coral Gables "bittersweet."

 

Trump has been the target of dozens of liens from contractors who worked on the renovation project. On May 20, 2016, a Miami-Dade County Circuit Court judge ordered Trump National Doral Miami to be foreclosed and sold on June 28 unless the Trump Organization paid $32,800 to a Miami paint supply company. A 6-foot high portrait of Donald Trump hanging in the Champions Bar became controversial when it was reported to be purchased for $10,000 with funds from the non-profit Trump Foundation. The resort has challenged the local property tax assessments every year. In May 2019 it was reported the resort was in "steep decline" financially, in which its net operating income had fallen by 69 percent – from $13.8 million in 2015 to $4.3 million two years later.

 

David Feder has served as Vice President and Managing Director of Trump National Doral from 2014 to present. He previously presided over the Boca Resort and Club, Fairmont Turnberry Isle and the Arizona Biltmore. Paige Koerbel managed Doral in 2010 when it was operated by Marriott International and was there during the Trump acquisition. Joel Paige served as KSL's General Manager at Doral from 1995 to 2001. Paige is now the Chief Operating Officer at Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, Va.

 

Photos and text compiled by Dick Johnson

richardlloydjohnson@hotmail.com