[QUOTE=BBC][B]A statue has been unveiled in London to celebrate the first spaceman - Yuri Gagarin.[/B]The figure, which has been placed just off The Mall, next to Admiralty Arch, features the cosmonaut in his flight suit and standing on a globe.
Gagarin shook the world when it was announced on 12 April 1961 that he had circled the Earth in a spacecraft.
A host of dignitaries were present for the unveiling, including the cosmonaut's daughter, Elena Gagarina.
"The 12th of April 1961 was one of the most remarkable days in history, uniting all people in all countries on all continents," said Gagarina, who is the current director of the Kremlin Museums.
"I express my great gratitude to all Londoners and all the people of the UK," she added just before the unveiling.
Others in attendance included Vladimir Popovkin, the new head of the Russian space agency; and Sergei Krikalev, the most experienced spaceman in history having logged more than 800 days in orbit.
After circling the planet, Gagarin became an international superstar and undertook a world tour.
He was invited to Britain by the National Union of Foundrymen and it was at Admiralty Arch that he met the then Prime Minister Harold MacMillan.
The 3.5m-high (12ft) zinc-alloy figure is a gift from Roscosmos to the British Council, the organisation that represents the UK culturally abroad. The Council has its HQ just metres from the Arch, making the statue's setting doubly significant.
The figure is a copy of one sited in the town of Lubertsy, just outside Moscow, where Gagarin trained as a foundry worker in his mid-teens.
[URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14138879#story_continues_2"]Continue reading the main story[/URL][h=2]Gagarin's historic flight[/h][IMG]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/52046000/jpg/_52046425_gagarin_getty.jpg[/IMG]
Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited Earth in 108-minute flight on 12 April 1961
Became instant celebrity and toured the world
But he never returned to space, and instead trained Soviet cosmonauts
He died seven years later in a training flight
[URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/solarsystem/astronauts/yuri_gagarin"]Watch Gagarin in clips from BBC archives[/URL]
[URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/solarsystem/astronauts/yuri_gagarin#p00fwc1q"]His London press conference, July 1961[/URL]
The original was made in 1984 to celebrate what would have been the cosmonaut's 50th birthday - he died in a plane crash aged just 34 years.
Westminster City Council has granted a 12-month licence for the statue and its Portland stone plinth.
It stands facing Captain Cook on the opposite side of The Mall, and close to the statue of Navigation seated in the wall of Admiralty Arch. The pedestal of Captain Cook is inscribed with the words "circumnavigator of the globe".
Roscosmos Popovkin said: "Russians are very proud that [Gagarin] was Russian, but if you look at it more philosophically - he was a delegate from the whole world to space.
"He reminds us how we must be together in the exploration of space."
The statue is part of a series of cultural events to mark the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's historic flight.
These include an exhibition at the Council's headquarters on the life of the cosmonaut and the early Soviet space programme.
The Queen, who met Gagarin on his world tour in '61, was represented at the statue unveiling by their HRHs Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.
[IMG]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/51776000/gif/_51776307_yuri_gagarin_464.gif[/IMG]
Gagarin went into darkness behind the Earth over the Pacific. He saw the Sun rise as he was moving over the South Atlantic[/QUOTE]
Source:
[URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14138879"]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14138879
L[/URL]ooks pretty fucking cool. And he pretty much pissed the whole of USA in the space race.
He pissed us off so much by beating us into space that we had to fake a Moon landing to get over it.
It wasn't fake
[img]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/54079000/jpg/_54079512_newgagarin.jpg[/img]
Haters gonna Hate
[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;31111728]He pissed us off so much by beating us into space that we had to fake a Moon landing to get over it.[/QUOTE]
I don't like the things you say.
[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;31111728]He pissed us off so much by beating us into space that we had to fake a Moon landing to get over it.[/QUOTE]
Oh god no don't.
There goes the thread.
[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;31111728]He pissed us off so much by beating us into space that we had to fake a Moon landing to get over it.[/QUOTE]
NO, just no.
Neat. It still sucks how he still died pretty young.
[QUOTE=MercZ;31112402][img]http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/54079000/jpg/_54079512_newgagarin.jpg[/img]
Haters gonna Hate[/QUOTE]
dat mobius strip
Let's sue Lady GaGa for name copyrights infrigment.
Gagarin was a pretty awesome dude for doing that. He probably didn't even think he was going to survive.
He tried to sub in for a friend of his who would eventually die due to burning to death on re-entry. He was a good man.
[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;31111728]He pissed us off so much by beating us into space that we had to fake a Moon landing to get over it.[/QUOTE]
Mythbuster "moon special". Nuff said.
[QUOTE=kaine123;31114625]Gagarin was a pretty awesome dude for doing that. He probably didn't even think he was going to survive.[/QUOTE]
Considering how many DID die to do that, it's doubly impressive. Quick, someone find that article about the secret soviet space deaths from a few months ago..
[QUOTE=Disgruntled;31114730]He tried to sub in for a friend of his who would eventually die due to burning to death on re-entry. He was a good man.[/QUOTE]
Vladimir Komarov. Him and Gagarin were very close friends and had been for many years. Gagarin was originally selected to be in charge of the Soyuz 1 flight by Brezhnev, but Komarov knew the assignment was suicidal and convinced Brezhnev to have him take Gagarin's place on grounds of experience differences. So Gagarin was sidelined as the backup pilot. On the day of Soyuz 1's launch, Gagarin showed up to the launch pad and demanded that he be suited up for the flight. Komarov was already inside the capsule, however, so he was the one who ended up going on the spaceflight.
Komarov didn't die on re-entry, though. The Soviets were still receiving messages from him as he plunged towards the ground, cursing and crying at them in a fit of rage over how grossly unprepared and unsophisticated the Soyuz project was- knowing all the while that he was going to die because the main parachute had failed.
[img]http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/history/astronauts/komarov.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.topfoto.co.uk/gallery/spacerace/images/prevs/1043815.jpg[/img]
That man was a the best friend a human being could ever have and a true hero.
Wow, I can't believe only one person realized I was joking.
You know, they say that when you joke about something and people get offended it's because you hit a nerve. So I'm thinking some of you maybe fear, deep in your soul, that the Moon landing really didn't happen and so you lash out at anyone who causes you to face that fear.
[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;31119848]Wow, I can't believe only one person realized I was joking.
You know, they say that when you joke about something and people get offended it's because you hit a nerve. So I'm thinking some of you maybe fear, deep in your soul, that the Moon landing really didn't happen and so you lash out at anyone who causes you to face that fear.[/QUOTE]
Don't you have some My Little Pony to watch, or something?
[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;31119848]Wow, I can't believe only one person realized I was joking.
You know, they say that when you joke about something and people get offended it's because you hit a nerve. So I'm thinking some of you maybe fear, deep in your soul, that the Moon landing really didn't happen and so you lash out at anyone who causes you to face that fear.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, so scary. :rolleyes:
[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;31119848]So I'm thinking some of you maybe fear, deep in your soul, that the Moon landing really didn't happen and so you lash out at anyone who causes you to face that fear.[/QUOTE]
If everybody feared everything they disagree with...
I can't think of anything more to say. But it's not reality.
But in response, pretty much nope, not really.
[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;31119848]Wow, I can't believe only one person realized I was joking.
You know, they say that when you joke about something and people get offended it's because you hit a nerve. So I'm thinking some of you maybe fear, deep in your soul, that the Moon landing really didn't happen and so you lash out at anyone who causes you to face that fear.[/QUOTE]
You'd be surprised how many people on the internet actually believe that shit. It's pretty hard to distinguish in text between those who are making a joke and those who are serious.
[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;31119848]Wow, I can't believe only one person realized I was joking.
You know, they say that when you joke about something and people get offended it's because you hit a nerve. So I'm thinking some of you maybe fear, deep in your soul, that the Moon landing really didn't happen and so you lash out at anyone who causes you to face that fear.[/QUOTE]Uh don't you realize you have to use that swirly punctuation if you make a statement like that? DUUUUUH
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