Talk:Yuri Gagarin

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Contents 1 Edit article 2 Gagarin is NOT the first man into space 2.1 Splitted 2.2 Short summary 3 Birthplace 3.1 Call sign 4 Wife? 5 Drunkenness? 6 "The Earth is Blue" 7 Explosives? 8 Rank? 9 Feel the power 10 Copyedit needed 11 Not properly sourced anecdote 12 Announcement during flight 13 References in pop culture 14 Medals 15 First Song Sung In Space? 16 "Space program fatalities" category 17 Controversial inf. without exact refs moved here

[edit] Edit article

Cleared the article of unsubstituted garbage, like "rumours that Gagarin was drunk" . This subtle anti-Soviet propaganda is boring. We do realize that some people just have to disparage others, to make them feel better about themselve, yet once in a while you guys should give us a break. Cheers.

[edit] Gagarin is NOT the first man into space

10/28/2006 - I'm no expert, but I thought Joe Kittinger was the "first man in space". Not to distract from Yuri's accomplishments, but if Joe was the first, then shouldn't this wiki be changed? I'll leave it to you experts to decide. Just wondered if Joe wasn't the first.

Hello everyone,

Some years ago, I learned in a TV report on SRC (Canada's french public television) that it was recently unveiled that Yuri Gagarin was the the first man into space. Sergei Vladimir Ilyushin Jr. made it 5 days before Gagarin, but was badly injured on landing, so the Soviets decided to hide the failure. Here is an internet reference I found about it: [1]. Here is another one [2]. Can someone confirm this? I think we need to correct this important mistake that history have made! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 209.41.150.95 (talk • contribs) 20:57, 15 July 2005 UTC.

I did a Google search and found 407 hits for Sergei Vladimir Ilyushin Jr, a few of them support that he was the first man into space, others speculate about whether it happened or not. *shrug* I agree that we should probably have some mention of this, but I don't know that it can be stated as fact, yet. By the same token, perhaps Gagarin's reference should say that he is "commenly believed to be and referenced as" the first man in space or something. Thoughts? --Naha|^(talk) 21:08, July 15, 2005 (UTC)

There are more likely (based on some evidences, not just on rumours spread by abroad reporters) conspiracy theories claiming "Americans did not land on the Moon in 1969", no mention of these, however, in Neil Armstrong article. And you suggest to include similar rumours into intro section of this article? No words. Cmapm 12:18, 16 July 2005 (UTC)

If a "conspiracy theory or rumor" is widespread enough, it deserves at least a small mention somewhere, clearly stating that it is, in fact, a rumor. I don't see anything wrong with that. There are sections like this in plenty of other articles. Purplosely not covering (or leaving out)certain aspects/angles of an article is what I have "no words" for. Naha|^(talk) 13:59, July 16, 2005 (UTC)

Furthermore, I did not mean to imply that this information should be in the "intro section" of the article. That was worded badly, excuse me. Naha|^(talk) 14:02, July 16, 2005 (UTC)

Do we mention Time Cube on the main physics page? Not every crackpot theory deserves a prominent mention. --Robert Merkel 15:03, 16 July 2005 (UTC)

I never said every theory deserves a "prominent mention." For the record I never said I was going to include this in the article at all, I said "probably some mention of this." Some mention =/ prominent mention. I also said "if its widespread enough," meaning that no, of course not EVERY theory deserves mention anywhere. When I asked for "thoughts" on this I wasn't looking for criticism or belittlement, just sincere commentary. Your "gimmie a break" as your edit summary notice is irresponsible in this way. I really don't understand why so many people can't comment without being scarcastic or rude, because that is NOT the Wikipedia way, nor does it make people want to "deal with" you in the future. Also, I'm not even the one who brought this topic up in the first place, so it would be nice if some of the commentary was directed at that person. When the use of "multiple colons" makes it look like the response is directed at me, I will comment as such. Naha|^(talk) 15:31, July 16, 2005 (UTC)

For unknown reasons this article is target of many unsupported therories and. Such theories should not be mentioned unless very significant reason exists and in this case it doesn't look so. Pavel Vozenilek 21:20, 16 July 2005 (UTC)

Robert Heinlein mentioned something that would support this theory in 'Expanded Universe', his collection of short stories and articles. He apparently was in Russia at exactly that time, and heard some soldiers talking about a man in space several days before Gagarin went up. Maybe the proponents should look that up. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.157.27.16 (talk • contribs) 14:00, 3 August 2005 UTC.

I looked it up in relation to Space disaster and edited that article and this article accordingly. The reference is on page 415 of Expanded Universe (Heinlein). Hu 21:30, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

In reply to the first comment, Joe Kittinger did not go into space. The highest he flew was 31km, the Karman line (edge of space) is 100km. Nowhere near. --GW_Simulations_{User Page | Talk} 20:27, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Splitted

I splitted this section into a new article, because this section has almost nothing related to Yuri Gagarin.

Also, can we remove the NPOV label from here? Crocodealer 17:37, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

I think that splitting the article was a good solution. Aldo L 22:21, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Short summary

The conspiracy thing is OK to mention in the article, but not in the brief summary. I edited the lead accordingly. Azazell0 11:10, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Birthplace

Gagarin's biography, Starman, cites his birthplace as "the village of Klushino in the Smolensk region, 160 kilometres to the west of Moscow". Encarta also claims the same. Therefore, I'm going to make the change. --Robert Merkel 00:32, 28 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Surprisingly, there are no awards mentioned on this page, although they are on Russian Wiki version. I could create a new subtopic on this, but so far I have a problem of translating medal and orders names into English. Cmapm 14:16, 28 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Call sign

I've linked this through to Siberian Pine (Pinus sibirica) as this is the species to which the Russian word Кедр refers, not a cedar (Cedrus, which does not occur in Russia) (see also List of false friends). - MPF 18:46, 28 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Wife?

Didn't he get married to another cosmonaut? At least that's one of the stories, I've heard. If he was married, it doesn't mention him here.

I think your think of Andrian Nikolayev and Valentina Tereshkova. Evil Monkey → Talk 01:52, Dec 11, 2004 (UTC)

I thought he married in November 1957 to Valentina Ivanovna Goryacheva, and they had two daughters, Lenochka (b. Oct 4, 1959), and Galochka (b. July 3, 1961)? --Tony Hecht 22:40, 2 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Drunkenness?

Does anybody have a source for the drunkenness claim? It wasn't mentioned in Starman IIRC, and it strikes me as a little implausible given that you can't just hop in a fighter plane and go, and there was a also an instructor in with him (would you willingly get in a fighter plane with a drunk pilot unless you were drunk yourself)? --Robert Merkel 06:10, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)

OK, commented on the drunkenness stuff, and a new theory, oxygen deprivation. Also, I recall his biography saying the crash was in a MiG-15, and it couldn't have a been a MiG-17 as according to the Wikipedia there was no training version of that aircraft. --Robert Merkel 07:08, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)

This was added by anonymous user w/o history. I asked him about sources and obvioysly nothing come out. I think it should be reverted as unfounded. Pavel Vozenilek 23:20, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I did shorten it - I hope it looks OK. I can add one other crank theory - that Gagarin started to be critical to the Soviet system and could become dangerous known symbol and was therefore let to die. Such rumour nicely filled space in some tabloid. Pavel Vozenilek 23:25, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)

It's unlikely that Gagarin was drunk. I've known a Soviet fighter pilot (Alex Zuyev) who said that in the USSR a flight surgeon usually examined all aircrew before takeoff to ensure they were sober. IIRC, MiG-25 defector Victor Bellenko stated the same thing in his book. Alcoholism was rampant in the Soviet Union and reportedly remains so in Russia. B Tillman July 06.

[edit] "The Earth is Blue"

what? no mention to his famous phrase while on orbit?

There is a link to the full verbatim record of his conversations with the Earth during the flight in the article. I didn't find there the phrase mentioned by you. The nearest by the meaning phrase was "Небо черное, и по краю Земли, по краю горизонта такой красивый голубой ореол, который темнее по удалению от Земли." (roughly translated into English as:"The sky is black and along the Earth's edge, along the edge of the horizon is a nice blue halo, which becomes darker at the distance from the Earth."). I assume, however, that he could say something more similar after the flight or the phrase mentioned by you was attributed to him by the media inside or outside of the Soviet Union.

As I know, the most famous his phrase (at least in Russia it is known almost to everyone) is his word "Поехали", which was said by him at the moment of start. However, this word is absent here, although it exists in the full verbatim record. Cmapm 13:39, 1 May 2005 (UTC)

By all means add this, if it really is so ubiquitous. It sounds like the Russian equivalent of Neil Armstrong and his "One small step..." quote. --Robert Merkel 12:32, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)

"Поехали": can this word be translated to English for us non-Russian speakers? I am dying to know what it is...

"Поехали" - it is like "Let's drive!" or "Let's go!"

Or "Let's ride!" --unplugged 17:11, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

I think it's somewhat more subtle. In the context of the conversation (among other technical detail) this could just mean "Moving!". At least (unlike Armstrong's one) this was not intended to become a historical phrase. But taken out of context the phrase is associated with a command given to a cabman (esp. in older times): "Come on!", "Go!", and as such it produces further associations with (mostly fictional) pictures of 'old Russian' life: restaurants, dancing gypsies, drunken escapades, etc. This makes up much of Gagarin's popular image (more or less realistic, considering some facts in the article) as a romantic, somewhat reckless, hussar style hero, very 'Russian' in that way. This image was supported, if not promoted, by official propaganda. In early 70s there was a well known song by A.Pakhmutova and N.Dobronravov performed on the radio by Y.Gulyayev and later by I.Kobzon, 'Знаете, каким он парнем был' ('You know what kind of guy he was'), using the phrase as an identifiable detail. Mostly heroic in its leitmotif it contains an explicit reference to an older folk song 'Вдоль по Питерской' ('Down the Piterskaya street') performed by F.Shalyapin, a canonical illustration to that part of national spirit. The phrase is still used as a somewhat humorous toast, and I think its origin is obvious to any Russian.--Goldminer 16:58, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Explosives?

Recent anonymous user added a paragraph related to explosives being onboard the craft. Wondering if anyone could provide a source for this claim. g026r 04:31, 27 July 2005 (UTC)

Like a lot of stories, there seems to be a teency bit of truth here mixed with a pile of myth. According to Starman, there was indeed a keypad installed with a secret code in Vostok, and Gagarin's immediate superiors changed their minds at the last minute to give him the code directly. The code, however, was *not* to deactive an explosives system; it was to give Gagarin manual control over the spacecraft. It's interesting to compare this with the US space program, where engineers initially intended for Mercury to be entirely computer-controlled, but because the astronauts had a public profile they were able to throw administrative weight around to ensure that they had the ability to pilot the craft. In any case, neither space program put a self-destruct mechanism in their spacecraft. --Robert Merkel 07:37, 30 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Rank?

The article says

"While in orbit Gagarin was promoted "in the field" from the lowly rank of Second Lieutenant to Major"

My understanding was, he was promoted after his return, not during the flight. Also, the Red AF rank was, I've heard, Sr Lt (whatever that is in Rus...) Trekphiler 06:12, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

Well, he went into space being Sr Lt, but Khruschev said that this rank is too low for a space pilot, and promoted him to the rank of Major during his flight. Before his death he had the rank of Colonel. --unplugged 17:19, 19 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Feel the power

Coming from the Grissom page, I notice a lot there that isn't here; while perhaps getting it out of the SU was a bit hard, surely now there are available sources to give equal coverage? So let me add an unconfirmed factoid to get someone started: YAG flew aboard a Raketny Syem (R-7) booster. Trekphiler 12:12, 30 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Copyedit needed

His two elder siblings were taken away to Germany in 1943, and did not return until after the war. Were they soldiers? Prisoners? Orphans? Sherurcij ^{(talk) (Terrorist Wikiproject)} 05:42, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Not properly sourced anecdote

Removed for the moment...

Another report said that his plane hit birds or had to swerve hard to avoid something in the air.

In March 2003 it came out that the KGB had found that various stories that had come out were untruths issued as cover-ups, and that the truth was that his death was caused by carelessness of an airforce officer on the ground, for that flight needed good weather and the aircraft not to have external fueltanks, but that the airforce officer gave an out-of-date weather report and the cloud base was near the ground and the aircraft had external fueltanks under its wings. (Ref. Daily Telegraph newspaper.)

For one, the KGB had not existed for over a decade by 2003. For another, citing the "Daily Telegraph" newspaper isn't enough to identify the source of the tale. Could we have a date and article title, please?

I'm sorry to get narky about sourcing, but the Gagarin article gets a disproportionate share of conspiracy theories. --Robert Merkel 09:27, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

I read somewhere that he spelt his name Yuriy as well as Yuri?

If you mean 'spelt in English' this doesn't make much sence since he was unlikely to have any knowledge of it (except maybe very basic). And considering the nature of the Soviet media it wasn't him to decide how to spell anyway. As to the 'correct' spelling, Yuriy is a closer transliteration of his name /EPA: jurij/ than Yuri or Yury so many people with this or similar names use it. Also this is the spelling prescribed by 'International telegraph rules' for Russian language. But it can be easily misread in English, so I suppose Yuri was chosen for simplicity when promoting him as a public figure. --Goldminer 11:42, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

"At the time the Soviet authorities thought it was more likely he would perish during his descent than survive" I believe this is a remnant of anti-Soviet propaganda. It does not make much sense to send a human into space believing that he will likely perish. If there is evidence a reference must be provided. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 4.230.63.31 (talk • contribs).

[edit] Announcement during flight

The statement that there was no publicity during the flight may be wrong. Many sources cite a TASS report less than 60 minutes after launch. Gagarin's flight lasted 108 minutes.

References:

TASS REPORTS OF THE FIRST MANNED FLIGHT TO SPACE:

"The two-way radio communication with comrade Gagarin has been established and is being maintained. The frequency of the short-wave onboard transmitters is 20.006 MHz or 143.625 MHz in the ultrashort wave band." (...) "The orbital flight of the Vostok space vehicle–satellite manned by comrade Gagarin is going on."

Reprinted at: Yu. A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre - Official Web. English version: http://www.gctc.ru/eng/gagarin/sved_polet.htm Russian version: http://gctc.ru/gagarin/default.htm Accessed on April 9, 2006.

James Oberg:

"...when Gagarin was eventually launched, TASS released its first bulletin while he was still in flight. This sequence of flight events and TASS announcements has been precisely expounded in Danilov's readable and complete survey of the Russian space program, The Kremlin and the Cosmos."

In "Phantoms of space. Part 1." Space World magazine, January 1975. Also available on-line at: http://www.astronautix.com/articles/phapart1.htm Accessed on April 9, 2006.

Sven Grahn:

Synoptic map of the flight: "6:07[UT] Launch" (...) "7:00[UT] Flight announced by Radio Moscow"

In "An analysis of the flight of Vostok-1" Available at: http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/histind/Vostok1/Vostok1X.htm Accessed on April 9, 2006.

BBC News:

"At just after 0700BST, Major Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin was fired from the Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan, Soviet central Asia, in the space craft Vostok (East). (...) The Soviet news agency, Tass, made the first official announcement of Major Gagarin's flight at just before 0800BST."

In "On this day. April 12. 1961: Soviets win space race" Available on-line at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/12/newsid_2477000/2477715.stm Accessed on April 9, 2006.

John F. Graham:

"At 10:02 TASS News Agency made the first announcement about the cosmonaut in orbit. Immediately the world presses began besieging Moscow for more information. At 10:25 the retrorockets fired and Gagarin began his descent to Earth. At 10:55 the Vostok capsule landed 30 km southwest of Engels near the village of Smelovka."

In "SPACE EXPLORATION: FROM TALISMAN OF THE PAST TO GATEWAY FOR THE FUTURE. CHAPTER 12: HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT: THE SOVIETS" Available on-line at: http://www.space.edu/projects/book/index.html Accessed on April 9, 2006.

However, see also:

TIME magazine:

"Triumphant music blared across the land. Russia's radios saluted the morning with the slow, stirring beat of the patriotic song How Spacious Is My Country. Then came the simple announcement that shattered forever man's ancient isolation on earth (...) According to the official announcement, the Vostok had blasted off from an unidentified launching pad at exactly 9:07 a.m., Moscow time. Brief bulletins, from time to time, traced its orbital track. Word came that at 9:22 a.m. Gagarin had reported by radio from a point over South America: "The flight is proceeding normally. I feel well." At 10:15 he checked in over Africa: "The flight is normal. I am withstanding well the state of weightlessness." At 11:10 a report was broadcast that at 10:25 Gagarin had completed one circuit of the earth and that the spaceship's braking rocket had been fired. (...) Not until 12:25 was the proud announcement put on the air: "At 10:55 Cosmonaut Gagarin safely returned to the sacred soil of our motherland." "

In "...excerpts from an article published in TIME magazine on April 21, 1961" Available on-line at: http://edition.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/08/1st.draft/ Accessed on April 9, 2006.

And finally:

Loyd S. Swenson Jr., James M. Grimwood, Charles C. Alexander:

"The first unofficial rumors out of Moscow were confirmed by an Associated Press dispatch on April 12 that translated an official Soviet news agency Tass announcement (...) Aside from this assertion, the news out of Moscow and Turkestan on April 12 was neither crisp nor very detailed. For a few days a great deal of speculation over conflicting reports, fuzzy photographs, and the lack of eyewitnesses encouraged those disappointed Westerners who wished to believe that Gagarin's flight in Vostok I (meaning East) had not occurred. (...) The propagandistic exploitation of this magnificent deed was evident from the fact that no confirmed announcement was made during the 108 minutes of flight - not until Yuri Gagarin landed intact near the Volga River, some 15 miles south of the city of Saratov. The present tense in the Tass dispatch above could easily have been doctored for control purposes, drama, or even for more serious reasons.[Ref.] 83 (...) [Ref.] 83 For an overview of these issues, see chapter on "Gagarin" in Holmes, America on the Moon, 83-92; Thomas A. Reedy, "Britons Say Reds' Timing May Indicate 'Lie in Sky,'" New Port News Daily Press, April 13, 1961."

In "This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury. Chapter 10 - Tests Versus Time in the Race for Space (January - April 1961). Vostok Wins the First Lap" Published as NASA Special Publication-4201 in the NASA History Series, 1989. Available on-line at: http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4201/ch10-8.htm#source83 Accessed on April 9, 2006.

--Aldo L 07:48, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks! I removed that sentence. Any more suggestions for NPOV? Cmapm 00:58, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] References in pop culture

Iemoved this entire section. Is there anything significant enough amongst it to be worth keeping? --Robert Merkel 02:14, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

• A Flock of Seagulls have a 'bonus track' upon the 1983 release of Listen that was on the Cassette only (not available on CD until 1987) and not the LP. One of the three bonus tracks was "the last flight of Yuri Gagarin" which was an instrumental.

• One of the first references to Gagarin is in the 1971 Paul Stookey song Ju Les Ver Negre En Cheese. Gagarin is the first "word" and first two letters of the second "word". The entire song is written in English with all the spacing between letters changed [3].

• Italian songwriter Claudio Baglioni in 1977 published a song entitled "Gagarin" (contained in the album "Solo"), completely inspired by the flight of the famous cosmonaut. Official site.

• The rock band Ozma released two songs on their Russian Coldfusion EP and then again on the Double Donkey Disc. They were entitled "The Flight of Yuri Gagarin" and "The Landing of Yuri Gagarin".

• Russian electronica duo PPK's track "ResuRection" features recordings of Gagarin's flight toward the end of the song.

• PJ Harvey has a track on her album Rid of Me called "Yuri-G," where she fantasizes about the moon and being a cosmonaut.

• Gagarin is mentioned by Captain Marko Ramius along with the Sputnik satellite in the film The Hunt for Red October as an example of the former greatness of the Soviet Union.

• Space-rock band Hawkwind has a live concert album titled 'Bring Me the Head of Yuri Gagarin'.

• Electronic musician Jean-Michel Jarre released a song called Hey Gagarin on his album Metamorphoses in 2000.

• Manu Chao in his song "Infinita Tristeza" (Infinite Sadness) uses sound collages including a radio voice of Yuri Gagarin.

• Gorki, a band from Belgium, made a song about Yuri, called Joerie and placed him on the cover of the song's album.

• Esbjorn Svensson Trio, Swedish pop/jazz trio, recorded in 1999 album called "From Gagarin's Point of View".

• In the game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Snake gives a quote that was credited to Gagarin, "The earth was blue, and there was no God," during a discussion of Russia's first manned space flight.

• Witch Season, the third album from San Francisco band The Court & Spark closes with "Titov Sang the Blues," about Gherman Titov and his runner-up status to Yuri for first flight.

• The Ukrainian rock band Vopli Vidopliassova wrote a song called "Yura" about Gagarin for their album Muzika.

• The Phenomenauts mention Yuri Gagarin in their space race-themed song, "Progress vs. Pettiness" off their 2004 album "Re-entry."

To remove an entire section, seems pretty serious editing with no explanation of why it was removed. I'll guesss you just did not like it? I don't see that as a proper treatment of other's work. Similarly somebody deleted out the "Humanities" section. While I would agree it was not well written it seems outside the spirit of Wiki to take such liberties with other's work. My suggestion on the "References in pop culture" section - if it bothers you to have it in the article, why not start a new Wiki page named "References to Yuri Gagarin in Popular Culture" and link to it? Then if this is significant it would stand on it's own. Mfields1 23:27, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Medals

Holy crap look at that picture! How many freakin' medals does this guy have?!? I can understand a medal for being first in space, but he looks decorated enough to command the army around with the flick of his wrist.

Does anyone know how many times Gagarin was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union? From his picture, it appears that he is wearing two of these medals. Is that correct? I would like to list him in the article on the medal, but I can't find a source that says he was awared the medal more than once. Grouchy Chris 00:52, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

A testimony to Gagarin's fame is that the Russian Air Force still wear an item of clothing named after him, that he has a street in central Moscow named after him and that a poll of Russians had him second to !Lenin as the greatest Russian of the twentieth century. That's why I added a note to the first para. about his reputation and will see if I can find that poll. Please leave the text as it is. He is a massive figure in Russian history and arguably equal in stature to Armstrong amongst space travellers bigpad 22:49, 17 June 2006 (UTC).

Equal in stature to Armstrong? Hmmm. Armstrong did what he did after other guys had already been there, orbited, separated, docked, separated, gone down, met up again (can't spell rendezvous), and come back home safely. There will always be risks, but Gagarin is listed first. I think he is at least as important as Armstrong. Look up "Yuri's Day" on that internet thingy right there. Dispite the conspiracy theories and the arguments about fame, this is a good article. You people are doing a hellofa good job. Keep it up. Leesonma 04:02, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] First Song Sung In Space?

Yuri Gagarin Article

"During his descent, Gagarin whistled the tune "The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows" (Russian: "Родина слышит, Родина знает")[2]. The first two lines of the song are: "The Motherland hears, the Motherland knows/Where her son flies in the sky"[3]. This patriotic song was written by Dmitri Shostakovich in 1951 (opus 86), with words by Dolmatovsky. It was the first song ever sung in space."

Apollo 9 Article

"The crew sang "Happy Birthday" on March 8, 1969, recorded in the Guiness Book of World Records as the first song sung in space."

So what is the first song to be sung in space?

Correction

The following lines appear in the transcript of Gagarin's flight (in chronological order):

1. Гагарин поет песню "о далёком курносом детстве". (Gagarin sings the song "My Long-Lost Childhood")

2. Гагарин насвистывает мотив "Родина слышит, Родина знает" (Gagarin whistles the tune "Motherland hears, Motherland knows")

3. Гагарин насвистывает "Ландыши". (Gagarin whistles "Lilies of the Valley")

4. (Gagarin whistles "Lilies" & "My Long-Lost Childhood" again)

5. Гагарин напевает "Летите, голуби, летите", затем насвистывает этот мотив. (Gagarin hums "Fly, Doves, Fly", then whistles the tune)

Observations: if the transcript is correct, then the Guinness Book entry is wrong because Gagarin's flight predates Apollo 9's flight. Shostakovich's song was the second song sung in space. "My long-lost childhood" is not actually the name of the song, but rather the refrain from a 1950s nostalgic song called "Перекрёсток" ("The Crossroads").

Conclusion: Yuri Gagarin was the first person to sing in space on 12 April 1961. The first song sung in space was "The Crossroads" by E. Kolmanovsky, words by V. Selivanov [4]. --Ya mikew 03:30, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

Follow up

I contacted Guinness Book of Records (UK) about this. Their reply dated 25 August 2006:

"We have made reference to Happy Birthday being a song sung in Space by members of the Apollo IX mission, but it is not referred to as the first song sung in space, it listed as anecdotal information to a record about the Most frequently sung songs in English (printed in 1991 Book for example)."

I'll correct the Apollo 9 entry accordingly.--Ya mikew 04:48, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Space program fatalities" category

Should this article be in the "Space program fatalities" category? I don't think that a low-altitude flight in a MiG-15 makes this a fatality in any space program. κаллэмакс 20:44, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Controversial inf. without exact refs moved here

I moved inf., added pretty much by a single user here, because it is controversial and strange and does not provide exact verifiable references. For instance, it is unbelieveable for me, that "memoirs of his wife" published in 1983 in the USSR present details of the accident, discrediting him. Even if it would be true, censorship should hardly pass it by. So, please, first provide exact and verifiable references to reliable sources for each claim in the removed excerpt. Here is the removed excerpt:

"After completing his historic trip, Yuri, along with several other cosmonauts, were granted a holiday in Crimea. After a long day of boating, the cosmonauts returned late at night to the docks where their wives were involved in a long card game. According to the 1983 memoir of his wife, late in the evening after many of his fellow cosmonauts had retired, Gagarin was playing records downstairs at the hotel. Tiring, he urged his wife to quit playing cards and come to bed. She ignored him and Gagarin went door to door in the hotel. Extremely inebriated, he found an unlocked door, went in and made advances on a 27 year-old nurse. When the cosmonaut's wife came looking, he jumped off the balcony, apparently in an effort to avoid his wife.

By the time Gagarin's wife and his comrades went outside to the body, there had been a tremendous loss of blood. Yuri had cracked his skull; a summoned physician performed a life saving operation on the spot. This account is confirmed by the memoir's of Yuri's commander published in the 1990s. The Soviet system kept Yuri from the spotlight for several weeks after the incident and when he re-emerged he boasted a fake eye brow which only partially hid the scar.

In subsequent interviews Yuri gave different accounts of the incident, including claims that he was playing with his young daughter and either fell from a balcony or injured his head on a rock." Cmapm 19:28, 14 November 2006 (UTC)