As part of the events dedicated to the 91st anniversary of the birth of the first cosmonaut of our planet, Yuri Gagarin, on March 26 this year in Moscow, at the Cosmonautics Museum, cosmonaut's daughter Elena Gagarina met with space veterans, cosmonauts and journalists.
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| Elena Gagarina. |
| Source: Valery Ageev |
She stated that after his triumphant flight into space, Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin made 162 visits to 258 cities, towns and villages in 29 countries of the world and the Soviet Union. His visits abroad greatly enhanced the prestige of the Soviet Union.
In particular, starting in April 1961, Yuri Gagarin was repeatedly invited to the UK by various public organizations and private firms. Invitations from the United Foundry Workers' Union and the British company that promoted the USSR Trade and Industrial Exhibition in Great Britain were selected from the many invitations.
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| Yuri Gagarin. |
| Source: Valery Ageev |
On July 11, 1961, on a Tu-104 aircraft (the crew commander was the future Hero of Socialist Labor Georgy Ivanovich Bykov), Yuri Gagarin, along with Nikolai and Kamanin, flew to London Heathrow Airport. At the airfield, the cosmonaut was met by the USSR Ambassador to Great Britain, Alexander Alekseevich Soldatov. The military attache at the USSR Embassy in England, Major General of the Signal Forces Ivan Pavlovich Trofimov, and the USSR Minister of Foreign Trade Nikolai Semyonovich Patolichev, who was in London at the time. Since Yuri Alekseevich arrived on a private visit, a dinner was given on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II in honor of the first cosmonaut. The Queen herself was not at the dinner.
Yuri Gagarin was provided with a silver Rolls-Royce car with a unique special number YG 1 (which meant "Yuri Gagarin the First").
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| Source: Valery Ageev |
After the solemn meeting, a motorcade of cars led by a Rolls-Royce, in which, in addition to Yuri Gagarin, were A.A. Soldatov, N.S. Patolichev, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Royal Air Force, Air Marshal Ronald Lees, and the managing director of one of the British companies, V.K. Sherron, accompanied by a motorcyclist escort, headed for the Soviet- solitude. Despite the summer vacation season and the drizzling fine rain, all the streets where the cosmonaut was supposed to travel were filled with people.
A large press conference for journalists was held at the Soviet industrial exhibition. Great Britain became the second capitalist country to which the cosmonaut gave a press conference.
After the end of the press conference, in the same hall, the British Interplanetary Society presented Yuri Gagarin with a gold medal specially established for people who have made important contributions to space exploration. Yuri Alekseevich was the first to be awarded this award. On behalf of the society, the medal was presented by its President, V.K. Maxwell.
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| Source: Valery Ageev |
In Iceland, at Keflavik airfield (an American NATO military base), Ambassador A.M. Alexandrov, Chairman of the Socialist Party of Iceland Einar Olgeirsson and Miss Iceland 1961 Maria Gudmundsdottir met the cosmonaut at the ramp of the plane. It is interesting to note that many years later she did not remember anything about the meeting with the first cosmonaut of the Earth.
An incident occurred at Gander Airport in Canada on July 23, 1961. After landing the Soviet plane, Canadian doctors asked all members of the delegation to present their vaccination certificates.
Yuri Gagarin did not lose his head and with a smile, rolling up his shirt sleeve, showed the traces of vaccinations, saying that they had been given to him in preparation for space flight. A few minutes later, the nurses left the plane, but they said that the rest of the Soviet delegation would not be able to get off because they did not have vaccination certificates.
Then Gagarin firmly stated that he would not leave the liner without his fellow travelers. The nurses contacted the Canadian Minister of National Health and Human Services, Jay Wallo Monteith, by phone to get permission to repeal the rule. And only half an hour after the arrival of the IL-18, representatives of the ministry allowed everyone to leave the plane on the grounds that everyone had been vaccinated, although without accompanying certificates. After all 15 members of the Soviet delegation set foot on Canadian soil, a press conference was finally held at the airport.
Space veterans, cosmonauts and journalists shared their memories of meetings with the first cosmonaut of the planet.
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| Source: Valery Ageev |
Many facts from the life of Yuri Gagarin became known thanks to the book "Yuri Gagarin's Earthly Roads" by aviation historian Andrei Simonov. For the first time, the book presented a documentary chronicle of all the visits and trips of the first cosmonaut of our planet, Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin, to the country and around the world, made after his triumphant space flight.
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| Aviation historian Andrey Simonov. |
| Source: Valery Ageev |
Valery Ageev
