Russian Cosmonauts Had This Weird Tradition! | #248
+ CID did it before Adolescence 👀
Привет!
‘To boldly go where no man has gone before!’ was the opening line in the original Star Trek series from 1966. But 5 years prior in 1961, Yuri Gagarin actually reached the great beyond - becoming the first man in space. After an extensive training program, Gagarin was selected for this historic flight and when he was about to take off uttered ‘Poyekhali!’ which roughly translates to “Lets Go!”
Yuri Gagarin's sole spaceflight was aboard Vostok 1, but he served as the backup for Soyuz 1, a mission that ended tragically with the death of his friend Vladimir Komarov. Concerned about losing a national hero, Soviet authorities barred Gagarin from further space missions. After graduating from the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy in February 1968, he resumed flying regular aircraft but tragically died five weeks later when his MiG-15 crashed near Kirzhach.
This week we take a look at some stories about the first man in space.
Things we learnt this week 🤓
Yuri Gagarin is a pioneer, no doubt. But he inadvertently started a trend, which thanks to new designs has seen its last days. Legend has it that on the way to the launch pad in a bus, Yuri Gagarin was quite understandably nervous. He requested the bus driver to stop and, not finding any other spot, relieved himself at the rear tyre of the bus. They say success breeds success or in this case wee breeds wee. Future Russian cosmonauts followed the example and would invariably urinate at the rear tire of the bus that would take them to the launch pad. Female cosmonauts would collect urine in a cup and splash it at the wheel to “maintain tradition”. Thankfully, a redesign of the Russian spacesuit has meant that this tradition has had to stop. A key component of the suit - a fly - is no longer available making it a tad difficult to piss on the parade. Yuri’s flight launched a stream of success.
Kontinental Hockey League is a competition that sees some of the best ice hockey clubs from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, China (wonder what is common to all of these countries). The first league commenced in September 2008. When the league finally reached its conclusion, the organizers realized that the final match was going to happen on April 12, 2009 and somebody had a brainwave to call the trophy the Gagarin Cup. The trophy features an image of the cosmonaut in space and not when he used to play as a goalkeeper, which is a pity!
After Yuri Gagarin returned to Earth, he was seen as an ambassador for the Soviet Union’s success and was quite literally paraded to all countries. One of his stops was India where PM Jawaharlal Nehru entertained Yuri Gagarin and his wife at the Teen Murti Bhavan. The couple attended a cultural program and joined the Prime Minister in an open-air motorcade through Rajpath. He then visited Shivaji Park and spoke in Russian for about 30 minutes. He also visited Lucknow and Hyderabad, before continuing his tour to Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. Everyone went gaga for Gagarin.
From IWTK, with love 💌
The Netflix hit show Adolescence may have wowed you with its single take episode, but back in 2004 CID did the same. Know more here.
Have you seen this ‘unseen’ Aamir Khan film?
Only In India 🇮🇳
India is becoming healthier - not counting Dowry but carbs at a wedding.
💟 IWTK