[HN Gopher] Yuri Gagarin: Sixty years since the first man went i...
___________________________________________________________________
Yuri Gagarin: Sixty years since the first man went into space
[video]
Author : spzb
Score : 348 points
Date : 2021-04-12 11:09 UTC (11 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.bbc.co.uk)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.bbc.co.uk)
| marshmallow_12 wrote:
| I always felt bad for Yuri. The Americans made a huge deal about
| John Glenn, yet his record is basically worthless. Yuri had done
| it all before, but it seems some people refused to acknowledge
| it. This was one of the first things that opened my eyes that
| propaganda still exists.
| sangnoir wrote:
| > The Americans made a huge deal about John Glenn, yet his
| record is basically worthless.
|
| The whole reason the US was in the race to the moon was because
| the had lost the race to space (Sputnik, and then Yuri). The US
| _badly_ needed a win.
| sangnoir wrote:
| Though I do wonder: had the Soviet Union been first to the
| moon as well, would that have sparked a race to Mars?
| deanCommie wrote:
| Americans always like to overinflate their early spaceflight
| accomplishments.
|
| There is a whole fight on
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:List_of_spaceflight_recor...
| about it
|
| tl;dr: Yuri Gagarin is listed first on the page with 2
| "Firsts", but Alan Shepard is listed second with four.
|
| Even though, two of his "firsts" are already superceded by what
| Gagarin did.
|
| "First Person to make suborbital flight"? So? Gagarin already
| made a suborbital flight before he made his orbital flight.
|
| "First Person to land in water"? So? Shouldn't that mean that
| Gagarin should have an entry that says "First person to land on
| land?"
| spzb wrote:
| I would have thought most people here in the UK remember
| Gagarin but few would remember Glenn without prompting. Is that
| not the case elsewhere in the world?
| marton78 wrote:
| Gagarin is my childhood hero, never heard about Glenn.
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| If you've seen The Right Stuff or Hidden Figures, you'd be
| hard pressed to forget.
| grecy wrote:
| It's very common for movies made by Americans, with
| American money and intended to be viewed by Americans to
| glorify America and Americans.
| fiftyacorn wrote:
| Amazing it was only 60 years ago.
|
| My favourite Gagarin story was when he visited Manchester on a
| rainy day and they wanted to replace the open top car for a car
| with a roof. Gagarin said no that if the people waited in the
| rain then the least he could do was sit in an open top car
| yannis wrote:
| Most amazing he also came to Cyprus and I was a kid at the
| time. We all went to see him in his car parade. Posters with
| his picture were left pasted on walls for many years. Video
| here https://www.britishpathe.com/video/gagarin-in-cyprus
| astatine wrote:
| It is an amazing story. Stories like this break barriers of
| nations, languages and status and make humans out of these
| otherwise exalted individuals.
| lightgreen wrote:
| There was no barrier between USSR and Britain nations, the
| barrier was between USSR government and democratic world.
| zabzonk wrote:
| > he visited Manchester on a rainy day
|
| Are there any other kinds of days there?
| midasuni wrote:
| Only rains in Manchester when Londoners come to visit. Got to
| keep up appearances.
| dt123 wrote:
| Can confirm there is one day of sun a year
|
| source: spent three years at uni there
| b3kart wrote:
| A whole day of sun? That's not the Manchester I remember.
| Daho0n wrote:
| Yes, it's the one day you are caugh inside doing
| important work.
| rjsw wrote:
| It is sunny right now.
| sizzzzlerz wrote:
| Old joke:
|
| Q: Are there any other kinds of days there? A: Don't know. I
| haven't been there long enough Q: How long is that A: All my
| life.
| fumblebee wrote:
| I know a tautology when I see one.
| HatchedLake721 wrote:
| Live from Manchester, it's sunshine here today and same for
| the rest of the week! :)
| LanceH wrote:
| It's tricky because the sunshine is grey.
| rjsw wrote:
| My grandparents met him when he toured the Metrovick [1] site,
| grandfather was a senior engineer there.
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan-Vickers
| swashboon wrote:
| first man _survived going_ into space
| falcor84 wrote:
| I don't know what you're referring up. Did we ever end up
| sending a dead human body into space?
| RealityVoid wrote:
| There is a conspiracy theory going around that the Russians
| sent more than one person in space but they kept it under
| raps in order to avoid the embarrassment that goes with
| killing one of your pioneers.
| inglor_cz wrote:
| He is hinting at the conspiracy theory that Soviets had a
| previous unsuccessful attempt when the cosmonaut died.
|
| While the USSR was fairly secretive and during its existence,
| a successful hush-up of a major screw-up was at least
| possible, we would have learnt about it since 1991.
| fiftyacorn wrote:
| Radio communication monitoring would have gave it away
| KuiN wrote:
| Even before 1991 many of these theories could be disproved.
|
| James Oberg was uncovering info about phantom or missing
| cosmonauts in the early 70s, including photos of the
| original class of Cosmonauts before & after some were
| airbrushed out. At least 5 men were removed from the photos
| and they have all been traced (Grigoriy Nelyubov being the
| most high profile as a member of the "Sochi Six") despite
| Soviet space officials going to significant lengths to
| excise these men from their history.
|
| Since the Fall of the Soviet Union we've had revelation
| after revelation about embarrassing episodes in Soviet
| history (including previously covered up issues with Vostok
| 1 during its flight), yet we've discovered nothing about
| further missing cosmonauts. Of course there could be much
| better covered up episodes, I'd just expect we'd know a
| hell of a lot more about them by now.
|
| (As an aside, this info is from Oberg's 1988 book
| "Uncovering Soviet Disasters" which has _fascinating_
| little passages about how much more open the Soviet Union
| has been "recently" with regards to publicising disasters
| under Glasnost and how that will continue into the future.
| So interesting to see as someone born shortly after the
| fall of the Soviet Union.)
| HatchedLake721 wrote:
| Why 1991? Even though USSR collapsed, whatever was sealed,
| is still sealed to this day.
| konart wrote:
| >Why 1991? Even though USSR collapsed, whatever was
| sealed, is still sealed to this day.
|
| Some documents are sealed but many were declassified
| since then.
| inglor_cz wrote:
| People talk. A lot. And the post-1990 economic situation
| in Russia was so bad that at least some of the surviving
| witnesses would be tempted to sell the story.
| isolli wrote:
| This was the first human to die in a space flight:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Komarov
|
| Apparently the USSR told the story as: he kept sending back
| scientific data up to the last moment.
|
| PS. They definitely hid some of their failures, but I don't
| think it would have been possible with loss of life
| involved.
| cesis wrote:
| He is referring to Lost Cosmonauts conspiracy theory
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Cosmonauts
| p_l wrote:
| There are dumb conspiracy theories that supposedly he wasn't
| the first one to fly, just the first one to survive.
| [deleted]
| marcodiego wrote:
| Please, don't feed conspiracists.
| [deleted]
| MichaelMoser123 wrote:
| that's a movie recreation of Gagarin's space flight
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLBy-8vdeww . Cheers!
|
| the movie mentions the scene of the lady and her grandma's
| meeting with Gagarin as mentioned in the linked article, so it
| must have gotten right something.
| neverminder wrote:
| I heard a story about Gagarin, but I cannot find any sources to
| confirm it now. One day he was driving home tired and caused a
| car accident. When the police arrived at the scene and saw him,
| they said he is free to go and that they will deal with the
| guilty party, some poor old man. Shortly Gagarin turned back and
| admitted the guilt, he couldn't have it on his conscience. He was
| a man of integrity.
|
| Rumors surrounding his mysterious death were that the government
| thought the heroes should die young, before they become
| irrelevant or screw up and damage their image. The hero cult was
| very strong in Soviet Union.
| StreamBright wrote:
| 60 years of very little progress. Unfortunately our generation
| decided to go on Facebook instead of going to space.
| marshmallow_12 wrote:
| Give me a choice and i know what i'll choose (hint; space is
| big, inhospitable and quite boring).
| boringg wrote:
| Need to solve the light speed problem. We still have figured
| out the physics to really take flight.
| StreamBright wrote:
| In our solar system there are plenty of destinations to go
| to, projects to do. Like mining the asteroid belt and moving
| all the heavy industry that produces CO2 or other pollutants
| to space. Make space flights as cheap and reliable as
| commercial flights on Earth. And so on. These you can solve
| without FTL.
| iso1210 wrote:
| Also 40 years to the day since the first US Space Shuttle launch
|
| (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-1)
| 2Gkashmiri wrote:
| i have the honor of touching a return capsule that brought a
| human back from space. How many people in the 7 billion can say
| that?
| baybal2 wrote:
| I did, in US. Russia sells spent capsules for souveniers these
| day.
| nine_k wrote:
| Anyone who visited a museum near Moscow (if you want the very
| first one), or a bunch of expositions across the US (if you
| want those which traveled to the moon):
| https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apolloloc.html
| marshmallow_12 wrote:
| I once saw _something_ (probably a space capsule) in the
| Science Museum, London.
| KuiN wrote:
| I'm pretty sure that'll be the Soyuz capsule that Tim Peake
| flew to & from ISS on (Soyuz TMA-19M), hence the UK interest.
| I saw it on temporary display in Edinburgh before it went
| down to London for permanent display at the Science Museum.
| odiroot wrote:
| There's one in my hometown on public display. I could risk a
| guess tens of thousands of people touched it.
| cameldrv wrote:
| I didn't know until recently the landing method they used for
| this flight. Gagarin was incredibly brave.
|
| First, the Vostok reentered and opened a parachute to slow down.
| Then it blew the hatch and fired him out of the capsule in his
| ejection seat, which fired its own parachute. Then somewhat
| lower, Gagarin had to jump out of the ejection seat with his own
| parachute and land. That is a lot of things that all have to work
| to land safely.
| userulluipeste wrote:
| It's possible that the multiple parachute system to be just
| built-in redundancies out of functional safety reasons, so that
| any successfully deployed parachute to actually render the next
| parachute deployment unnecessary.
| aasasd wrote:
| So it's parachutes all the way down.
| vassilevsky wrote:
| Always has been.
| avmich wrote:
| And this is one of simpler spacecrafts.
|
| I'd really prefer Dream Chaser to get completed, I think
| failure modes on winged crafts are better.
| LatteLazy wrote:
| People go on an on about the moon but sputnik and gagarin were
| the real achievement.
| avmich wrote:
| A rather popular opinion in Russian space circles is that there
| were three towering events in space - Sputnik on October 4 '57,
| Gagarin on April 12 '61 and Armstrong on July 20 '69. And no
| fourth so far - e.g. first Columbia flight isn't of that level
| of importance.
| bryananderson wrote:
| Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins has made the case that
| Apollo 8, the first mission to venture outward from low Earth
| orbit, deserves a place in this pantheon and is arguably more
| epochal than Apollo 11. It is a question of which is more
| significant: venturing outward for the first time, or
| arriving somewhere for the first time. Collins has said that,
| as time passes, that first tentative outward journey feels
| more significant to him on the grand timeline of human
| history than the first step on the Moon.
| avmich wrote:
| Apollo 8 technically is significantly simpler than Apollo
| 11. Many Apollo 8 results could perhaps be achieved by USSR
| with two launches of Proton. They can argue if that high
| orbit - 400,000 km apogee - and entering Moon orbit is that
| much of a qualitative step. In a sense, getting to orbit is
| already venturing outward, and Apollo 8 is venturing
| somewhat furter - not clear to me how much is it of a
| difference.
| trdtaylor1 wrote:
| 'For all mankind' shows if the space race continued; brings to
| heart what these people felt after going up and to the moon only
| to be stuck in earth orbit maximum for the next 40 years.
| drdeadringer wrote:
| I'm re-watching this right now.
|
| It is a great show.
| posix_me_less wrote:
| It has some great visuals and some of the character/casts are
| great (Margo), and it gives interesting perspective on how
| the astronauts feel in their job, ups and downs. However,
| lots of "human-story" scenes are too tangential, boring and
| slow. Sex topics are completely out of place and boring.
|
| The radiation storm on the Moon was very nice, very
| mesmerizing, but story-wise, it was squandered. The heroism
| scene was mediocre.
|
| Ronald Moore did great with Galactica, but this show is a
| mixed bag. Not that great.
|
| Also, somehow they don't do good music in shows these days.
| It is too generic and forgettable.
| anonymousisme wrote:
| The movie was better.
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_All_Mankind_(film)
| woobar wrote:
| I am not sure they are comparable. The movie is a
| documentary and the TV Show is an alternative history
| exploration of the space race.
| starik36 wrote:
| It's a good show, but it needs to have a bit more sci fi and a
| lot less pointless relationship drama.
| oh_sigh wrote:
| Agreed. I really wanted to like it, but I thought it would be
| more about cold-war-on-the-moon rather than mostly about the
| gender, race, and sexuality of the American astronauts.
| nabla9 wrote:
| It's really good show (created and written by Ronald D. Moore).
| Writers try to take the technical and scientific advise
| seriously as much as they can.
|
| In the second season they show new spacecraft designs that are
| based on actual proposals. Like the Sea Dragon super heavy-lift
| launch vehicle.
|
| They also introduce androgynous mating system that is very
| similar to International Docking System Standard (IDSS)
| https://www.internationaldockingstandard.com/
| arethuza wrote:
| Nitpick: I think the Sea Dragon launch is actually first
| shown right at the very end of season 1.
|
| What I particularly like about the show is how technology
| advances more quickly in their timeline - e.g. electric car,
| cell phones in the 1980s.
| nabla9 wrote:
| And those are completely believable or did already exist.
|
| 1G (analog cellular networks) already existed. NASA
| administrator might have had Motorola DynaTAC 8000X in 1983
| even in our timeline.
|
| EV car that runs 60 miles with a single charge is a real
| change to our timeline, but believable if the investment
| into EV would have been huge (needed in the moon and space
| in large quantities).
|
| Overall, the worldbuilding that went into that show is
| impressive. Many events in the show actually happened, but
| are resolved differently or have different consequences.
| Taniwha wrote:
| EV cars with an 80 mile range were available in 1911 in
| this very timeline ....
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_Electric
| shantara wrote:
| And yet somehow the whole S2 in centered about Space
| Shuttle program - years after a successful Sea Dragon
| launch. This was the most unbelievable development in the
| whole show.
| TheButlerian wrote:
| Commie bastard, got what he deserves.
| pdkl95 wrote:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqL7Yllgeew
|
| "Fire in the sky" Gagarin was the first, back in
| 1961 When like Icarus, undaunted, he climbed to reach the
| Sun And he knew he might not make it, for it's never hard
| to die But he lifted off the pad, and rode a fire in the
| sky!
| sashavingardt2 wrote:
| He was the first man to come back from space alive (disclaimer:
| two members of my family worked for the space program) and what's
| really peculiar about his case is that he was chosen not only
| based on his undoubtedly stellar qualifications as a pilot but
| also because he was a handsome chap.
| dennis_jeeves wrote:
| Damn, it bothers me that your comment was down voted. Are there
| no consequences for those who unjustly down vote?
|
| In fact considering what I know of dictatorship regimes you
| could be right. They are generally big on showmanship and
| public image, with scant regard for human life.
| blululu wrote:
| Everything I've read about Gagarin suggests that he was a
| phenomenal person. People liked him as a person. He was both
| smart and kind. Add in his personal bio and it's not hard to
| see why the Soviet leaders picked him.
| cuspycode wrote:
| There was also the purely physical qualification that he was
| only 157 cm tall. Size matters when sending payloads to space.
| kweks wrote:
| Just before COVID I trekked into Baikonour - just next to the
| building with the Burans is Yuri Gagarin's launch pad - which is
| quite amazing to see.
|
| Photos for the interested:
| https://ninjito.com/2020-02-05-Baikonour (Gagarin's launch pad in
| the second to last photo)
| gnull wrote:
| What a mess. Is the hangar on the first photos abandoned? Can
| anyone freely get inside?
|
| (Beautiful photos!)
| kweks wrote:
| There are a multitude of abandoned structures (including the
| tall building next to this one, with a life size mockup of
| Russia's heavy lift rocket).
|
| It's not legal, but if you're willing make the 35km hike in,
| it's not highly protected either (at least for the abandoned
| structures - I wouldn't go near the active launch
| structures).
|
| With that said, you can also take legal (albeit expensive)
| tours, which look quite fascinating as well - staying in the
| Sputnik hotel, seeing the Gagarin launch pad, etc
| avmich wrote:
| I've witnessed firsthand the launch of forth ISS expedition
| on April 2004. Wanted to see the launch directly with eyes,
| so the video was shot without aiming :) .
|
| Regarding Baykonur infrastructure - it's similar, in a
| sense of relation to a high achievement, to the Voyager
| restaurant in Mojave, California. Similar feelings.
| datameta wrote:
| Not the most technical of narrations of the Buran but it
| details the trek which they make mid-winter at night to
| avoid patrols https://youtu.be/5HebeCZwo08
| kweks wrote:
| Similar for my trip, the Kazak winter has certain
| advantages, but also increases logistic difficulties
| (-30degC.. everything freezes..), and you have to be
| completely autonomous. We were severely limited by water,
| and the continuous juggle to rotate water and gas
| canisters inside your jackets to keep everything liquid
| as possible.
|
| Likewise winter also means you have to work extra hard to
| cover tracks etc..
| hesk wrote:
| Beautiful photos! Thanks for sharing.
| anonymousiam wrote:
| No parties for Yuri's Night this year :( This year it's virtual
| only. https://yurisnight.net/
| axelfontaine wrote:
| In case anyone needs something to add to their long list of
| things to do when Covid will be over, I highly recommend visiting
| the museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow
| (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Museum_of_Cosmonautic...)
|
| I had the chance to visit it in 2019 and it's an absolutely
| fascinating place. With Soyuz capsules that returned from space,
| Mir module replicas you can go into, asteroids you can touch, a
| Buran replica and an incredibly detailed walkthrough of the
| Soviet pioneering work at the dawn of the space race, there is
| simply no other place like it. Well worth it!
| gbuk2013 wrote:
| And then visit
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsiolkovsky_State_Museum_of_th...
| - only a short train ride away (by Russian standards) :)
| chupasaurus wrote:
| Actually 2 rides: 15-16 km of subway to the Kiyevskaya
| railway station and 164 km to Kaluga which is the other end
| of that _commute_ rail.
| IgorPartola wrote:
| Simply out of curiosity, have you been to the Kennedy Space
| Center and how does it compare? As someone who was born in the
| USSR but hadn't seen much of it before I left, I am very
| curious about the differences in attitudes and presentation
| with things like this.
| danieldk wrote:
| _a Buran replica_
|
| If you want to see a real Buran, Technik Museum Speyer is nice:
|
| https://speyer.technik-museum.de/en/spaceshuttle-buran
|
| Though, overall, I liked Technik Museum Sinsheim more, which
| has both a Concorde and a Tupolev TU-144. They are fairly close
| together, so you can visit both of them in one or two days.
| inglor_cz wrote:
| There are urbex people who took footage of a real decaying
| Buran in Kazakhstan. Illegally, of course.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q7ZVXOU3kM
| w-m wrote:
| And to wind down after, drop by the "Museum" of Soviet arcade
| machines, where you can play all kinds of different arcade
| games. With trying to figure out whether the machine is broken
| or you're just using it wrong because you understand none of
| the description being part of the game :)
| FabHK wrote:
| And a replica of Sputnik (the first satellite) and Laika (the
| first space dog, + 3 November 1957 (aged 3), on board Sputnik
| 2, in Low Earth orbit).
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika
| parisianka wrote:
| Agreed
| brudgers wrote:
| It sounds amazing and reminds me of the Space Museum in
| Huntsville, AL. It has a Saturn V motor.
| bernulli wrote:
| Not only the engine - but in Huntsville you can see two
| Saturn V launch vehicles! A mock up standing, and the other
| one made of actual stages (not intended to fly, though).
|
| The only other places you can see the Saturn V are the
| Johnson Space Center and the Kenndy Space Center.
| Robotbeat wrote:
| Gotta say the Kennedy Space Center visitor's center sounds very
| similar (they have the best Space Shuttle display is think),
| plus has a full Saturn V. Plus the Washington DC's Smithsonian
| Air and Space Center (free... has a spare Skylab space station
| you can walk into, plus an Apollo-Soyuz display, plus a Moon
| rock you can literally touch) and the museum at the airport
| which has an orbiter.
|
| It'd be fun to see these and the Moscow museum back to back to
| compare.
|
| We are fortunate to live in a world with parallel space
| programs--that _cooperate_!
| robohoe wrote:
| Yep, both the Smithsonian Air and Space Center and Steven
| Udvar-Hazy Center are well worth the visit. They have the
| Discovery, SR-71, and Enola Gay on display. Oh and the
| Concorde! [0]
|
| [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_F._Udvar-Hazy_Center
| ghaff wrote:
| In 2018 or 2019, I finally had a layover at Dulles that I
| was able to make into a long enough stretch that I was
| _finally_ able to grab a ride and head over to the Steven
| Udvar-Hazy Center for a few hours.
|
| The Museum of Flight outside Seattle is also well worth the
| visit and has quite of bit of space hardware in addition to
| planes. (It's next door to the Boeing factory.)
| Koshkin wrote:
| It was kind of weird to see Gagarin's Communist Party
| membership document on display _at Smithsonian_.
| Shivetya wrote:
| The list of planes across all of them is beyond imagination
| even when you list them out[0]. Some very interesting
| planes that were taken out of Germany to keep them out of
| any other nations hands are there.
|
| The National Air and Space Museum even has the model of
| Star Trek's Enterprise NCC-1701 used during the show. While
| obviously not real the effect of the show and its ship are
| well documented
|
| [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_in_the_Sm
| iths...
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| California Science Center is pretty good too, if you are on
| the left coast.
| izacus wrote:
| Ohh... does it make sense to see it even if you don't speak
| Russian?
| axelfontaine wrote:
| Absolutely! I don't speak a word of Russian and used their
| excellent audio guide in English.
| bvrmn wrote:
| I'm russian and April 12 is a sad day. We have a phrase: "Iura,
| my vse proebali" (Yura, we fucked up everything). The most
| terrifying though is if Gagarin stays alive till now and helps
| government to propose awful laws like Tereshkova (first woman in
| space).
| Andrew_nenakhov wrote:
| What are you talking about? Russia has more cosmonauts [1] than
| any other nation!
|
| [1]:
| https://twitter.com/ValBodin/status/1381474024119803907?s=19
| boringg wrote:
| Um, did you read what happened to Yuri who should have lived
| out a long life as a celebrated cosmonaut?
| Andrew_nenakhov wrote:
| Likely it was an accident, but I see your point. Dead
| heroes are much better for propaganda than alive heroes:
| with the dead you don't need to worry what they might say
| or do. Valery Chkalov (AKA Gagarin of the 1930s) didn't
| live long, too.
| int_19h wrote:
| The planet as a whole is also "we", and it doesn't have
| anywhere near enough.
| vkou wrote:
| Sure, but everything else, from politics to the economy to
| general public welfare is a more of a mess than not.
|
| Things are okay in Moscow, so-so in the other tier-1 cities,
| and the rest of the country is languishing.
| MichaelMoser123 wrote:
| i think that phase is referring to the deindustrialization/loss
| of industrial base in the countries of the former Ussr.
| gnull wrote:
| The phrase is somewhat common, yes, but it's not related to
| April 12 or Gagarin in any way. It is about the decline that
| happened later, not about Gagarin. April 12 is a happy day for
| most Russians, and ex-USSR people in general.
|
| It saddens me to see how current Russian government (de facto
| Russian government, I should add) uses the achievements of the
| past to promote their own agenda though.
| drran wrote:
| - Daddy, daddy! Russians are in the space!!! - All of
| them? - No, just one! - So, why you are shouting
| then?
|
| It's too early to celebrate.
| fpoling wrote:
| "Proiabat'" in Russian means something like "to loose through
| laziness/carelessness/neglect", not "to loose through
| incorrectly performed action" where neglect is used in a rather
| broad sense also covering the case of "stealing a part under an
| assumption that it does not matter for the functionality".
|
| So a more closer-in-meaning translation is "Yura, we lost
| everything through our laziness and neglect", which describes
| the situation much more accurately.
| MichaelMoser123 wrote:
| Mind my french, but it can also just mean loose without
| passive connotation, like in 'loosing a game', also can be in
| the sense of propit' (that means 'waste on booze', now how do
| you translate that one, in one word?)
| ordu wrote:
| Literally it means to lose something through a sexual act.
| Glavnokoman wrote:
| This is not a sad day, despite some hopefully temporary setback
| in the space exploration. A ty durak.
| HenryBemis wrote:
| No need for namecalling/insults.
| bvrmn wrote:
| How many launches Rogozin did in 2020 comparing to US and
| China? What about a trend for last 5 years? How about planned
| launches in 2021? There is a real decline and only a blind
| person cannot see it.
|
| You can drink Vodka every year and be proud of Gagarin but it
| will not help to change anything about russian space.
| Dolores12 wrote:
| This news is a tribute to Yuri and everyone involved. You
| may create your own topic on what Rogozin did or did not. I
| am pretty sure people will upvote.
| bvrmn wrote:
| IMHO, there is no point in shallow celebration.
| Especially if recall how many people made engineering
| work in literal prisons. Today is pinnacle of
| totalitarianism.
|
| July 20 is more appropriate date to be proud of humanity.
| jen20 wrote:
| November 9th, too.
| cpursley wrote:
| The size of the Russian economy is smaller than the USSR.
| They're are US states with larger economies.
| rtuulik wrote:
| Economy size tends to shrink, when nearly half your
| population decides to leave.
| wfh wrote:
| BBC Radio 4 also presented a good hour-long segment on Gagarin
| last weekend https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000v24g
| paviva wrote:
| A fitting tribute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGFz5JkLzw8
| isolli wrote:
| It's impressive what the Soviet Union achieved with "analog"
| technology. I did not know they had landed a rover on the moon.
| Imagine all the automation this requires, but without any
| advanced electronics. Was it all relays and switches? They were
| also the first to photograph the other side of the moon. Imagine
| what it took to develop the photos in space and beam them back to
| earth. I can't possibly imagine doing this without a digital
| sensor.
|
| PS. Not a Soviet Union fan otherwise...
| conistonwater wrote:
| > _Imagine what it took to develop the photos in space and beam
| them back to earth._
|
| For one type of satellite that I heard about, the US were
| dropping the film canisters and catching them in flight, to
| develop later: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_(satellite)
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| Their Venus photos are amazing.
| p_l wrote:
| One of the engineers on the failed (and later covered up)
| soviet moon program supposedly said that if not for soviet
| focus on automation, they would have been first on the moon -
| and that in comparison, Americans "eyeballed it".
|
| Not entirely true on american side, but there was a definite
| trend on US side to depend more on human in the loop.
| isolli wrote:
| Required viewing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1J2RMorJXM
| nine_k wrote:
| Soviet moon mission had real trouble with the booster, which
| had many engines; this is not something you can realistically
| control by hand. In short, the boosters kept blowing up:
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/N1_(rocket)
|
| (That setup was later avenged for all its tragic mishaps by
| SpaceX's Falcons.)
| avmich wrote:
| It's not as much the number of engines, which troubled N-1.
| For example, when Soyuz launcher starts, it has 32 chambers
| - not engines - running simultaneously, and it's a rather
| robust and reliable rocket.
|
| What was the probable reason is the lack of testing of the
| huge system of the first stage of N-1 all together - test
| stands required lots of money and also time, both were in
| short supply (N-1 is surprisingly a rather inexpensive
| rocket, in comparison, say, to a better flown Energiya).
| Engines on the first stage were also untested, by design -
| they were single-start engines, so they couldn't be tested
| on a test stand before actual launch.
|
| Both of these problems were taken into account when
| Energiya was developed. It had a huge "stand-start", both
| for testing and for launching, and engines were fully
| reusable, with the idea of later returning the first stage
| of the launcher (horizontal landing, with parachutes) and
| flying it again.
| p_l wrote:
| That's one of the options they had for moon flight, and
| arguably the _critical_ part that closed their chance to
| get there first.
|
| But a lot of other options, doable earlier, would have been
| possible if there was less perfectionism applied to
| automated flight - that's the argument I've heard.
|
| N.B. Currently used Soyuz spacecraft (not the carrier
| rocket) is derived from the moon program capsule.
| avmich wrote:
| Space booster stage flying on Proton and Zenith, Blok D,
| is also derived from the fifth stage in the Moon
| expedition stack. Its engine is also the predecessor of
| the main engine of Buran. Lunar spacecraft technology
| helped with later creation of space probes, like Vega,
| and flying today space booster Fregat.
| baybal2 wrote:
| No, it was a great messup with Kremlin messing up the space
| programme big time, appointing talking heads, and
| "micromanaging the launch proceedures all the way from
| Moscow"
| p_l wrote:
| Well, yes. Had Korolev lived, he would have probably kept
| control over it, same way he led USSR to being first with
| Sputnik and Voskhod.
| inglor_cz wrote:
| When I studied life and work of Korolev, I could not help
| but meditate on the idea that great individuals really do
| make a difference.
|
| His death was a major setback for the Soviet space
| program. Arguably they never found a real replacement for
| him.
| avmich wrote:
| No, they didn't. I sometimes think Elon Musk - with all
| the differences - is a comparable figure.
| KuiN wrote:
| The Soviets/Russians were still flying with analog tech on-
| board Soyuz until 2010 (TMA-M variant was the first "all
| digital" Soyuz). And of course, Soyuz is effectively "just" an
| upgraded Vostok/Sputnik/R-7. No parts in common between them
| anymore, but philosophically the same rocket design has been
| flying since 1957.
| MagnumOpus wrote:
| > Imagine all the automation this requires, but without any
| advanced electronics. Was it all relays and switches?
|
| Yes, basically. My understanding is that it was a very fancy RC
| car with extra strong antennas to be able to give video feeds
| from the 4 cameras and receive commands live from Earth. (Plus
| bells and whistles like solar panels and a plutonium heater,
| see [0].)
|
| The moon is only 1 light second away, so remote controlling a
| car that moves at 1 mph is not too much of an issue. (Though
| with bad video quality it is still a challenge, see the fate of
| Lunokhod 2.)
|
| [0] https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2011/03/rovers-
| lea...
| baybal2 wrote:
| Not really, back at the dawn of semiconductors, union's space
| programme was spoon fed best components from all over the
| world.
|
| Original Vostok had higher engineering standards than crafts
| that were launched more than a decade later, after the hype
| subsided below the level needed to keep the space programme a
| top level state project.
| FpUser wrote:
| >"For the USSR, Yuri Gagarin's single orbit of the Earth was a
| huge achievement and propaganda coup."
|
| And of course the opposite side did not use their without
| question great achievements for propaganda. Just pure love of
| mankind.
|
| Can they just for once enjoy the ride and celebrate without
| adding bit of venom?
| jsomau wrote:
| If you're in to the space race, don't miss Public Service
| Broadcasting - Race for Space album. They have an epic track for
| Gagarin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY-kAnvOY80
|
| The entire album is one of my favourites of all time.
| allenu wrote:
| Glad to see someone post this. The album is great and quite an
| inspirational listen.
| hkt wrote:
| I read in _Berlin 1961_ that Gagarin was sent into space on
| Khrushchev's orders before the engineers wanted him to do,
| largely so he could feel an advantage over JFK when inviting him
| to talk about the problems of East Germany (namely mass migration
| to West Germany.)
|
| The previous cosmonaut apparently cursed Khrushchev as he
| realised he was going to die in a flight a month before. He
| burned to death. I don't recall the name or other circumstances
| but recommend the book.
| p_l wrote:
| Komarov died in 1967, 6 years later, during first test flight
| of the Soyuz capsule, and cosmonauts considered the test plan
| rushed. Yuri Gagarin publicly spoke against mismanagement by
| program director.
| hkt wrote:
| Well, it turns out the quite entertaining history book I
| mentioned above has peddled a conspiracy theory. I'm a little
| surprised, and more than a little hurt, that a respected writer
| would slip something like this into a work of nonfiction.
|
| So, sorry and thank you HN, I feel less wrong than I was
| before.
| chupasaurus wrote:
| The previous cosmonauts before Gagarin were 2 dogs who couldn't
| curse Khruschev and they'd returned alive and well.
| Koshkin wrote:
| The first canine cosmonaut was Laika (Sputnik-2, 1957, one
| month after Sputnik-1). It was a one-way trip though.
| arethuza wrote:
| Gagarin's name is included on the plaque for the _Fallen
| Astronaut_ sculpture secretly placed on the moon by the crew of
| Apollo 15:
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallen_Astronaut
| papito wrote:
| Gagarin died during a test flight, this is not some sort of
| pre-Twitter trolling. Perhaps it was not your intention to
| suggest it, but it was my first thought. Maybe the social media
| broke me.
| nabla9 wrote:
| It's not a list of people who died in space or during space
| flight. It's list of people who died while serving as
| astronauts or cosmonauts.
|
| Astronaut Edward G. Givens Jr. included in the Fallen
| Astronaut plaque died in a car accident before being assigned
| to a prime or backup spaceflight crew.
| zabzonk wrote:
| > Gagarin died during a test flight
|
| Actually, not a test flight - a rather routine one, and most
| sources seem to think that the problem was adverse weather.
|
| From wikipedia:
|
| "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 "
| arethuza wrote:
| I just thought it was an awesome mark of respect to their
| colleagues of all nations.
| [deleted]
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2021-04-12 23:00 UTC)