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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0970.PDF
70 FLIGHT, 20 July 1961 Missiles and Space flight GAGARIN IN BRITAIN The Gagarin smile, almost continuous throughout the major's visit to Britain, is here pictured on the occasion of the presentation of the British Interplane- tary Society's Gold Medal in London on Tuesday, July 11 IN manned orbital flight, as in any other activity, there can onlybe one first occasion, and one first man. Even if this maninsists that he is an ordinary mortal and not a superman, thegreatness thrust upon him is there to stay. London recognized this on July 11 with a tumultuous welcome for Maj Yuri Gagarin,pilot-cosmonaut and Hero of the Soviet Union. In the fashion theatre of the Soviet Exhibition at Earls Court,some 600 journalists and others attended a press conference on the afternoon of the major's arrival. So familiar had the smiling faceof the astronaut become, through photographs, films and television, that it was difficult to realize that the orbital flight which launchedhim into the glare of world publicity had taken place only three months before. This was the man. A short figure striding across the stage, wearingblue trousers, khaki jacket (appropriately medalled) and a likeable grin, almost hidden behind a massive spray of flowers. Acknow-ledging our applause in the Soviet manner by applauding in return. He was followed on to the platform by Soviet Ambassador A. A.Soldatov, chairman of the meeting, and a row of other officials. First question came from the Irish Times. Did Maj Gagarinknow whether he was to make further space flights? This had not been decided, the astronaut replied, but, as far as he was concerned,he would very much like to make further flights and he hoped he would be entrusted with them. Independent Television asked fordetails of the April 12 flight and further enquired whether the flight or the subsequent publicity had been the greater strain. It wasdifficult to say anything which had not already been said about the flight, we were told in reply; both flight and publicity were "verydifficult" and anyone who wanted to know which was worse should try both. For the benefit of the BBC, Maj Gagarin stated thathe had received invitations to visit many countries, but not the USA. In the near future he would be visiting Poland and Cuba,but he had his own work to do and it was important for him to pass on his orbital experience "since we plan to go in for spaceexploration on a big scale, in a big way." Among the next "questions" came effusive greetings from theAfrican Democratic Congress and from a gentleman from Cyprus. Among those greeting Maj Gagarin at London Airport on July II was Air Marsha/ Sir Ronald Lees, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (centre). At right is Mr Boris Belitsky, the major's efficient interpreter The Japanese section of the BBC wanted to know what personalthoughts had occurred to Maj Gagarin while in orbit. The astronaut could think personal thoughts at other times, came the reply; duringthe flight he naturally devoted his time to his work. The Daily Sketch asked whether, on his next space flight, the major wouldlike the world to watch the attempt, for example by televising the launch? Declining to answer this question, Maj Gagarin answeredinstead one which had not been asked. In fact, he said, a colour film of the take-off and boost phase of his flight had been produced. The Soviet astronaut went on to deal politely with questionsabout women in space, space fiction, his first impressions of England, the English language and his wife's reactions to the orbital flight.Flight enquired whether Maj Gagarin had remained in his cabin during the descent of the spaceship to Earth, or had used the pilot-ejection system. This was not the first time he had been asked this question, the major replied. As he said at his Moscow press confer-ence, he had descended inside the spaceship, although it would also have been possible for him to eject. Even if the London conference was not the first occasion onwhich the major had been asked this question, it was in fact the first occasion on which he had given (or been reported as havinggiven) an unequivocal answer. Odhams Press wanted to know whether, during his orbitalflight, Maj Gagarin had been '"an observer only." A man in a space flight could not be an observer only, came the reply; he wasbound to take an active part in the flight and in fact to direct it, and this was the job Maj Gagarin had carried out. What had beenthe results of the major's hospital checks, asked the Daily Sketch. In a number of medical check-ups, no changes in the astronaut'sorganism, either physically or mentally, had been found. He there- fore assumed there were no ill-effects. Back into the arena ofpsychological after-effects came the Daily Mail—did the major have nightmares in which he re-flew the Vostok in space? No, henever had anything like that. He slept quite normally, and he had never been much of a dreamer, anyway. A Zurich professor representing a number of unspecified culturalmagazines in South-east Asia asked whether Maj Gagarin had experienced "what in oriental countries we call eternity." Theanswer, as interpreted in a not-uncreative manner by Boris Belitsky of Moscow Radio, was a non-committal negative. Only in answering the final question of the conference did MajGagarin change from polite good humour to a strong finger-shaking emphasis tinged with propaganda. Associated Television suggestedthat, after his April 12 flight and subsequent publicity, the major could never be the same man again. Maj Gagarin said he disagreedwith any division of people into ordinary mortals and celebrities. He was an ordinary mortal in every way. "We in the Soviet Unionhave many people who have accomplished a great deal"—the number of his Gold Star medal was 11.175, which meant that11,174 people before him had accomplished something very notable. Mr Kruschev, for example, had three Gold Stars and wasa Hero of Soviet Labour. As for the discomforts of publicity, the pressure would surely ease when there were many astronauts—andthen they all would be able to lead normal lives. A further gold medal, the first to be awarded by the BritishInterplanetary Society, came Maj Gagarin's way at the end of the press conference. This presentation was made by Dr W. R. Maxwell,president of the Society, who said that the whole world could be proud of Maj Gagarin's achievement, since "men of all nationsfrom the beginning of civilization have contributed to the knowledge which ultimately made it possible." The Society's gold medalswould be awarded to those making the greatest contributions to astronautics, and the award to Maj Gagarin was not only a tributeto his own courageous exploit but also to the scientific and engineer- ing achievements of his countrymen which had made it possible.The astronaut's reply floated out to us from behind a heaving group of photographers who had at last stormed and taken the stage. Maj Gagarin's programme during his visit to Britain includedan Air Council reception at the Air Ministry on July 13, and lunch with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at BuckinghamPalace on Friday, July 14. The major left London Airport on his return flight to Moscow on the following day, July 15. At the Air Ministry reception the Secretary of State for Air,Mr Julian Amery, presented the non-smoking major with a silver cigarette box, and received in return a copy of Maj Gagarin's newbook on his flight into space. Among those present on this occasion were Air Chief Marshal Sir Thomas Pike, Chief of theAir Staff; Ambassador Soldatov; and Maj-Gen I. P. Efimov, the Soviet Military Attache. K. T. O.
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