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Thanks Yuri

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

Many wonderful things came out of the USSR and the USA space-racing their way through almost half of the Twentieth Century – Sputnik, the Kennedy Speech, the Armstrong haiku, Apollo 13 – but cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first to recite the poetry of space from up there – rocketing around the place where stars are made. 50 years ago the 5000kg Vostok 1 blasted into space fuelled by liquid oxygen and kerosene. About 70kg of the payload carried by the rocket belonged to Gagarin.

Thanks Yuri.

I’ve writtern about space before but the section below from this piece I did after the death of the Space Shuttle Challenger crew in 2003 still captures well my thoughts about the grandest of achievements.

I believe there are myriad reasons for people to meet the continued challenge of exploration in space: scientific, technological, economic and finally, perhaps, simply because it is there. The same reason we climb mountains and sail seas. It enriches our spirit.

That is not the only reason. But for mine, it is the best. Look at the names of the shuttles: Enterprise, Atlantis, Discovery, Endeavour, Challenger and Columbia. These are not just names of historic sea-going vessels; they are also the names of some of the strongest elements of the human spirit.

That spirit did not die when Columbia broke up. Even if the public had become complacent about the hazards of travel into space, the Columbia crew had not. They knew the risks, and they accepted them. Throughout their training, during the mission and on their way home, they embraced the contradictions. As should we.

Yuri Gagarin died before we conquered the Moon. But he took a small step and a giant leap too.

Tags: Neil Armstrong, poetry, space, Yuri Gagarin
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