![]() Her mission, Vostok 6, took place on June 16th, 1963. Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova photographed inside the Vostok-6 spacecraft on June 16, 1963. In addition to her expertise in parachuting (which was essential since Vostok pilots were to parachute from the capsule after reentry), her background as a “proletariat”, and the fact that her father was a war hero from the Russo-Finnish War, led to her being selected. On 16 February 1962, Valentina Tereshkova was selected to join the female cosmonaut corps, and was selected amongst hundreds to be one of five women who would go into space. ![]() Born in the village of Maslennikovo in central Russia on March 6th, 1937, Tereshkova became interested in parachuting from a young age and began training at the local aeroclub.Īfter Gagarin’s historic flight in 1961, the Soviets hopes to also be the first country to put a woman into space. Valentina Tereshkova:Īnother famous Russian cosmonaut, Tereshkova is also internationally renowned for being the first woman to go into space. He died of leukemia on July 21st, 1998, five weeks before the death of his wife of 53 years. After leaving NASA, he became a successful businessman. While on the lunar surface, he was photographed playing a round of golf and hit two balls across the surface. Shepard went on to lead other missions, including the Apollo 14mission – which was the third mission to land on the Moon. Unfortunately, Alan was beaten into space by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin by only a few weeks, and hence became the first American to go into space. Known as the Freedom 7mission, this flight placed him into a suborbital flight around Earth. As 0ne of the seven Mercury astronauts, Shepard was selected to be the first to go up on May 5th, 1961. In 1959, he was selected as one of 110 military test pilots to join NASA. Alan Shepard prepares for his historic flight on May 5, 1961. While in the Navy, Shepard became a fighter pilot and served aboard several aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean. He was born November 18th, 1923 in Pebble, California and graduated from the United States Naval Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree. In addition to being an astronaut and one of the Mercury Seven – the first seven pilots selected by NASA to go into space – Shepard was also the first American man to go into space. The details of his death were not released until June of 2013, when a declassified report indicated that Gagarin’s death was caused by the error of another pilot. ![]() Gagarin died during a routine training exercise in March 27th, 1968. The 12th of April is also known as “Cosmonauts Day” in Russia and many former Soviet-states in his honor. During reentry, Gagarin claimed to have whistled “The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows”, and reportedly said, “I don’t see any God up here” when he reached suborbital altitude (which was falsely attributed).Īfterwards, he toured the world and became a celebrity at home, commemorated with stamps, statues, and the renaming of his ancestral village to Gagarin. On April 12th, 1961, Gagarin was launched aboard the Vostok 1 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, and thus became the fist man to go into space. Due to his training, physical size (as the spacecraft were quite cramped), and favor amongst his peers, Gagarin was selected to be the first human cosmonaut (they had already sent dogs) to make the journey. Gagarin was further selected to become part of the Sochi Six, an elite group of cosmonauts who formed the backbone of the Vostok program. Yuri Gagarin before a space flight aboard the Vostok 1 spacecraft, April 12th, 1961. In 1960, he was selected alongside 19 other pilots to join the newly-formed Soviet Space Program. Born in the village of Klushino in the Smolensk Oblast on March 9th, 1934, Gagarin was drafted into the Soviet Air Force in 1955 and trained in the use of jet fighters. Yuri Gagarin:Īs the first man to ever go into space, no list of famous astronauts would be complete without Yuri Gagarin. ![]() So without further ado, here are just a few of the most famous astronauts, along with a list of their accomplishments. And some have made such immense contributions that their names will live on long after we too have passed away. Nevertheless, in the course of human space exploration, some names do stand out more than others. Surely, all astronauts are deserving of recognition and respect for their bravery and contributions to the pursuit of knowledge. And second, it can be hard to objectively measure just how important and individuals contributions really are. But asking “who is the most famous?” is somewhat tricky. There have been many astronauts who have made tremendous contributions to our knowledge of space.
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