Despite the Cold War and the Space Race being in full force I like many in the West was shocked and upset to hear of his tragic death. Gagarin was not only a hero of the Soviet Union but for many across the world.
At 07:55 UTC, when Vostok 1 was still 7 km (4.3 mi) from the ground, the hatch of the spacecraft was released, and two seconds later Gagarin was ejected. At 2.5 km (8,200 ft) altitude, the main parachute was deployed from the Vostok spacecraft.[43]
Gagarin's parachute opened almost immediately, and about ten minutes later, at 08:05 UTC, Gagarin landed. Both he and the spacecraft landed via parachute 26 km (16 mi) south west of Engels, in the Saratov region at 51.270682°N 45.99727°E.
Anyone who hasn't seen "For All Mankind" should check it out. It depicts a future that might have transpired if the Russians had beaten the USA to the moon.
It's a great show and at times really makes you wish that's how things would have transpired (i.e., we would not have taken a collective ~30 year break from space travel). Fully seconding this recommendation!
I had occasion to write a letter like this. Being able to write it means you've made the right choice. If you cannot bear to write it, perhaps you shouldn't be taking the risk you are taking.
According to this random website, the letter was opened in 1968 on the actual event of Gagarin's death and declassified in 2011 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his flight.
The translation of the Gagarin’s letter in this article, which explains that it’s “translated by Yves Gauthier … author of a magnificent biography in French on Youri Gagarine” reads better than the translation in TFA, in my opinion
Readit News
The capsule somehow managed to land successfully, and he ended up being alive.
Wow, such wide-ranging cognates!
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-Eur...
("warm", "thermal", "furnace", and even the "garam" in "garam masala")
I'm glad he made it back to Earth safely.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostok_1
At 07:55 UTC, when Vostok 1 was still 7 km (4.3 mi) from the ground, the hatch of the spacecraft was released, and two seconds later Gagarin was ejected. At 2.5 km (8,200 ft) altitude, the main parachute was deployed from the Vostok spacecraft.[43]
Gagarin's parachute opened almost immediately, and about ten minutes later, at 08:05 UTC, Gagarin landed. Both he and the spacecraft landed via parachute 26 km (16 mi) south west of Engels, in the Saratov region at 51.270682°N 45.99727°E.
Here's a brief history of the competition and why the Soviets failed:
https://www.inventionandtech.com/content/how-soviets-didn%E2...
Are there any examples of letters from this long ago that clearly sound very American?
https://web.archive.org/web/20221216033948/https://www.theat...
https://www.archives.gov/files/presidential-libraries/events...
Past HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33491421.
Cosmonaut Crashed into Earth 'Crying in Rage' (2011) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11072718 - Feb 2016 (63 comments)
https://www.space-collectibles.com/blog/youri-gagarin-s-lett...
(I appreciate that wasn't your intent, but we have to go by likely effects.)
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html