April 12, 1961: First man in space | Hacker News Reader

April 12, 1961: First man in space

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45 pointsilkhd211 comments

Related: April 12, 1981 was the first orbital flight of the Shuttle Transport System (Space Shuttle). The launch was originally scheduled for 2 days earlier but was scrubbed.

Every year on April 12, there is a celebration called "Yuri's Night: the World Space Party". This year it was celebrated on all seven continents (plus a couple of gatherings in Second Life), and in previous years it has been celebrated on the ISS. It's a great time to reflect on space exploration and technology, as well as on the individual work of astronauts and cosmonauts.

Of particular interest to me is the cultural exchange that went on, even during the Cold War, between those on opposite sides who shared the common experience of having been to space. I had the privilege of picking up some astronauts and cosmonauts at the airport, and every single one of them made a point of telling me about how great it was to interact with those who had been on the other side of the Cold War.

How is this relevant to HN?

Lots of hackers want to go to space. See the space startups of Allen, Bezos, Carmack, Musk; the trips to Mir by Shuttleworth, Ansari, Simonyi, and Garriott. It's fitting to remember the first man in space went there 49 years ago today.

It is relevant in many, many different ways: 1. In short - it is relevant in the same way as talks about banking system, unemployment e.t.c - indirectly but in a profound way. 2. It is also relevant in a way that this was a major event of the Cold War, and that war was a vehicle of many technological advances of USA. 3. It is also relevant for general knowledge of the world around - especially for brainwashed American people, who might have been thinking that American were first in space, and that happened in mid-80s.

Well he was my hero growing up so this is at least relevant to me.

Just to put in perspective, Gagarin was _the_ superhero of every boy in ex-Soviet Union. It wasn't someone like Brittney Spears or Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was a real human being who flew into space. If you can discard all the communist propaganda and other party bullshit, it is pretty cool to have a real cosmonaut as your hero growing up instead of a fictional character or just an actor.

I grew up in Kiev, and went to a primary school named for Yuri Gagarin. In most ways, it didn't really matter (any more than the eponym of any elementary school does); but for what it's worth, yeah, it was pretty cool to once in a while reflect on the grandness of space travel, and to have your school named for a cosmonaut rather than, say, a politician.

We also had some streets after him in East Germany.

+named.

Arnold may not have been in space (yet), but he was one of the very few to come back through time.

that was funny :)))

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