Early Life and Background
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was born on March 9, 1934, in the village of Klushino, near Gzhatsk (now called Gagarin in his honor), in the Soviet Union. Coming from a humble working-class family, Gagarin showed early promise and interest in technical fields. He trained as a foundry worker and later pursued technical education, eventually enrolling in a pilot training school.
His skill, discipline, and determination brought him into the Soviet Air Force, where he excelled as a fighter pilot. In 1960, he was selected from thousands of candidates for cosmonaut training—a program secretive and rigorous, designed to find the best possible candidates to carry out the Soviet space missions.
Selection and Training
The Soviet cosmonaut program was intense, testing physical endurance, psychological resilience, and technical expertise. Gagarin impressed trainers with his calm demeanor under pressure, intelligence, and cooperative spirit. Alongside other finalists like Gherman Titov, he underwent simulations, centrifuge tests, zero-gravity flights, and extensive classroom work on spacecraft systems.
Gagarin’s relatively small stature—he was only about 5 feet 2 inches (157 cm)—also made him an ideal candidate for the cramped Vostok spacecraft. His background as a pilot gave him essential skills for operating the spacecraft manually if needed. shutdown123