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Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin

On the threshold of the thirtieth anniversary of Y. A. Gagarin’s flight into the outer space, this letter written by Y. A. Gagarin was published in several media under the title “The Spaceman’s Last Will.” Comparison of the texts that had been made public showed that the fullest text with what I hope to be the least number of editor’s adjustments was cited in the newspaper Pravda issued on April the eighth of 1991. In the commentary, made by the journalist, who signed his article as V. Larionov, it says that the letter is written on checked pages, that is, on pages taken out from a simple school-notebook. There is also an afterword, written by his spouse Valentina Ivanovna Gagarina, when she had the opportunity to get familiar with it in 1991. Here is the text of this letter and the text, which accompanied its publication.

Vl. Larionov. Pravda; 08.04.1991; Special Edition.

The letter, written by Y. A. Gagarin on checked pages, 10.04.1961.

“Hello, my dear and so much loved Lelechka, Lenochka and Galochka! Here, I decided to write to you a few lines to share with you the joy and happiness that became my lot today.

Today, the government committee made a decision to send me as the first one into the outer space. You know, dear Valyusha, how happy I am; I wish that you would be happy together with me.

A common man was entrusted with such a huge state task – to pave the first way into the outer space!

Can anyone dream of anything more?

For, this is the history, it is the new era.

In a day I have to take the start. At that time you will already be taking care of the things of your life. This is a very great task that fell upon my shoulders. I wish I could be with you for a little while, talk to you before this. But, alas, you are too far away. Nevertheless, I always sense that you are near me.

I fully believe in the equipment. It should not let me down. It happens though, that man falls on a flat spot and breaks his neck. Anything can happen here also. But I myself do not believe in it so far. Still, in case something happens, I ask you all, and you, Valyusha, especially, do not kill yourself with grief. For life is life; and nobody is safeguarded from being run over by a car the next day. Please, take care of our little girls, love them the way I love them.

Bring them up so that they would not shirk hard work, would not be “mommy’s daughters,” but make them true people, who would not be intimidated by rough roads of this life. Bring them up to be worthy of the new society – communism.

The state will help you in this. As for your personal life – do what your conscience would tell you, what you would think proper to do. I do not put any obligations upon you, and I have no right to do it whatsoever. Well, my letter gets too gloomy. I do not believe in it myself. I hope that you will never see this letter. And I will be ashamed of myself for this very momentarily weakness. But if anything happens, you should know all the truth to the end.

So far, I have lived an honest, true life, trying to do people good, although what I did was little.

One day, when I was yet a little child, I read the words of V. P. Chkalov, “If you have to be, be the first.” So, here I am, aspiring to be one, and I will be one to the end. Valechka, I want to devote this flight to the people of the new society – communism, into which we are already stepping in, to our Great Motherland, to our science.

I hope that in a few days we will be together again, and we will be happy. Valechka, please, do not forget about my parents; if you get a chance – help them with something. Say big hello from me to them, and ask them to forgive me, for they did not know anything about this – it was not good for them to know. Well, it seems that it is all. Good bye, my dear ones. I give you a big-big hug and a kiss, with my regards to you – your daddy and Yura.

10.4.61. Gagarin.

- I read this letter many years later, – Valentina Ivanovna remembered. – I was reading and trying to solve the quiz of the highest human mathematics: what stands behind these words? Was it hesitation? No! Honesty…”

It is difficult to add anything to this commentary of V. I. Gagarina.

Really, as you read this letter, you see that Gagarin was fully aware both of the weight of responsibility, which, no doubt, would be put upon him after a successful flight, and of the significance of this accomplishment in the history of mankind, and of the measure of risk, which he would have to face. In this letter there are words that reflect the noble nature of a man, who realizes that in case of his death he is leaving a young woman with two children on her hands. Knowing life, he is not imposing upon her any obligations. His advice on raising up their daughters in good labour and modesty is also understandable – of course, every honest man can relate to this, who is not spoiled by cynicism, and who wants a decent life for his children not only at the expense of their parents’ fame.

Of course, in this letter there are words about the “communist” society, but it was not like those declarations from people who just wanted to make a career, and who now offer this explanation – that otherwise it would have been too difficult for them to “break through” in that kind of life to their piece of the sweet pie; these words here represent the concept of a person from the masses, who imagined the future in the terms of that time, meaning by that a worthy and happy life, which is awaiting everyone in the future, if everyone would labour faithfully.

This simple message written by Y. A. Gagarin before the most responsible step in his young life causes one to think of many things. I want to remind you that at that time he was barely twenty seven years old.

On April 12 of 1961, there was the flight of Yuri Gagarin into the outer space.

In acknowledgement of Yuri Gagarin’s merits, he was awarded with the Order of Lenin and with the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union; at the same time decision was made to erect a monument for him in the city of Moscow. This decision was unprecedented – there were monuments erected for living people only if they were honoured to become Heroes of the Soviet Union twice, and only in their hometowns. The Gold Star under the number 11175 was solemnly presented to Y. A. Gagarin on April 14 of 1961 at the Kremlin.

After the space flight, Y. A. Gagarin was overwhelmed with unprecedented fame. Not everyone could pass such a test.

Foreign trips began at the invitations of heads of governments, heads of states, and different social organizations.

Every visit of Y. A. Gagarin became an event for the receiving state and a test for Y. A. Gagarin.

There were a number of visits and public speeches. A mere mention of them would be interesting, but this is, probably, more fitting for some encyclopedic material. Here we would like to present the story of his very first visit abroad instead.

As early as on April 27 of 1961, the Czechoslovakian agency CTK informed of the coming two-day visit of Y. A. Gagarin to Czechoslovakia at the invitation of Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and the president of the Czechoslovakian Socialist Republic Atnonin Novotny.

On April 28 of 1961, Y. A. Gagarin, accompanied by N. P. Kamanin arrived in Prague. Interestingly, he flew to Czechoslovakia on a regular flight of Aeroflot, on board of Tu-104. During the flight, Czechoslovakian radio submitted several questions to Yuri Gagarin. Y. A. Gagarin asked the radio-operator V. A. Golenitsky to connect him to Prague, “I am flying to Czechoslovakia with the feeling of deep excitement, for now I am, probably, even more anxious than during the space flight. I was able to fly around the entire globe, but this is the first time I am traveling abroad. I am so happy that my first foreign trip is a visit to the brotherly nation of Czechoslovakia.”

And these were not just words of courtesy. At that time the attitude of common Soviet people to Czechoslovakia was special, I remember this from my own impressions as a child. Everyone still remembered the tank breakthrough, when our troops in 1945 were liberating Prague, or, to be more exact, were coming to the succor of the city, which rose in insurgence against the Nazis. It was then the ninth of May, when the central leadership of Nazi Germany had already signed the act of unconditional capitulation, but in Prague the war was still raging on. And our soldiers were dying, as they fought in these battles to liberate Czechoslovakia, having felt the taste of the Victory. They were being killed in the war, which had been already over.

When the plane with Yuri Gagarin drove to the building of the airport, the welcoming shouts suppressed the roar of the still working engines. The airplane, it seemed, just drowned in the boundless human sea.

Everybody wanted to shake hands with Gagarin, touch him on his shoulder, catch his look, speak at least one word to him.

He was welcomed as a national hero, as a friend, as a brother, as the nearest and dearest person. This is how it was and it cannot be forgotten. Probably, it is difficult to believe in this now. But it seemed then, that it would last forever.

On the same day, after a reception at the Prague City, Y.A. Gagarin visited one of the largest machine-building plants of the capital – CKD-Stalingrad. Having learned that Y. A. Gagarin had the background of a founder, the workers in one night cast a figure of a founder in bronze and the plant’s director, Antoni Kapek handed the founder’s figure cast in metal over to Y. A. Gagarin, as a symbol of love of the Czechoslovakian labour people for the space hero.

After this, Y. A. Gagarin went sightseeing in Prague, visited the monument of National Liberation on Mount Vitkov.

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