What were you doing 45 years ago today?

[kane007]

Frankly I wasn't even an itch in my Dads' paints yet but...<br /><br />Its the 45th anniversary of Major Yury Alekseyevich Gagarin's 108 minute flight into history. Plus its also Yuri's Night arround the globe.<br /><br />Good perspective over on SpaceDaily<br /><br />Plus<br /><br />Space on tonights parties.

 

[telfrow]

I was ten years old and remember it well. My father, mother and the neighbors thought it was (almost literally) the end of the world. They had visions of Soviet missile bases on the moon. <br /><br /><i>Edit:</i> As for me, I just thought it was really cool. <img src="/images/icons/cool.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[spayss]

I just barely remember it. Gagarin was more famous than the Pope. A poll in the arly 70's had him the most recognizable face in the world after Mao until Mohammed Ali took over the title. Around the world he's still by far the most famous astronaut in history. In the USA is it John Glenn? I doubt if 95% of Ameicans could name a current astronaut. Apparently Gagarin is still as famous in Russia as Santa Claus. I wonder how popular the current space program is in Russia.

 

[CalliArcale]

In honor of the day, I'm listening to a Jean-Michel Jarre song called "Hey, Gagarin" on the album "Metamorphoses". It's a good song, but it's interesting to hear how differently the French pronounce his name.<br /><br />Can anyone approximate phonetically the correct Russian pronounciation of his name? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[earth_bound_misfit]

I was at T-5 years and counting. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------- </p><p>Wanna see this site looking like the old SDC uplink?</p><p>Go here to see how: <strong>SDC Eye saver </strong>  </p> </div>

 

[josh_simonson]

Yeah, that's more of a philosophical question for me as well...

 

[nolirogari]

a lot of folks- especially those who were working on Mercury at the time miss-read the actual history of what transpired leading up to the Vostok "1" flight. When MR-2, with Ham the chimp onboard launched, the Redstone suffered an overthrust issue and the flight actually aborted. The LES fired and Ham got an 18G kick in his furry bottom. Von Braun's team looked at the data and found 10 points of non-normal. Shepard is often heard saying that it was just one "relay" or "one little switch" but in fact there were several problems. The von Braun team were not about to risk a known failure on a manned flight, so the Shepard MR-3 flight was bumped and another unmanned shot to test the fixes was put in its place. NASA higher ups, such as Kraft were miffed by this and along with Shepard wanted to "Just GO!" Of course they had not considered that the LES on the Little Joe boosters had not yet been sucessfully tested at Max-Q (Ham's abort was well beyond Max-Q as it was well above the atmosphere). So another booster was put on the pad and (in the words of Kraft paraphrased from his self-serving book "Flight") We were so mad at von Braun we would not even give him a mercury capsule (a boilerplate from LJ1B was used) or let them call it MR-3, instead we made tham call it MR-BD (Booster Development). Kraft and his ilk always blamed the MR-BD flight for causing them to not get the first man into space and thus not winning the big race. They ignore the result, however. The space program is and always will be a political football. When Vostok 1 flew and beat MR-3, it caused huge pressure to be placed on JFK. It was seen as a national crisis and required a major national responce. It forced JFK to go to congress and ask for the moon, and it forced congress to say "yes." MR-BD lost Alan Shepard the chance to be the first human in space, but it put his feet on the moon and allowed Kraft to act as if he's done it all by himself... he even published a book that reads that way. Read it,

 

[lampblack]

Heavens to mergatroid... on April 12, 1961, I was a little more than a week past the 17-month mark as an active participant in the human endeavor.<br /><br />Go, Gagarin!!<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#0000ff"><strong>Just tell the truth and let the chips fall...</strong></font> </div>

 

[rogers_buck]

I was a toddler and was having a hell of a time with Hubble's expanding universe metrics. But, with my help, he eventuall got it right. Ok, I was sucking my thumb and mastering the porcelain throne. Happy?<br />

 

[steve82]

I was very young but remember how much Khruschev scared the bejeezus out of everybody. The Soviets were very secretive about Gagarin's flight, it wasn't until years later that the parachute entry was known. We had B-47's flying practice bombing raids over small Iowa towns back then. Bomb shelters. "We Will Bury You!" I knew we were toast.<br />We had a great big Dodge with fins and push-button drive.<br /><br />In '57 I sat on my Dad's shoulders and watched Sputnik fly over.<br /><br />Okay, how's that for old?

 

[spayss]

newsartist: "I suspect I missed it that day, or I would have remembered going to Radio Moscow on my shortwave for English language updates. THAT happened over the following days, with my parents tolerating a hoarde of 14 year-olds surrounding the set as all my 'space cadet', (a proud distinction, Jeff,) buddies just happened to show up at my house. <br /><br />Brings back memories. I would tune into Radio Moscow ever night in the late 60's ad early 70's. Radio Moscow had incredible science shows and with lectures that would go into great depth (also history and literature, etc.) When the news came on or 'boring stuff' I'd tune into Radio Luxembourg to catch up on the Top Ten. <br />

 

[robotical]

I wasn't even an egg yet. My mom was born later a month later. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[rybanis]

Technically, if she was at 8 months in the womb, I'm pretty sure she would have eggs.<br /><br />Technically <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /><br /><br />I, on the other hand, was -23 years old. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[john_316]

Me and God where debating whether I should come onto this world either as a man, a female or an angell!!!!!<br /><br /><br />He settled on sending me here as the Devil and I'm still paying for it now.....<br /><br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" /><br /><br />

 

[steampower]

I was 2 months old, but grew up crazed on space and following all the predictions about how by 2000 we would have bases all over the solar system and colonies on the Moon and Mars, people mining the asteroid belts and building space island one, the first starship etc, I was lulled into a false sense that all this was certain to happen by my constant diet of Sci-Fi and every book and article I could find on space.<br /><br />it took me until I was 15 to finaly realise there was going to be no Cosmic SantaClaus, no space program worth the name, just pathetic underpowered spacecraft that had to fall in a highly dangerous manner back to earth etc, finaly I got a job and kept on following the dream, but realised it realy was a dream, they failed to give me the future they promised me, I felt so betrayed.<br /><br />nowdays I just realise it`s easier for people to talk a lot than actualy do anything, most of what I grew up thinking was a dead cert after being told about it by "important" adults etc was just hot air out of some idiots ass, the chemistry should have told em, short of atomic rockets or some reactionless drive/antigravity theres no way to do it properly, burning chemicals in overgrown fireworks just doesn`t cut it.<br /><br />steampower.

 

[nolirogari]

"It had to have been the booster stage. It was as bright as Mir or ISS, but we thought it was Sputnik. EIther way it was the first satellite we had seen"<br /><br />I've heard that what most saw was actually the upper stage booster. Some say they saw 2 objects when looking at Sputnik and I've been told that they may have been looking at the upper stage and the nosecone and that little Sputnik was simply too small to be seen unless the light was exactly right and you were not distracted by the other two objects.<br /><br />I'd like someone who's much more informed than I to come on here and give us some science type learnin' on this subject- I really want to know for sure what people were seeing. There's got to be some expert sky watchers out there! Please- chime in!!

 

[j05h]

45 years ago today? Hmm... some of me was water in the ocean, some of me was water in you, the rest was scattered elements throughout the biosphere. <br /><br />Oldsters. 8)<br /><br />Josh <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div align="center"><em>We need a first generation of pioneers.</em><br /></div> </div>

 

[thinice]

<i>the rest was scattered elements throughout the biosphere</i><br /><br />Some of you was actually photons that turned into energy of chemical compounds through the process of photosynthesis. Most of these quantums were produced by the Sun, but some could come from other stars or could even happen to be remnants of the Big Bang! <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /><br />

 

[skyone]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>I was 2 months old, but grew up crazed on space and following all the predictions about how by 2000 we would have bases all over the solar system and colonies on the Moon and Mars, people mining the asteroid belts and building space island one, the first starship etc, I was lulled into a false sense that all this was certain to happen by my constant diet of Sci-Fi and every book and article I could find on space. <br /><br />it took me until I was 15 to finaly realise there was going to be no Cosmic SantaClaus, no space program worth the name, just pathetic underpowered spacecraft that had to fall in a highly dangerous manner back to earth etc, finaly I got a job and kept on following the dream, but realised it realy was a dream, they failed to give me the future they promised me, I felt so betrayed. <br /><br />nowdays I just realise it`s easier for people to talk a lot than actualy do anything, most of what I grew up thinking was a dead cert after being told about it by "important" adults etc was just hot air out of some idiots ass, the chemistry should have told em, short of atomic rockets or some reactionless drive/antigravity theres no way to do it properly, burning chemicals in overgrown fireworks just doesn`t cut it. <br /><br />steampower.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />Promote and build a flotilla of deep space telescopes that taken together, form a most bada$$ optical interferometer. Then hunt for other earthlike planets. With some luck, and an awful lot of technology, capture a few pixel worth of leafy green continents, blue oceans, icecaps, clouds. I can't think of anything short of contact with other intelligent life that will fire the public's imagination as much. No spaceplane, capsule or rover can compare.

 

[hurricane4911]

I was 7 years old, living in Brooklyn, NY.<br /><br />After that day, I do remember a lot of duck-and-cover drills.<br /><br />Hiding under your desk could save your life in a nuclear attack!<br /><br />

 

[steampower]

LOL yeah!, hiding under the table and sticky brown paper on the windows are excellent for stopping the blast of a 50 megaton nuke, I can`t decide if it was Governmental ignorance or just that they knew there was nothing they could do about it apart from re-assure the masses with "advice" like that.<br /><br />steampower.

 

[nolirogari]

Indeed duck-and-cover would not save you... but it would have left very orderly shadows burned into the classroom floor.

 

[drwayne]

I remember back in the 80's asking someone once at the physics building where I was a graduate student what the current day implications of the sign on the side of the building designating it as a fallout shelter. No one knew.<br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>

 

[nolirogari]

Actually, most of those "shelters" were little more than a containd fry cooker. I once saw one that was in a cement basement of a sewage plant. It was just 12 feet below the surface and had provisions for 20 people for 2 weeks. Any hit within several miles would have caused heating that would have fried everyone. Oddly, if you were just there to protect against fall-out, you'd probably survive, but oddly this shelter in a sewage plant had no way to dispose of the waste excreted by those 20 people over the two weeks. Of course if someone droped an atom bomb on me and I was right under it... with my luck it would be a dud.<br /><br />It's important to note here that the booster that sent Vostok and all of the other Soviet manned vehicles was originally designed to deliver those weapons, but to this day it still functions as a tool of peaceful space flight. Perhaps there is hope for humans... oh wait!... the president of Iran is on the news again... never mind- we're all doomed.

 

[henryhallam]

If at distance x from a nuclear explosion you are almost certain to be dead, and at distance y you are almost certain to survive, it's plausible that at some intermediate radius, crouching under a desk might improve your chances a bit.