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Yuri Gagarin
Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин; Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) Soviet cosmonaut ; first human in space (12 April 1961)
Sourced
- Облетев Землю в корабле-спутнике, я увидел, как прекрасна наша планета. Люди, будем хранить и приумножать эту красоту, а не разрушать ее!
- Translation: "When I orbited the Earth in a spaceship, I saw for the first time how beautiful our planet is. Mankind, let us preserve and increase this beauty, and not destroy it!"
- Russian phrase, handwritten and signed after his historic spaceflight.
- Quoted in (photo of facsimile): Lebedev L., Romanov A., Luk'ianov B. Syny goluboi planety, 3rd.ed., Moscow,1981 (in Russian) (1st ed. was translated into English: Lebedev, L.A. Sons of the Blue Planet. New Delhi, India: Amerind Pub Co, 1973.)
- I looked and looked but I didn't see God.
- Quoted in To Rise from Earth (1996) by Wayne Lee; Variant: There are also websites which quote him as saying "I looked and looked and looked but I didn't see God." [1] on 14 April 1961, a couple days after his historic flight.
Attributed
- I don't see any god up here.
- This has been reported as a remark Gagarin made while in orbit aboard Vostok 1, but there is no indication of it in the official transcripts of his communications. It is similar to the above statements he reportedly made after his return to earth, which might have given rise to this account.
- I am a friend, comrades, a friend!
- First words upon returning to earth, to a woman and a girl near where his capsule landed. (12 April 1961) The woman asked: "Can it be that you have come from outer space?" to which Gagarin replied: "As a matter of fact, I have!"
- What beauty. I saw clouds and their light shadows on the distant dear earth.... The water looked like darkish, slightly gleaming spots.... When I watched the horizon, I saw the abrupt, contrasting transition from the earth's light-colored surface to the absolutely black sky. I enjoyed the rich color spectrum of the earth. It is surrounded by a light blue aureole that gradually darkens, becoming turquiose, dark blue, violet, and finally coal black.
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