Yuri Gagarin is remembered as first man in space

During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union were on an on-going silent battle that was latter known as the Cold War. That period represents today how much both countries invested on technology and strategies to destroy the enemy without actually going into direct conflict. Also, those times represent the first man who was launched on an expedition to the moon.

The first mission that succeeded

Before the United States finally accomplished the mission of having the first man on the moon, the Soviet Union sent Yuri Gagarin to space in 1961. As technology at that moment still was not the most evolved, Gagarin went through a series of complications which left doubts about what would happen to human on a weightless environment.

On his expedition, the space ship had a break in data transmission; glitches involving antennas; a retrorocket; the separation of modules and the trip lasted 108 minutes. One who lives today to tell the story is Oleg Ivanovsky, who recalls “There were all kinds of wild fears that a man could lose his mind in zero gravity, lose his ability to make rational decisions.”

Tributes to the first man in space

Even though his first expedition to space was a complete success, Gagarin died during a jet training accident. On April 12th his space journey will be celebrated for completing 50 years since it was accomplished. People remember him for the picture taken at the time which shows a Gagarin’s large smile and youth.

As a way of demonstrating honor to the Soviet astronaut, the Italian manufacturer Montegrappa has announced a special edition of pens. Four different models were designed, which are: 1,961 silver fountain pens, 1,961 silver roller balls, 50 solid 18K gold fountain pens, 50 solid 18K gold roller balls. Besides the Italian initiative, Russian special event stations will be active from April 12 until the 14th.