In 1960, after the search and selection process, Yuri Gagarin was selected with 19 other space explorers for the "Soviet space program". Along with the other soon to be space explorers, he was tested by experiments made to test his physical and psychological score; he also underwent training for the upcoming flight. Out of the twenty originally selected, the final choice for the first launch was between Gagarin and Gherman Titov because of their performance in training, as well as their physical fitness.
On 12 April 1961, Gagarin became the first man to travel into space, launching to orbit aboard the "Vostok 3KA-3" (Vostok 1). His call sign in this flight was Kedr (Cedar; ). During his flight, Gagarin famously whistled the song ""The Motherland Hears, The Motherland Knows"" (). The first two lines of the song are: ""The Motherland hears, the Motherland knows/Where her son flies in the sky"". This song was written by Dmitri Shostakovich in 1951 (opus 86), with words by Yevgeniy Dolmatovsky.
Around the same time, some Western people claimed that Gagarin, during his space flight, had made the comment, ""I don't see any God up here"." However, no such words appear in the direct record of Gagarin's talk with the Earth during the spaceflight. In a 2006 interview a close friend of Gagarin, Colonel Valentin Petrov, said that Gagarin never said such words, and that the phrase came from Nikita Khrushchev's speech at the fullness of the Central Committee of the CPSU, where the anti-religious propaganda was talked about. In a certain context Khrushchev said, ""Gagarin flew into space, but didn't see any God there"."
After the flight, Gagarin became a world famous celebrity. He toured in many places like in Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, and Japan. He did this to promote the Soviet Union achievements.
In 1962, he began serving as a deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. He later came back to Star City. While there, he worked on designs for a reusable spacecraft. Gagarin worked on these designs in Star City for seven years. He became Lieutenant Colonel (or Podpolkovnik) of the Soviet Air Force on 12 June 1962. Then on 6 November 1963 he got the rank of Colonel (Polkovnik) of the Soviet Air Force. Soviet people tried to keep him away from any flights, being worried of losing their hero in an accident. Gagarin was backup pilot for Vladimir Komarov in the Soyuz 1 flight. As Komarov's flight ended in a deadly crash, Gagarin was banned from training for and helping out in further spaceflight/s.
Gagarin then became deputy training director of the Star City cosmonaut training base. At the same time, he began to re-join as a fighter pilot. On 27 March 1968, while on a routine training flight from Chkalovsky Air Base, he and flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin died in a MiG-15UTI crash near the town of Kirzhach. Gagarin and Seryogin were buried in the walls of the Kremlin on Red Square.
People are not sure what caused the crash, but a 1986 investigation thinks that the turbulence from a Su-11 'Fishpot-C' interceptor using its afterburners may have caused Gagarin's plane to go out of control.
Russian documents opened to the public in March 2003 showed that the KGB had changed their own investigation of the accident. In addition to this, one government and two military investigations. The KGB's report removed many conspiracy thoughts, instead of showing the actions of air base personnel added to the crash. The report says that an air traffic controller made Gagarin have old weather information. But by that time of his flight, conditions had become very bad. Ground crew also left fuel tanks on the aircraft. Gagarin's planned flight needed good weather and no outboard tanks. The investigation ended, saying that Gagarin's aircraft entered a spin, either because of a bird strike or because of a sudden move to avoid another aircraft. Because of the old weather report, the crew thought their altitude to be higher than it actually was, and could not properly react to bring the MiG-15 out of its spin.
In his 2004 book "Two Sides of the Moon", Alexey Leonov tells that he was flying a helicopter in the same area that day when he heard "two loud booms in the distance." His thought was that the Sukhoi jet was flying below its minimum allowed altitude, and ""without realizing it because of the terrible weather conditions, he passed within 10 or 20 meters of Yuri and Seregin's plane while breaking the sound barrier."" The resulting turbulence would have sent the MiG into an uncontrolled spin. Leonov thinks the first boom he heard was that of the jet breaking the sound barrier, and the second was Gagarin's plane crashing.
Yangtze River
The Yangtze River, or Yangzi (Simple Chinese: 扬子江 / Traditional Chinese: 揚子江), or Chang Jiang (Simple Chinese: 长江 / Traditional Chinese: 長江), is the longest River in China and Asia, as well as the world's third longest river (after the Amazon and the Nile). It is honored as one of the two main cradles of Chinese civilization. (another is Yellow River)
The river is about 3,900 kilometers long and is one of the busiest waterways in the world. It goes from the western part of China (Plateau of Tibet) into the East China Sea, which is part of the Pacific Ocean. It has been thought of as a dividing point between northern and southern China. It helped start the Chinese civilization.
On the river is a big dam called the Three Gorges Dam, which is the biggest in the world. It forms a man-made lake that stretches almost upstream.
Top tourist attractions for the Yangtze river cruise are Chongqing Dazu Carvings, Three Gorges, lesser Three Gorges, Bai Di City, Fengdu Ghost City and so on.
The Yangtze River is also known as the Yanugzi or Chang Jiange.
The Yangtze river is becoming extremely polluted. The Yangtze river contains oil, dead animals and rubbish including cans, bags, wrappers, glass and plastic bottles. In 2001 about 23.4 billion tons of sewerage and factory waste was dumped in the river.
Sons and Daughters of Saint Lucia
"Sons and Daughters of Saint Lucia" is the national anthem of Saint Lucia. The song has been used since the country became independent in 1979.
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Tampico
Tampico is the main city in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico.
It was the site of an incident called the Tampico Affair during the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century that led to armed conflict between Mexico and the United States. About 80 years earlier Tampico was part of a less serious conflict between the two countries, called the Tampico Expedition.
Goalkeeper
A goalkeeper is someone who protects a team's goal. There are goalkeepers in sports like football (soccer) and ice hockey, for example. The goalkeeper's mission is to prevent the opposing team from scoring a goal. Goalkeepers normally wear more protective gear than other players on the team but this is not always true.
A goalkeeper's kit (or "uniform") consists of shin guards and gloves to protect his hands from the impact of the ball when he catches it.
Historically, however, until the 1960s goalkeepers would wear no hand protection.
Until the early 20th century, the goalkeeper would often wear the same coloured strip as his teammates, with the only different item of clothing being his cap. However, in 1909, the Scottish Football Association took steps to ensure the goalkeeper would wear a different colour from the outfield players. This was to show his different role, as the only player allowed to handle the ball.