set gDates = [[], [0, 0, 0, "The Times, April 13, 1961", 0, "The Sun, March 29, 1963", "The Times, June 3, 1995"]]
set gName = getat(["Gagarin"],1)
@[]###WORLD ACCLAIM FOR SPACE EXPLORER##GAGARIN KILLED IN CRASH#GAGARIN REVELED IN DRUNKEN EXCESSES
In 1980 a 130ft statue of Yuri Gagarin made from titanium was erected in Moscow. It stands on Gagarin Square at a busy traffic intersection and it is perfectly ugly#"I am still an ordinary mortal," said Gagarin on his visit to London in 1961#After his historic flight, Gagarin (who had been a member of the Communist Party for little more than a year) was elected to the Supreme Soviet#Even in 1961, the Americans were not that far behind the Russians in the space race. The US launched a man into space just three months after Gagarin#Gagarin's wife Valentina had no idea he was planning to leave the planet on April 12, 1961. She heard about it on the radio, like everyone else#The first man to look on our home planet from space reported back that "the sky is very, very dark, and the earth is blueish. I could see mountains, big cities, rivers, forests. the shores of America were crystal clear."#In 1967 Vladimir Komarov was the first cosmonaut to be killed on a space mission when Soyuz I crash-landed#While in orbit, Gagarin's Vostok I travelled at approximately 30,000kph#In 1973 an asteroid in the constellation Leo was named after Gagarin#The Russian term - 'cosmonaut' - literally means 'space sailor', whereas the American's word - 'astronaut' - means 'star sailor'. So the Russian is strictly speaking more accurate: no spaceman has ever been anywhere near a star#Gagarin was showered with honours at home, among them Hero of the Soviet Union, Order of Lenin, and Pilot Cosmonaut of the Soviet Union
