AstrotalkUK

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Gagarin Statue Campaign – Open Letter

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The campaign to bring the statue of Yuri Gagarin continues to attract support and now has almost 400 supporters who have signed the petition.  Over the  last few weeks  two dozen individuals, many of whom you will recognise, have added their significant weight to the campaign and signed the open letter below.

The names include Sir Patrick Moore from Sky at Night, Professor Andre Geim, a Nobel Prize winning Physicist from Manchester University, and a guy who went to the Moon – astronaut Al Worden, the Command Module Pilot  on Apollo 15.  In the coming weeks, I expect to add to the list of hyperlinked names below.

If you have not yet signed the on-line petition, you can do it here.

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An open letter to those charged with making the decision on where the Statue of Yuri Gagarin will be relocated in 2012

To mark the 50th anniversary the first human spaceflight, a statue of Yuri Gagarin was unveiled by Gagarin’s daughter Elena in London on 14th July 2011, but planning restrictions require that it is relocated by July 2012.   The most appropriate new destination is Manchester.

Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin from the Soviet Union, traveling higher and faster than any human before him, made the world’s first human spaceflight on 12th April 1961. Three months later, 12th July, during a short but heartfelt ceremony in a congested boardroom of a union office in Manchester, Gagarin was made the very first honorary member of the Amalgamated Union of Foundry Workers.

Prior to joining the Soviet Air Force Gagarin had successfully completed his training in foundry work. He celebrated his working class roots by accepting the invitation from the union and visited a foundry in Trafford Park, the world’s first and largest industrial estate. Despite the driving rain, the people of Manchester lined his route to wave and welcome him. Standing in his open top Bentley, soaked, he waved back.

This diminutive young spaceman was the first human to experience the alien sensation of weightlessness whilst circling the Earth at five mile a second. It was an extremely hazardous adventure from which he himself did not think he would return safely. But he did, and overnight became the twentieth century’s first global superstar. But he was a Russian, a Communist and potentially the enemy in the heart of Europe in the midst of the Cold War.  In every speech, accompanied by his tenacious but sincere smile, he repeated his appeal for peace, collaboration and friendship. He brought fresh hope and optimism to a population recovering from two World Wars, who feared the horror of another.

Recalling his visit to a foundry in Manchester several months after his visit to the city, Gagarin said “the firm handshakes of my fellow workers in the moulding shop were dearer to me than many awards”.  I think if Gagarin could choose, he would prefer the statue to be re-sited midst the working class traditions and people of Manchester.

 

Gurbir Singh 14/11/2011 (astrotalkuk.org)

 

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Below are some of the signatories who support the campaign for the statue to be relocated in Manchester in 2012.

 

Sir Patrick Moore – Presenter of Sky at Night and Author

Al Worden – Apollo 15 Command Module Pilot

Professor Andre Geim – Physicist (Nobel Prize for Physics 2010)

Reg Turnill – Former BBC Journalist

Dr Chris Riley – Writer and Film Maker

Piers Bizony – Author

Professor Jim Al-Khalili – Physicist, Broadcaster & Author

Dr Heather Couper – Astronomer, TV Presenter and Author

Nigel Henbest – Consultant, TV Producer and Author

Captain Eric Brown – Test pilot

Dr Allan Chapman – Historian at University of Oxford & Author

Francis French – Author

Colin Burgess – Author

Dave and Leslie Wright – British Rocketry Oral History Programme

Professor Andrew Jenks – Author

Nick Spall – Space writer

Professor Asif Siddiqi – Author

Mike Little – WordPressing co-founding developer

Michael Cassutt – Author

Richard Evans – Science Fiction Author

Professor Jim Aulich – Visual Culture at MMU

David J Shayler – Author

Professor Sergei Utyuzhnikov – University of Manchester

Professor Malcolm Heath – University of Leeds

Professor Carl Murray – Scientist on Cassini probe currently orbiting Saturn

Brian Harvey  author

Bert Vis author

Tony Lloyd MP for Manchester central

Michael Wood – Historian and author

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Episode 47:25th July 2011: Yuri Gagarin Statue in London

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A copy of the statue outside the school near Moscow where Gagarin trained in foundry workLinks to audio and video below.

The 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s UK visit was marked by the unveiling of an aluminium statue of Gagarin, an exact copy of the one outside Lyubertsy Technical School number 10 where Gagarin started his training as a foundryman. The statue, a gift from the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos to the British Council, is located outside the British Council Offices in London but only for one year.

This episode is a collection of some of the speeches and my short interviews during the three events on 14th July. They were the unveiling of the statue in the morning, the lunchtime reception at the Russian Embassy and the evening reception back at the British council.  So, in order of appearance here is a list of all the contributors in this episode

Unveiling of the statue ceremony was opened by

  1. Martin Davidson, Chief Executive of the British Council
  2. Vladimir Popovkin Head of Roscosmos (speaking in Russian but with a translator)
  3. Yuri Gagarin’s oldest daughter – Elena Gagarina unveiled the statue
  4. Derek Pullen who provides a brief description of how the statue came from Moscow to London.

Two recordings during the lunchtime Reception at the Russian Embassy where incidentally, Gagarin spent each of his four nights in the UK

  1. The Russian Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko,
  2. Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, who holds the record for the longest time spent in space

British Council Evening reception

  1. Nataliya Koroleva. Chief Designer Sergei Korolev’s daughter. Who gave me a gentle rebuke whilst looking through my book “Yuri Gagarin in London and Manchester” and seeing a photograph of Wernher von Braun and Herman Oberth but not of her father!
  2. The episode ends with Ambassador Yakovenko briefly recalling his recent meeting with the queen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Korolev’s daughter, grand daughter and great grand daughter

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The Final Shuttle Flight and the Shuttle landing Facility – a personal memory

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I had watched the channel 4 documentary on Saturday evening and inevitably ended up comparing it to the one on BBC last night. The ad breaks aside, the BBC’s version came out on top because of the focus on people, perhaps because of Kevin Fong’s connection to the shuttle program. The personal emotional contributions from the NASA administrator, people who will soon out of  job and the touching discussion between Piers Sellers and three other astronauts discussing frankly the real danger of spaceflight  to life (the throttle-up and mach 19 moments). I also found it was quantitatively more informative (decent rate of 28,000ft per minute,  home-made sandwiches, a minimum of 1000 landing approaches and the first view of the high res digital camera – described by its operator).

An odd thought arose whilst I was watching the close-out crew doing their thing. They get pretty up-close and personal but they were all male and not all astronauts are.

Apart from their technical skills and professionalism, I wonder how much of  the “spirit” of the BBC guides the program makers? Like the Shuttle the BBC itself is a marvel of our times.  An excellent documentary -well done all.

On a personal note..

Almost exactly 21 years ago (28th July 1990) I was in Florida working on my Private Pilots Licence. The variable weather in the UK was just too variable and I went out there for a month.

I was training at an airfield in Titusville, a short distance from Merritt Island where the 3 mile long Shuttle Landing Facility is located. It is part of the John F. Kennedy Space Center.

On a tip from a local pilot, I sought and got clearance (with restrictions – minimum altitude 1000ft and remain 5000ft west) from air traffic traffic controller  to fly along the runway. At that time I only had completed my solo but not my final test!

This 3 minute video is from  21 year old VHS tape! Filmed on board Cessna 152 (N49010) by Bill Benson and my instructor in Florida was a brit –  Gary Evans from AirwiseUK Ltd who had also gone to Florida for the flying friendly weather.

Episode 45: 4th July 2011: Apollo 15 Command Module Pilot Al Worden

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Probably the most scientifically demanding Apollo mission, Apollo 15 was launched on 26th July 1971 on a two week mission. Al Worden in the command module orbited the Moon for 75 orbits whilst Dave Scott and James Irwin explored the south eastern edge of Mare Imbrium on the Moon’s surface.  Apollo 15 launched with the heaviest payload of all Apollo missions and included the first moon rover, a sub-satellite launched from Apollo 15 in to lunar orbit and a collection of science instruments including a high resolution camera to map the lunar surface.

To coincide with the 40th anniversary, on July 26th 2011, writing with Francis French Al Worden is publishing his autobiography.  In this interview recorded in London on 22nd May, Al talks about his test pilot career before joining NASA, the Apollo 15 mission, the “Covers incident” (these were stamped postal covers franked on the day of launch and again the day of ret urn for subsequent public sale) his post NASA career and his autobiography Falling to Earth.

In addition to bringing back 77kg of Lunar Material, high resolution images of the Moon from lunar orbit and images of the zodiacal light, solar corona and gegenschein, Al Worden conducted a 38 minute space walk a day after they fired the engine for their journey home from Lunar orbit.

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Today’s quote is from Al during this interview. It is a reminder that space exploration is not only about cutting-edge technology and breathtaking adventure but it is above all a human endeavour.

“The story of Apollo 15 is a story of betrayal by people and by the government”

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