Cosmonaut Gherman Titov and Hero of Socialist Labor Nikolai Mamai from the Donbas at the Twenty-Second Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, 1961 The whole world knows that socialism was the launching pad from which spaceships Vostok I and Vostok II were shot. Socialism created the necessary conditions for cosmic flight. My friends and fellow cosmonauts are getting ready for new ventures. The era of space exploration has only just begun. Yuri Gagarin and I are

Gagarin in 1961 From the Soviet Press, November 1961: Yuri Gagarin, known to people the world over as the first man to venture into space, was elected a delegate to the Party Congress from the Leningrad District of Moscow by acclamation. The 27-year old cosmonaut is a newcomer to the Party, having applied for membership a year ago when he was training for his pioneering flight. At that time he wrote, "I ask to be enrolled in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. It is my w

Space Brothers: Gherman Titov (left) and Yuri Gagarin, November, 1961 -- Daily LIFT #1793 The first two people to go into space in conversation.

Soviet Cosmonaut Gherman Titov -- who, on 6 August 1961, became the second human to orbit the Earth after Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin...