The love story of astronaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man to travel through space, and Valentina

Yuri Gagarin is known for being the first man to travel through space. He did this aboard the Vostok 1 spacecraft, in which he orbited the planet completely. His line “Let’s go!” turned into a classic and his peaceful, smiling face will always be remembered. Yuri lived in space, but he met the big star of his life here on Earth.

We, from awesome.clubwe were moved by the love story of the first man to travel to space and his wife.

Young Valentina Goryacheva and the then cadet of the Orenburg flight school Yuri Gagarin met at a ball. Valentina, who was not very tall, had dark hair, brown eyes and a few freckles on her nose, charmed Yuri. After a few dances, she too won him over with her humble and modest manner.

Yuri didn’t leave the young woman’s side all night and with a very seductive way he accompanied her to the house. Before saying goodbye, he asked her if she wanted to go out with him again.

Cheerful and talkative Yuri had short hair. For Valentina, he had a big head and floppy ears. In reality, she didn’t think he was very handsome, but she decided to accept his proposal for a second date.

After 2 years as friends, Yuri confessed his feelings to Valentina and after another 2 years they decided to get married. As Yuri’s relatives could not go to Orenburg, the wedding was celebrated twice: the first time in the bride’s hometown and the second time in the groom’s, in a city called Gzhatsk.

Upon graduation from the flight school, Yuri did not want to stay in Orenburg and went to serve in the north, in the Murmansk region. Some time later, Valentina moved in with him. The couple had their first daughter, Elena, in the town of Zapolyarny.

In 1959, shortly after the birth of his daughter, Yuri found out that they were hiring astronauts and decided to try his luck in an area completely new to him. The great competitiveness (more than 3,000 pilots competed for just one seat) made the process quite tiring, but even that didn’t make him give up.

In the spring of 1960, Yuri Gagarin was accepted into the group of Soviet astronauts. Together with his family, he settled in the “City of Stars”, near Moscow, and began the first training sessions for flights. Valentina, a medical graduate, got a job as a biochemist in the Mission Control Center lab.

A month before the first manned flight into space, the couple’s second daughter, a girl named Galina, was born.

Valentina did not know the details of space operations and did not know exactly when the flight would be. While her husband was completely immersed in his work, she devoted herself entirely to her family. On April 12, 1961, she started doing what she always did when, suddenly, she heard a neighbor shout: “Valentina, turn on the radio! Yuri is in space.”

The 12th of April changed the lives of the Gagarin family forever, putting an end to any possibility of tranquility. Journalists began to follow Valentina and Yuri everywhere, always wanting to do interviews or have them participate in television programs. Yuri’s face became known around the world and he couldn’t even go on vacation with his family that someone always approached him to ask a question.

After the flight, the first astronaut had more work and also more worries and spent little time with his family. So whenever he had the opportunity, he would run away to be close to his wife and daughters.

Yuri always came home with gifts. The ones that were always successful were the animals, like dogs and cats. As all were cared for by the girls with great care and dedication, the affectionate father would appear at home whenever he could with a pet in his arms. They say that during a season the family had a small deer in the house.

Valentina knew very well how to face her husband’s fame. She raised her daughters almost alone and always knew how to maintain a welcoming atmosphere at home, even when her husband received distinguished guests. As the wife of a famous astronaut, she accompanied him to events and receptions, and often traveled abroad with him. Despite the important social position, she remained a very humble and friendly woman. Fame never messed with her head.

Happy parents, content children and a home full of love, affection and laughter. All of that quickly disappeared. On March 27, 1968, during a routine training flight, Yuri Gagarin and flight instructor Vladimir Seryogin lost their lives in a jet crash, in an accident that has never been very well explained.

Yuri seems to have foreseen that one day heaven would not let him return. One day, before going into space, he left a farewell letter for his wife. She read the letter only after her husband’s death.

It was very difficult for Valentina to face her husband’s death. However, she has not let her guard down: her daughters have grown up and have always been her biggest support.

Worried about the fate of the girls, Valentina did not go to the capital, and they stayed in the “City of Stars”. She distanced herself from the others and stopped giving interviews, always thinking about protecting her family.

Almost 12 years after the tragedy, in memory of her husband, Valentina wrote the book “108 minutes and a lifetime”, and later published other memories that she had with him.

Astronaut Aleksei Leonov and Valentina Gagarina

Yuri’s daughters became successful women, much to their father’s pride. The eldest, Elena, is Director General of the Kremlin Museum in Moscow. The youngest, Galina, is the director of the Faculty of Regional and National Economics at the Russian University of Economics in Plejanov. The two have children.

Galina Gagarina and her son Yuri

Valentina never remarried. She continues to live in the same apartment where she lived with her husband. Every day she looks out the window at a monument in honor of Yuri in which he appears to be holding a daisy.

Did you know the details of the life of the first man to fly through space? Do you think he should have stopped flying to spend more time with his family? Share your reflections in the comments.