50th anniversary of the first manned space flight and I can’t find a thread!

Gagarin is a true hero. His balls must have been so big the launch rocket should have been designed to take them into account.

Hi. This is the Bike Forum. You want to be somewhere else unless he rode his bike in space?

D’oh!!!

Mods please move…

Hang on. Hero? Do me a favour.

Communist Party pawn more like.

Communist Party pawn more like.

He still had balls of solid rock.

‘Hey, vould you mind getting into zis rocket, vich ve will blast through ze atmosphere and tovards ze moon…’

Can you ask your sister why she’s not made any trousers for me yet, please? She promised an everyfink. 😥

Torm, i dodnt realise that vostok was sent into space by ze Germans!

I wasn’t aware there was a difference!? 😉

I thought that ze nazis made the usa and ussr space programs possible?

‘Hey, vould you mind getting into zis rocket, vich ve will blast through ze atmosphere and tovards ze moon…’

1) “Okay, just don’t hurt my wife and kids please”
2) “Okay, I’ve been brainwashed to sacrifice myself for the glory of the state”
3) “What the hell, I’m a thrill-seeker”
5) “Will you take no for an answer?”

I don’t see hero in any of those. And it’s not as if he designed and planned the thing himself, is it? All he did was sit there and get irradiated. The scientists and engineers deserve more credit imo. Although points 1-5 probably apply.

PS there is no point 4, and there never was. Move along, and do not talk about 4 to any journalists.

I thought that ze nazis made the usa and ussr space programs possible?

mol, I understand what you are saying but, the bloke got rode a maiden voyage of a craft into outer space.

A mate of mine offered me a go in his dragster/funny car thing a few years ago. I laughed in his face and said no way. I think if his dragster went straight upwards until it left the atmosphere and kept on going until it reached the moon I might have let out a little wee.

Pilots don’t design the planes they fly but it does not make them any less brave for getting in them, in much the same way that I am sure many of the engineers who design planes wouldn’t set foot in them for all of the glory in the world.

mol, I understand what you are saying

I don’t. I think he’s making shit up.

What about that bloke who hugs mountains with his flying suit? For some people, risk for big rewards and new experiences is part of their personality.

You might as well call me a hero for arguing with TJ.

Apparently he didn’t tell his wife that he was going up in to space, just left a note cos he assumed he probably wouldn’t be coming back.

‘Hey, vould you mind getting into zis rocket, vich ve will blast through ze atmosphere and tovards ze moon…

He was German?

What about that bloke who hugs mountains with his flying suit?

Also the bearer of massive cojones.

Nah, just a different value system. Not the same thing.

There was some guff on BBC4 the other night which I half watched while reading the paper.

What about that bloke who hugs mountains with his flying suit? For some people, risk for big rewards and new experiences is part of their personality.

You might as well call me a hero for arguing with TJ.

Could you not say that about almost anything? “They’re not heroes, it’s what they’re paid to do” type thing?

Nah, just a different value system. Not the same thing.

You can split hairs all you like, people who have a diminished fear of their own mortality will do things that normal people won’t do. You can call it big balls, diminished responsibility, bravery, stupidity whatever you like, the fact is that I would like to try many things and do not have the courage to do them because of a perfectly sensible fear of death.

I consider those people who have less fear of death than I to be more courageous. If you think that Gagarin was a pussy then fine, I just happen to think that getting into a small cabin straped to enough juice to get you into orbit must take a considerable amount of courage/lack-of-fear-of-death/mental-illness/balls of solid rock.

This pilot was a true hero in my book.

Way before the Rushkies.

Courage is doing things that you are afraid to do.

Not doing things that you want to do and are not afraid of anyway.

See, told you – making shit up.

This is dictionary definition:
courage
noun /?k?r.?d?//?k??-/

Definition
the ability to control your fear in a dangerous or difficult situation

Which means, you are wrong. But of course, you wouldn’t have the courage to admit it.

Not doing things that you want to do and are not afraid of anyway.

I am sure he was in the cockpit, scratching his balls, doing crosswords and trying to get an accurate measure of his resting heart rate. 😀

No, but OTOH when they asked him if he wanted to go into space, he might’ve said “**** YEAH!” rather than “Oh, that looks dangerous 😕 I might die”

If he thought the latter and then did it anyway for an altruistic reason – then yes, courage.

Dobbo – maybe, but the guy who went up there to fly it back was even more of a hero

“**** YEAH!” rather than “Oh, that looks dangerous I might die”

I am sure that both crossed his mind.

It’s the relative weight of those two ideas that dictate our adrenaline junky profile I suspect 🙂

Molgrips did you mistakenly have the courage to be lobotomised ?

Eh?

calling him a pawn and using mc carthyist language to describe it/him in this day and age was bit neo con for a socialist to use. I could only assume your faculties of reasoning had been compromised. perhaps you just had a small shandy or another champagne flute?
yes he was in a communist country* that does not mean he was not brave

* USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

McCarthyist language? Dunno what you mean.

I was simply thinking of the things that would put someone in that position. The post about his wife and kids was a joke 🙂

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism

I missed that bit busy at work the bar stewards

See, here’s the thing.

I’ve seen photos from space (the spacewalk thread from earlier today for instance), and know that there cannot be an experience like it. I’ve been an astrogeek for about as long as I’ve been able to stand. As a kid, I had a Saturn V in my bedroom (just a model, my bedroom’s not that big). I’ve read biographies from Shuttle MS’s and had lunch with an astronaut. I get the sense of wonder and awe, perhaps far more then the early astronauts ever did thanks to the the benefits of some quality astrophotography.

I’ve also seen the tech these guys were running, first hand. I’ve been to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington DC and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as well as viewed exhibits in our own Science museums. I’ve peered into the Command Modules from Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, including Friendship 7 (John Glenn’s CM). I’ve seen a real Soyuz and a lot of models of various Russian craft including Vostok.

In my humble opinion, the single most incredible thing about the entire space programme (either US or Soviet) is that at no point did the astronauts take one look at their spacecraft and go “you’ve got to be f’in kidding me, there’s no way on god’s green Earth that I’m getting in -that-.”

So, the point I’m getting to with all this, is this: If you think for a second that the early astronauts (or indeed, all of them) didn’t have cajones so large that the scientists and computers had to compensate for the gravitational effects of their plums when calculating flight paths, then you sit somewhere on a scale between “smug git” and “buffoon.” Sorry.

I’d be surprised if there is any modern Shuttly crew member who doesn’t step through that hatch, having said their goodbyes, wondering whether they’re going to be dead in the next couple of hours. Yuri Gagarin, hell fire, Vostok wasn’t even landable, his re-entry drill was to jump out of the sod at four miles up with a parachute on his back.

Sorry I have had no further input into the people vs Molgrips, ust back from the shoulder doc who told me because I have larger balls a different set of values from your average member of public, I will need another op. Booo

Anyway…

I sort of understand what you’re getting at molgrips, better riders than me get no adrenaline buzz doing things on which I crap myself. However, everyone has their limits and I very much doubt that Comrade Gagarin wasn’t in fear for his life when the count down started. And when he took off. And when he came into land etc etc Controlling that fear and not having a heart attack makes him a hero in my book.

Hang on. Hero? Do me a favour.

There isn’t really a suitable insult to call you.

Aside from his short stature at 5 ft 2 inches, one of Gagarin’s most notable traits was his smile.[29] Many commented on how Gagarin’s smile gained the attention of many in the crowd on the frequent tours Gagarin did in the months after the Vostok 1 mission success, particularly when he visited Manchester in the United Kingdom.[30] Sergei Korolev, one of the masterminds behind the early years of the Soviet space program later said that Gagarin possessed a smile “that lit up the Cold War”.

…you can’t even wash your bike without upsetting the neighbours.

He probably was in fear of his life.

However that may not have been important…

Actually, I agree with mollygripes. Sitting at a desk in front of a computer all day, absolutely heroic, the stuff of real men. Really, I mean which key to press next? You might have to call the helpdesk wait half an hour and then be told to switch it off and switch it on again. Unaided and totally alone. damn, you should get a medal for that.
Look deep inside yourself and ask if sitting on your own on top of thouands of tons of rocket fuel and being blasted into space using unproven technology (unless you count the monkey and the dog) comes even close to advanced spreadsheeting.
now hand me that pussy razor, I’m off to trim my manly stubble.

Look deep inside yourself and ask if sitting on your own on top of thouands of tons of rocket fuel and being blasted into space using unproven technology

Got to be better than this.

But it’s a complex issue. And the word ‘Hero’ is much over-used imo.