Gagarin's Odyssey: how the first cosmonaut traveled the Earth

On April 12, 1961, the first man, Yuri Gagarin, flew into space, on this date Cosmonautics Day is celebrated. Less than a month after the flight into space, 27-year-old Gagarin went on a tour abroad. He made his first trip outside the USSR to Czechoslovakia. For several years, residents and top officials of about 30 countries, including Great Britain, France, Cuba, and India, greeted the first astronaut with enthusiastic shouts, flowers and gifts.

Czechoslovakia was the first foreign country visited by Gagarin after his space flight. Even on board the plane, he admitted that he was even more worried than during space travel. “I happened to fly around the entire globe, but this is the first time I am going abroad,” pilot Nikolai Kamanin (who led the training of Soviet cosmonauts since 1960, and went abroad with Gagarin in 1961) quoted the cosmonaut in the book “The First Citizen of the Universe ". According to Pravda special correspondent Nikolai Denisov, who accompanied the cosmonaut on the trip, "for a good quarter of an hour, Yuri Gagarin, moved literally to tears by the stormy meeting of the citizens of Prague, could not get off the ladder."

During a visit to Prague, Gagarin visited a machine-building plant, where he was presented with the first foreign souvenir - a statuette of a foundry worker (the cosmonaut worked as a foundry worker in his youth)

Bulgaria, May 1961 Photo: Pavel Barashev / RIA Novosti After Czechoslovakia, Gagarin went to Bulgaria, where he was greeted by an escort of fighters. it was in Sofia that one of the most famous photographs of the astronaut was taken, where he holds a white dove. According to journalist Denisov, local pioneers handed the bird to the distinguished guest, and photographer Pavel Barashev successfully captured the frame.

Yuri Gagarin during a visit to the Tower of London, July 13, 1961.

Great Britain was also in the list of countries where Gagarin visited. Officially, the cosmonaut was invited by the organizers of the Soviet trade and industrial exhibition and the Manchester foundry trade union. In the British capital, Gagarin traveled in an open silver Rolls-Royce with a license plate JG-1 (“Yuri Gagarin is the first”). At first, the meeting with the Queen of Great Britain was not planned, but Elizabeth II nevertheless invited the astronaut to lunch at Buckingham Palace. In 2021, when asked what the Soviet cosmonaut was like, she joked: "Russian."

There are several versions of how the meeting took place. According to one of them, at the table, a Soviet cosmonaut offered to eat from a salad bowl with a spoon, “in Russian”. The Queen, in response, supported the idea and told the guests: "Gentlemen, let's eat in Gagarin's way."

At a press conference, Gagarin was asked what seemed more difficult to him - a flight into space or trips to foreign countries? According to the memoirs of Pravda correspondent Nikolai Denisov, Gagarin replied: “If you fly into space, you will find out for yourself what is more difficult.”

Cuba, July 1961 Photo: Harvey Georges / AP

Yuri Gagarin and Fidel Castro, July 25, 1961.

Havana greeted Gagarin with a tropical downpour, about which Fidel Castro said: "The sky itself salutes!" In Cuba, the astronaut was met with him by Cuban President Osvaldo Dorticos and Che Guevara. Castro liked Gagarin's cap with a blue band and the winged emblem of a Soviet Air Force pilot, and they exchanged hats.

According to Kamanin's memoirs, at the end of their visit to Cuba, local newspapers managed to report the departure of the Soviet cosmonaut, although he was still at the farewell banquet. Castro decided to see if the Cubans would recognize Gagarin in civilian clothes. When they got out of the car on one of the squares of the city, passers-by immediately shouted: “Gagarin! Gagarin!

In Cuba, the astronaut was awarded one of the three highest orders of the country "Playa Giron"

Brazil, August 1961 Photo: Valentin Sobolev / TASS

The plane with the delegation landed at night at the Galleon airport in Rio de Janeiro. Despite the late hour, Gagarin was also met by a crowd. The police even had to punch the way with hoses, dispersing the crowd with water. According to the memoirs of Nikolai Kamanin, the next day Brazilian newspapers criticized the rude actions of law enforcement agencies and accused them of obstructing communication with Gagarin.

It was in Brazil that the Soviet cosmonaut was named the ambassador of peace. The President of the Republic, Janio da Silva Cuadros, presented him with the Order of Merit in the Field of Aeronautics

India, November 1961 Photo: TASS Newsreel

Yuri Gagarin with his wife Valentina and Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, November 30, 1961.

In India, together with his wife Valentina Gagarin, he visited Delhi, Lucknow, Bombay (now Mumbai), Calcutta and Hyderabad. In the capital, Gagarin and the delegation were accommodated at the residence of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The Indians arranged an aviation festival for the guests.

Gagarin met not only with Nehru, but also with his daughter Indira Gandhi, and also visited Bollywood. According to Kamanin, the cosmonaut complained that the trip was very intense and that he and his wife did not even manage to see the elephants.

UAR, January 1962 Photo: AP

Yuri Gagarin during a visit to the pyramids at Giza (near Cairo), Egypt, January 31, 1962.

Gagarin flew to the United Arab Republic (UAR; until 1961 it included modern Egypt and Syria, and later, until 1971, only Egypt) at the invitation of the vice-president and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Marshal Abdel Hakim Amer. During the seven-day trip, he visited the pyramids of Giza, the ancient city of Luxor and Aswan. The cosmonaut also visited the construction site of the Aswan high-rise dam on the Nile - Soviet specialists participated in its construction.

Photo: TASS newsreel

Residents of Cairo meet the cortege with the first astronaut.

UAR President Gamal Abdel Nasser awarded the guest with the Order of the Nile Necklace, and also presented him with symbolic keys to the gates of Cairo and Alexandria

Japan, May 1962 Photo: Pavel Barashev / RIA Novosti

Yuri Gagarin greets the people of Sapporo, May 21, 1962.

Japan became the first foreign country that Gagarin saw from the Vostok-1 spacecraft during the flight. A year later, he went there with his wife, they visited Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and other cities. The Gagarins were greeted with cries of "Banzai, Gagarin!" and an anthem specially written in honor of the astronaut. In the text, in particular, there were the words: “Good, good, Gagarin! Our friend has arrived here, showing the future of the world, opening a glorious path into space" (quote from Nikolai Denisov's book "Good, good, Gagarin!").

Gagarin, as a Soviet citizen who had never been abroad before this tour, often had a difficult time in the role of everyone's favorite and "rock star", but his sense of humor saved him. In Japan, for example, it was unusual for him to eat with chopsticks - and the astronaut called them the best weapon in the world.

Mexico, October 1963 Photo: Valentin Cheredintsev / TASS

Yuri Gagarin with members of the student folklore ensemble in Mexico City, October 14, 1963.

Gagarin flew to Mexico with the first woman cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova, to participate in an international conference on aeronautics. Pavel Barashev, in the book “Reporter Testifies,” said that Gagarin in Mexico was frightened by the crowd that picked up his car. But everything went well

France, September 1963 and July 1965 Photo: Valentin Cheredintsev / TASS

Gagarin visited France several times. The first visit took place in September 1963, and after the second, in 1965, he was given an expensive gift - a Matra Djet sports car.

In addition to the French Matra Djet, Gagarin also had a Soviet Volga in his fleet, allocated to him after the flight. Declassified documents dated April 18, 1961 say that the Soviet authorities awarded the hero with a residential building, a four-room apartment at the duty station, furniture and a clearly regulated set of clothes for all family members. There were 16 items on the list for Gagarin: two coats (demi-season and summer), a raincoat, two suits (light and dark), two pairs of shoes, six shirts, two hats, six pairs of socks and silk underwear, 12 handkerchiefs, six pairs of shorts and t-shirts, six ties, one pair of gloves, an electric razor, a military uniform and two suitcases