Yuri Alekseevich
Gagarin
1934-1968
On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made the first flight into space in the history of mankind. The monument to Gagarin was opened in 1980 for the Olympic Games-80. A sculpture of an astronaut made of titanium is installed on a high ribbed pedestal. This material is used in the construction of spacecraft. The cosmonaut is dressed in a spacesuit, his arms are spread apart, like outstretched wings. The height of the monument is 42.5 m, the total weight is 12 tons. A vertical relief pedestal “illustrates” the launch of a space rocket. At the foot of the monument there is a copy of the descent vehicle of the Vostok spacecraft, on the body of which you can read the following inscription: “On April 12, 1961, the Soviet spacecraft Vostok with a man on board flew around the globe. The first person to enter space is a citizen of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin.” The place for the monument was not chosen by chance – it was along Leninsky Prospekt that Yuri Gagarin entered the city from Vnukovo Airport to make a report to the Central Committee of the CPSU on the results of the first flight into space. According to the architects, the monument is installed exactly in the place from where it should be visible from the MKAD itself. If you move the object in any other direction, the author’s idea will disappear. The titanium figure of Yuri Gagarin is assembled from 238 cast segments, which are connected by bolts with welding. Big problems arose in the manufacture of the largest segment – the cosmonaut’s face. Its weight was 300 kg, which is significantly higher than allowed for one melting in a vacuum furnace. The monument to Yuri Gagarin is the world’s first large–sized monument made of titanium.
Address: Moscow, Gagarina Square
