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Topic: 7/11: 50th anniversary of Gagarin's visit to UK
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Gurbir Member Posts: 41 From: UK Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 07-10-2011 10:27 AM
Fifty years ago tomorrow, Gagarin arrived in London. A number of events taking place in London, Manchester and on-line. - Follow @YuriGagarin50 for a series of tweets over 5 days starting tomorrow at (11th July) at 10:29 when Gagarin arrived at London Heathrow exactly 50 years ago. @YuriGagarin50 will follow in his footsteps matching his itinerary in London and Manchester.
- 12th July – details uncertain – Manchester International airport Airport is unveiling a plaque to commemorate Gagarin's arrival.
- 13:00-14:00 on 12th July Manchester Town Hall. A small gathering of those who met Gagarin in Manchester. This event is by invitation only.
- Yuri Gagarin Exhibition in Sale, Manchester is still open. An introductory talk is planned for the evening of the 12th July.
- 7pm 12th July Science Museum in London Memories of my father. Natalya Koroleva, daughter of Sergei Korolev, Chief Designer of the Soviet Missile and Space Programmes, talks about her father’s incredible achievements.
- 7pm 13th July Science Museum in London Sergei Krikalev will be joined by Helen Sharman, his crew mate and the first Briton in space, and will share experiences of missions on the Soyuz and Shuttle spacecraft and his record breaking stays aboard the International and Mir Space Stations.
- 14th July London unveiling of a Yuri Gagarin statue outside the British Council office in London. followed by a reception in the evening.
- From 23rd July – Peggy and the Spaceman is going to be produced as part of the Manchester 24:7 Theatre Festival.
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FFrench Member Posts: 3161 From: San Diego Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 07-12-2011 12:36 PM
Here's an article in today's Manchester Evening News about the plaque unveiling that took place today, and film of Gagarin arriving in Manchester.And here's another article about a ceremony also today at Manchester Town Hall. |
gliderpilotuk Member Posts: 3398 From: London, UK Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 07-13-2011 04:41 AM
The Natalya Koroleva event was excellent. Only about 50 people including Science Museum staff and the Korolev extended family. I was surprised to find Helen Sharman in front of me in the queue and Sergei Krikalev in the audience.Speaking in excellent english Natalya gave an illustrated verbal biography of her father which told of his remarkable early years developing and flying gliders, then working with Tupolev, while effectively under house-arrest, and finally his involvement in the rocket program. The secrecy surrounding his identity as the Chief Designer was maintained throughout his career and she told of how he could not even gain access to Red Square for Gagarin's parade because he couldn't reveal who he was. The image was of a very driven (often sleeping every two days), family man, whom she was happy to compare with von Braun (though they never met, even in Germany). Following about an hour of talk and another thirty minutes of questions, Professor Koroleva presented the museum with a two volume english version of her three volume biography "Otets" (Father). It was a real privilege to attend. |
gliderpilotuk Member Posts: 3398 From: London, UK Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 07-14-2011 02:24 AM
The Krikalev/Sharman talk was excellent. About 100 people including Natalya Koroleva and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent mingling freely with the public. Krikalev spoke for about an hour, giving a precis partly of Russian space development since 1961 and partly about his own experiences. This was followed by about 20 minutes of questions jointly with his TM-12 fellow cosmonaut Helen Sharman, who got quite animated when asked about (the lack of) government funding for the UK space effort. Krikalev is clearly a great choice as administrator of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center, not only for his record in space but for his fluency and charisma. |
gliderpilotuk Member Posts: 3398 From: London, UK Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 07-14-2011 07:33 AM
Went to the Gagarin statue unveiling this morning. More of an event for the media than for the public but I managed to get a few photos: Left to right: N. Koroleva, E. Gagarina, Duke & Duchess of Kent, Vladimir Popovkin -Head of Roscosmos, S. Krikalev, ano. N. Koroleva, E. Gagarina E. Gagarina, Helen Sharman Elena Gagarina That concludes a busy week of Gagarin events! |
FFrench Member Posts: 3161 From: San Diego Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 07-14-2011 09:11 AM
Courtesy of the press office of Manchester airport, here are some images of the unveiling of the plaque at Manchester Airport by Councillor Jim Battle, deputy leader of Manchester City Council, who was apparently there 50 years ago when Gagarin arrived in Manchester. I think it is great that they have identified the spot where Gagarin's feet first touched the runway, now deep inside a newer terminal building, and placed the plaque there.
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spaceman Member Posts: 1104 From: Walsall, West Midlands, UK Registered: Dec 2002
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posted 07-14-2011 04:46 PM
I would have loved to have attended the Sharman/Krikalev event but need more than a few days notice to attend anything, even in the evening. Someone somewhere knew about this much earlier.We were busy last night launching rockets with a local beaver/cub/scout group planned weeks ago. |
Gurbir Member Posts: 41 From: UK Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 07-30-2011 06:15 AM
The Manchester Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) in the city centre Manchester (UK) are running many free events as part of the Transport Festival over the next several days. On Monday 1st Aug. between 14:00 and 14:40 I will be doing a talk and book signing. Korolev's daughter, grand daughter and great grand daughter. Episode 47 of my blog has extracts from speeches and interviews including: - Vladimir Popovkin Head of Roscosmos speaking in Russian but with a translator)
Yuri Gagarin's oldest daughter – Elena Gagarina
- Russian Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko
Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, holds the record for the longest time spent in space
- Nataliya Koroleva. Chief Designer Sergei Korolev’s daughter.
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