Gagarin and the lost Moon

On 12 April 1961, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became an explorer like
none other before him, going faster and further than any human in
history, into what had always been the impenetrable and infinite
unknown.


Raised in poverty during the Second World War, the one-time
foundry worker and a citizen of the Soviet Union became the first
human to fly above the Earth in the vastness of space.


In doing so he became an instrument in The Cold War – an
ideological battle between the superpowers: East versus West,
communism versus democracy.


Dr Kevin Fong tells the story of how 27 year old Yuri Gagarin
came to launch a new chapter in the history of exploration and
follows the cosmonaut’s one hour flight around the Earth.


The Soviet Union's triumph in 1961 was the event that galvanised
the United States to win the Space Race: to send the first people
on the Moon by the end of the decade. Yuri’s own ambitions to
voyage to the Moon were frustrated by his political masters, a
faltering Soviet lunar space program and two tragic accidents.


As well as presenting archive recordings, Kevin talks to space
historians and writers:


Tom Ellis, historian at the London School of Economics Stephen
Walker, author of ‘Beyond’ Slava Gerovitch, author of Soviet
Space Mythologies’ and ‘Voices of the Soviet Space Program’
Andrew Jenks, author of 'The Cosmonaut who couldn’t stop smiling’
Cathleen Lewis, curator at the National Air and Space Museum


Actor Stewart Campbell is the voice of Yuri Gagarin. Tony Turner
is Soviet space program founder Sergei Korolev. Nicholas Murchie
is General Nicolai Kaminin, head of cosmonaut training.


Technical production is by Giles Aspen and Jackie Margerum.


Co-writer and producer: Andrew Luck-Baker of the BBC Audio
Science Unit.


(Picture: Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Photo credit:
Imagno/Getty Images.)


First broadcast on Saturday 10 Apr 2021.