Question of the day:

[the snail]

Yuri Gagarin - first man in space
Alan Sheppard - first American in space, first to land in space capsule
John Glenn - first American to orbit the Earth

 

[Svendo]

The rules PaulB refers to are those of the FAI that ratifies records for aeronautical and astronautical sports and records. According to wikipedia, from 1961 the FAI did require a landing in the space vehicle for a valid record. So Gagarin was the first man in space, but not the first succesful spaceflight according to the FAI. But like landings and bike crashes, isn't it a success if you can walk away from it?

Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostok_1#World_record and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation_Aeronautique_Internationale.

 

[MossCommuter]

It was a German bomber pilot

But he never came back so under the rules it probably doesn't count

 

[MossCommuter]

But he never came back so under the rules it probably doesn't count

Oh, hang on... perhaps he did:

 

[classic33]

I always thought it was actually Alan Shepherd due to a difference in the type of orbit they did.

Wrong answer & no correct answer sofar.

 

[Over The Hill]

I know. Seems like a man DID jump over 30 feet but the bit about the other end was ignored. It's a fact that in order to stop some cavalier nation sending up a man atop a modified nuclear missile and sacrificing his life in order to claim the title, the rule was brought in. That doesn't sound daft to me. It sounds...well, sound.

If Edmund Hillary had skied down the final part of Everest he would still have been the first man to reach the summit. The achievement is doing the thing of note, what happens after that event does not change what you did.

He was the first man in space. he may not have been the first man in space who then came back down in his ship but you cannot take the first part away from him.

 

[Svendo]

Wrong answer & no correct answer sofar.

Well depends where you define space, but if you take 100kms, roughly where you would need to be at escape velocity to gain sufficient lift to overcome gravity, then it's Joseph Walker in an X-15 on August 22, 1963. 107,960m

 

[Fab Foodie]

It was these guys ....

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Pigs_in_Space

 

[byegad]

IIRC Glenn's flight was less than an orbit, whereas Gagarin's was just over. The USA were mortified to be beaten into space with Sputnik and even more so when Gagarin flew. They launched Glenn on a sub-orbital flight in order to regain some lost national pride. Also Glenn had no control over his capsule. The US astronauts had to fight for flight controls in the Gemini (2 man) flights and the first design of the capsule didn't even have a window.

Other differences are:-
The USA practically invented the PC in order to get Apollo into space, the Russians used a chronometer powering a drum with a paper trace of a graph for there Soyuz.
Russian space craft were pressurised to 14psi and used air, the Americans used a much lower pressure and breathed pure oxygen, hence the Apollo fire on the ground in tests which killed the three crew.

Both approaches had their advantages but for me the fact that the only way to get into space for the next few years will be via the Soyuz shows which was best.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I've been occupying space since July 1954 and apart from a few cycling mishaps I've generally returned to earth in the same way I left it. Do I win?

 

[XmisterIS]

In my book, the first man in space was the one who went out to the place where if you took your helmet off, you'd turn blue and your head would explode.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

i've seen some show on tv that more or less argued that gagarin was preceeded by some poor fellow who had the misfortune of landing in china and being taken prisoner. with neither side keen on an international incident, or being willing to budge, it was covered up.

if that's true, no wonder gagarin bailed out…

i've always had my suspicions about his eventual demise too, probably too convenient for someone…

 

[MossCommuter]

In my book, the first man in space was the one who went out to the place where if you took your helmet off, you'd turn blue and your head would explode.

Runcorn?

 

[benb]

It does seem rather churlish to say that because of the FAI rules Gagarin wasn't the first man in space.
He clearly was, and if the intention was to stop someone being strapped into an ICBM and sacrificed, why not make the rules that the person has to return alive? Even then it would be a bit unfair if the capsule disintegrated on re-entry.

He was a pretty amazing guy, and it was a brilliant achievement.

I think I might pootle up to the British Council statue some time after it's unveiled tomorrow.

 

[philipbh]

In my book, the first man in space was the one who went out to the place where if you took your helmet off, you'd turn blue and your head would explode.

Does that make Joseph (Joe) Kittinger a contender then?