Yuri Gagarin combined human simplicity, approachability and a broad-minded spirit with high professionalism. This was stated by 92-year-old Professor Vilen Goncharevsky at the 10th All-Russian Gagarin Ball. Goncharevsky taught at the Orenburg Higher Military Aviation School, where the future first cosmonaut also studied.
“On the one hand, Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin was an ordinary, approachable person with such a broad Russian soul, known as the ‘Gagarin spirit.’ On the other hand, he was a professional—and a professional in the broadest sense of the word. It is precisely the combination of these two sides that speaks to this man’s uniqueness,” Goncharevsky told TASS.
Sergei Korolev’s choice
The professor described Sergei Korolev’s choice of the first cosmonaut as optimal. According to him, the chief designer was very good at selecting people, while Gagarin possessed both the necessary training and qualities that made him close and understandable to the general public.
Goncharevsky knew Gagarin from his days as a cadet. Later, he devoted research and memoirs to Gagarin’s journey as a cadet, pilot and cosmonaut.
The ball preserves the memory of the first cosmonaut
The event is being held as part of the interregional cultural and educational project “Space Days in Russia’s Regions” and is dedicated to the forthcoming 315th anniversary of the establishment of Russia’s first engineering school. Its successor in the military engineering education system is the A. F. Mozhaisky Military Space Academy.
The project uses Gagarin’s life and achievement as an example in the patriotic, spiritual and moral, and aesthetic education of children and young people. Its aim is also to preserve the history of crewed spaceflight and make it more accessible to new generations.
The first Gagarin Ball was held on March 1, 2024.