this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2024
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Today I Learned

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[–] [email protected] 80 points 2 months ago (3 children)

amazing the parachute was able to deliver him safely on account of the size of his balls

[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

You guys making fun but I say the Mercury capsule really had a vaguely similar shock absorber.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 months ago

Think of how much rocket fuel they needed to lift those balls into space in the first place.

You think the Saturn V was big?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

Must have been a big harness 😂

[–] [email protected] 73 points 2 months ago (3 children)

This seems like the most Soviet thing ever.

We don’t have a good reëntry vehicle, so let’s have them eject. We KNOW personal parachutes work. So yeah that cool right Yuri?

[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 months ago (1 children)

We don’t have a good reëntry vehicle, so let’s have them eject. We KNOW personal parachutes work. So yeah that cool right Yuri?

The nonexistent previous reentry vehicle didn't not fail and kill the previous first cosmonaut, so we didn't fix any issues and are now fairly certain that you will be fine 😉👌

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I wonder if Yuri decided to parachute himself (because he didn't trust the landing vehicle), and this was made part of the plan retroactively to not embarrass anyone involved.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

No, this was always the plan. That's why there are "dead cosmonaut" rumors that predate Gagarin. They used a mannequin multiple times before Gagarin's flight because they wanted absolutely nothing to possibly go wrong with their propaganda boon.

And here he is, Ivan Ivanovich (the Russian equivalent of John Doe):

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

The Sovs killed a dog or two in space or reentry.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

The first space shuttle had ejection seats.

In later flights, the ejection seats were removed because there was only a narrow window in which the seats could save the occupant, and even then, there was a fair chance the ejection would kill the occupant.

After that SOP was to chuck her into a steep dive, pop the door off, and just jump.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 months ago (2 children)

But that was as it was designed, right? I see no problem with that.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago

Yes, as it was designed. It's not a problem, it's incredible. Think of the bravery it took!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

While I get that it's not a small feat, and an unusual finale for space flight, this isn't much higher than some skydiving packages you can book today. Still pretty ballsy for back then.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago

an unusual finale for space flight

I mean at the time, it was the typical finale for a manned space flight

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Astronauts now: we need ice cream, stat! These space travels are very uncomfortable.

Cosmonauts then: I will jump through the atmosphere with this glorified handkerchief to slow me down

(Me in my armchair, also now: all these guys are such losers. I could do all that any day. But not today, maybe later though)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

What? I thought astronauts already had ice cream. Do you mean to tell me that all those museum gift shops would just lie like that?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Gagarin is one of those super human people that makes me feel grossly inadequate. Look at him. Qualified technically, insane enough to get strapped into a ballistic missile and then eject out of it during re-entry, and handsome too. Cosmonauts and Astronauts are so many sigmas from normal that it's hard to believe they're the same species as the rest of us.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

Reminds me of a line of Yeager's from the movie The Right Stuff:

You think a monkey knows he's sitting on a rocket that might explode? These astronauts know that. I'll tell you something. It takes a special man to volunteer for a suicide mission. Especially when it's on TV. Old Gus, he did all right.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Not only that he also had a pistol with him.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Did he? I know a special pistol was part of Soyuz missions. They didn't want bears attacking cosmonauts when they landed in Siberia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TP-82

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Yeah they developed it because they feared the Makarov used before was not beefy enough.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I don't get it. Is 6km up Space?

Also wdym "by himself". Did you expect him to parachute with someone else?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

No. Just high enough that he could parachute down safely without the craft because they didn't know how to get both down safely.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

So it wasn't a space flight?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago

No. It was a space flight. He, inside the Vostok 1, went into space. He orbited the Earth once. He re-entered the atmosphere. When he was only 6 km from the ground, he jumped out of the Vostok 1 and parachuted to the ground.