Wednesday, April 13, 2011

A Communist in Space: Yuri Gagarin

 I was actually delivering Labour Party letters to the Old Barrowfield estate in West Ham early yesterday morning, while listening to the coverage on Radio 4 "Today" on the 50th anniversary of manned flight to space.

This was surely a great moment in our history. It must have been a terrifying experience for all the early space pioneers. I'm also sure that the Daily Worker headline (right) of the time didn't go down all that well in many quarters.

I wonder what happened to the well deserved Gold Medal that the Manchester Foundry Union workers awarded to Soviet cosmonaut and hero Yuri Gagarin?

Old Barrowfield is a lovely and well looked estate but comprises of a number of low rise non-lifted blocks.  Could have done with just a little bit of a rocket boost up and down those stairs.

hat-tip Col. Roi

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

prasad said...
Russia faced so many difficulties to reach this position. If Russia didn't split in different countries no doubt it is the world's most powerful country. Russia come to this position with their (own) men power but America come to its position with different countries people effort so Russia is the greatest country like India.nodismas