Yuri and Valentina Gagarins: always together both on earth and in space

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

They could celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of their marriage in 2017. The first cosmonaut and his wife, Yuri and Valentina Gagarins. Their happiness was bright, but very short. For less than 10 years they were husband and wife. But for almost half a century, she continues to love, believe and wait. Knowing exactly that he is not.

The first love

When a young cadet Yura Gagarin saw this young, fine, very beautiful girl in a simple blue dress at a dance evening at the school, he immediately decided to invite her to a waltz. She was shy and shy, but willingly agreed to the waltz circle. At parting, he casually told her that next Sunday they would go skiing.

So they met and became friends: a young bald cadet of the Chkalovsk Flight School in Orenburg and a young telegraph operator. Yuri liked absolutely everything about her: long braids, bright, slightly moist brown eyes, a nose with a mischievous scattering of freckles, a chiseled figure. When a group of cadets was sent to the collective farm to help harvest potatoes, most of all he yearned for Valentine. They turned out to be surprisingly similar in their views on life and even in their hobbies. Both loved books, were fond of theater and could never give up the prospect of ice skating.

Valentina also realized that she was in love. Many looked after her, but with all her heart she became attached to this young cadet with a stunning smile and a bright kind look. She introduced him to her family, Valentina's parents treated her daughter's friend very warmly. They were always glad to see him and his colleagues.

Both joy and sorrow are all in half

When Yuri came home on vacation, his mother noticed that something was happening to her son. He did not wait for the end of his vacation, he began to gather in Orenburg. And he told his mother that his amazing girlfriend Valya was waiting there.

No, he was not going to get married so quickly, because he will not be able to support his family yet. In general, he was opposed to rash, hasty decisions. But his heart was irresistibly torn to where his beloved was.

As soon as their course was awarded officer ranks, Yuri and Valentina became husband and wife. Yuri reminded his bride of the words of his mother, who told him to marry, if he loves, once and for life. To be together in sorrow and in joy. Happy, beloved Valya breathed into his ear: "Always - together."

Family life

And then came the appointment of Yuri and several of his comrades to the North. However, they themselves wrote reports, where they asked them to be sent there, to test new technology. The young wife did not immediately understand this impulse. But Yura explained to her that she had to be where it was more difficult.

He flew to his place of service, and Valentina remained to finish medical school. A year later, she came to him with a medical assistant diploma. Valyusha turned out to be an amazing wife, a real friend of an officer. She cooked amazingly, inheriting culinary talent from her father-cook, sewing and knitting. And she was not at all burdened with a solitary life. She did not need any social events and entertainment, she patiently waited for her beloved husband from the service, always friendly, calm, neat.

A year later, the Gagarin family moved to the Chkalovskaya station, not far from the Star City, which was just being built. There they had their first daughter, Lenochka, on April 10, 1959.

Even then, Yuri Gagarin, as part of a detachment of pilots, began to undergo serious training for the first manned flight into space. Nobody knew who would be chosen for the role of cosmonaut number one, everyone was preparing.

Despite the very heavy workload, strong employment in the service, frequent business trips, Yuri always found time for his family. He happily worked with his daughter, shared his experiences and worries with his wife, not particularly dwelling on the preparation for the flight. And from business trips he wrote warm letters, at least once a week.

On March 7, 1961, their second daughter, Galina, was born. If with the eldest Gagarin was often shy, afraid of harming a tiny lump, then he already boldly swaddled Galchonka, carried it in his arms.

Go

Soon after the birth of the youngest, Yuri again went on a business trip. He already knew that he would fly, but did not tell Valentina about it. Of course, a loving heart cannot be deceived, she understood everything, but she was also silent. They talked all night before he left for the cosmodrome. Just one phrase made his wife's heart squeeze painfully. He looked at her very warmly and ordered to take care of the girls. Then both quickly turned the conversation to another topic, but from that moment Valentina's anxiety did not leave for a second. As he left, he told her that the flight was scheduled for April 14, but it was still unknown who would fly. He promised her that everything would be fine.

On the 12th, she learned that her husband was in space from a neighbor who ran to her. For a long time, Valentina couldn't remember the name of this neighbor, how to turn on the radio. Then there were congratulations from friends, acquaintances, neighbors. And on April 14, he returned home. A lot of people met him. At that moment he did not belong to himself - to history.

From that moment on, they often had to attend receptions, the status of the wife of the first cosmonaut required her presence next to her husband. And she calmly and patiently performed these duties as well. Always modest, elegant, calm, she appeared with Yura. And she was very sad that they had less and less time for two.

And waiting is all life

She was in the hospital after surgery when her Yura did not return from a training flight. Condolences were expressed to her, and she persistently cooked her husband's favorite dishes. Valentina Gagarina refused to meet with members of the commission who were investigating the circumstances of her husband's death. For her, he did not die. For some reason, he simply cannot be with her. She is always and everywhere looking for signs that her beloved Yura is alive. And that she would certainly meet him. You just have to wait.

Daughters have grown up, grandchildren have already grown up. And every morning she looks from the window of her apartment in Zvezdnoye at the back of her departing husband … Right under her windows there is a monument to Yuri Gagarin. And then he feeds the parrot Laura, which her husband gave her half a century ago. She is waiting. Year after year, day after day, for almost fifty years now. And she loves no less than in the distant already 1957, when she told him: "Always together."

Yuri and Valentina Gagarins can be an example of true love. Just like Norwegian King Harald V and Queen Sonya.