His 108-minute journey into space made him the first man to orbit the Earth and one of the 20th century's greatest heroes, but Yuri Gagarin was almost undone by a wonky door and an overweight spacesuit.
Newly declassified documents show the Russian cosmonaut's flight into space 50 years ago this month was beset by last-minute technical hitches.
The formerly top secret Soviet papers are being released after a request to state archives by Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, to coincide with the anniversary next week of the world's first manned orbital flight, performed by Gagarin on 12 April 1961.
They show that shortly before takeoff a fault was discovered with the hatch of the cosmonaut's Vostok spacecraft. Engineers working at high speed were forced to loosen 32 screws and remove the hatch to mend a faulty sensor, which showed whether a hermetic seal had been achieved.
The archived documents — to be published on 12 April in Russian in a book, The First Manned Flight — also reveal that a day before the flight, scientists found that the combined weight of Gagarin, his spacesuit and his seat was 13.6kg above the acceptable maximum.
In an attempt to reduce weight, engineers stripped away part of the Vostok's internal apparatus, but in their haste disconnected two gauges, one for pressure and one for temperature. In turn, that caused a short circuit, which specialists struggled to fix overnight.
Yuri Baturin, a space writer and former cosmonaut, previewed the files in the Novaya Gazeta newspaper. “Only now, from the declassified documents, do we find out what extraordinary situations and unexpected details accompanied man's first flight into the cosmos,” he noted.
In a letter written to his family two days before the flight — to be opened in case he died — Gagarin, then 27, admitted that an accident could not be ruled out. “I believe completely in the technical equipment,” he said, “but even on level ground a person sometimes falls over and breaks his neck.”
The new documents flesh out tales of other defects and mistakes that have been reported since the flight, such as Gagarin's craft blasting to 326 kms instead of 230 kms because an engine failed to cut out.
Also, the cosmonaut was unable to write in his logbook because his pencil floated off in zero gravity and he couldn't find it.
News of the cosmonaut's landing was beamed around the world and he quickly became a global celebrity. He died in mysterious circumstances in a plane crash in 1968.
Russia is preparing for a series of events to mark the anniversary of Gagarin's flight, including concerts, exhibitions and a meeting for the heads of about 40 foreign space agencies in the Kremlin.
Some intrigue was added to proceedings on Wednesday when Sergei Ivanov, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, announced abruptly that Anatoly Perminov, the head of Roscosmos, could be sacked this month.
“Anatoly Nikolayevich Perminov is 65,” news agencies quoted Ivanov saying on a visit to Washington DC. “According to Russian law, no state official can work once he is over this age.”
In practice, many officials serve longer than that, and the sacking would be a humiliation for Mr. Perminov. Rumours of his impending sacking began in December after three satellites launched as part of the Russian Glonass navigation system crashed into the Pacific near Hawaii. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2011
