Olga Aries. Road to sky

Yuri Gagarin would have turned 70 this year. The name of the anniversary exhibition seems cliché. But it accurately reflects the state of affairs. Indeed, who does not recognize this nice, open face with a radiant smile? And what do we, in essence, know about this person? Almost nothing. A fairy tale about a simple guy who flew up into the sky like a meteor, then shone with glory and a smile for some time and died as, according to the laws of high drama, he should have died - falling from heaven.

The exhibition was prepared by the Russian State Archive of Scientific and Technical Documentation (RGANTD) in collaboration with a number of museums and archives. For RGANTD, this seems to be the first major exhibition project; a worthy debut. Despite the fact that the task of showing something new about the first space flights is complicated by the fact of the existence of both the Museum of Cosmonautics and an excellent hall dedicated to space at the Polytechnic - the Moscow public has seen spacesuits, models of ships, tubes for food, and so on. This exhibition achieves a fresh presentation of the topic due to the fact that it is built around Gagarin.

The works of Tsiolkovsky and Meshchersky, the times of “Aelita” and “Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin”, posters for public lectures on the possibility of space flight, the emergence of Soviet rocketry, the construction of the Baikonur Cosmodrome (S.P. Korolev is surprised at the pace of work of military builders), the launch of a satellite. Secret government regulations of special importance. Creation of the ship "Vostok". Silvery glow of layouts. The technical drawings of the spacecraft are exquisitely beautiful, the harmony and perfection of every stroke will surpass even a Japanese engraving - why be surprised? An ejection seat awaiting the pilot.

In parallel, there are simple traces of the hero’s youth. An ordinary boy of the post-war years. Schoolboy, vocational school student, flying club member. What will you show here? Several photographs, simple documents about academic performance. Flight school, military pilot, selected to join the cosmonaut corps. Training, medical examinations, a belt with sensors, parachutes, a centrifuge, a pressure chamber, photographs with comrades.

The exhibition is designed very tactfully (artist A.F. Sargsyan). This is the case when the success of design lies in its unobtrusiveness, in the presentation of the theme and things, but not itself. Screen stands covered with dark blue plush (the most appropriate color here) cover extra window openings, round corners and form the space of the halls, focusing the eye on the exhibits. The exhibits are striking (let’s leave the main theme aside for now) with their everyday, so memorable Soviet wretchedness. Personal items: uniform; T-shirt, blue and white striped 60s jersey; a leather wallet - of all the things on display, it seems this is the one that was actually used - worn, wrinkled, simple; It’s a very dandy manicure set - no, you think a normal guy wouldn’t carry this toy in his pocket; an absurd half-meter souvenir fountain pen made of rough plastic - a product of a domestic factory. The photographs show cosmonauts in such memorable training suits, their wives, modestly dressed, as befits proper Soviet women. The first cosmonaut meets with representatives of the district party committee: the table is covered with newspapers, there is vodka, apples and an ashtray on it. Tabletop plastic souvenirs in the spirit of the Kremlin inkwell, but they contain soil from the launch and landing site of Gagarin’s ship.

The section about his flight is seriously exciting. What a long day April 12, 1961 must have been. As in the ancient myths about the Sun God, who held back the running of the chariot so that the hero could accomplish his destined task. The photographs show step by step: putting on a spacesuit, climbing to the rocket, Gagarin’s hands raised in a farewell gesture, now he is already in the cockpit. His amazingly poetic words about how he saw the Earth from space - the first human glance at the planet from space - we have already forgotten what this really means. A landing vehicle, a search helicopter, a funny freshly dug post with a sign “Do not touch!”, then a memorial will be built there in honor of Gagarin’s landing. Right there, on the spot, documents on three space records were drawn up. A striking photograph of Gagarin's wife listening to the announcement of the Vostok flight: it is impossible to describe what is on her face. An astronaut's report to the government, a government greeting, a crazy rally on Red Square, letters and telegrams from all over the world. TASS reports about hostile attacks (secret, of course): White emigrants talk about the non-proletarian origin of the hero, and one offspring of the Gagarin princes has already recognized him as their nephew. World tour, photographs with various celebrities, gifts (Japanese dolls, Indian figurines).

Photo: Gagarin and Castro in Havana Square. Both are young, beautiful, lively, bursting with energy. A meeting of two people who embodied the two main myths of the 20th century: about space and about revolution, two great illusions.

In an American film, Jack Nicholson plays a retired astronaut. Lives in a cottage with a swimming pool, serves as a local celebrity, occasionally performs with memoirs, and drinks more and more. What, in fact, remains for a person whose feat and mission are already behind him?

Yuri Gagarin was born a Soviet man. Therefore, space was more accessible to him than a cottage with a swimming pool. In the photograph, he, already famous, visits his parents in their house. The subject of special Soviet pride was that he was a simple man, and his mother still lived behind a plank fence. And for him - a vacation in Crimea and envious whispers. He died early, and it’s hard to imagine him being 70 years old. What would await him, how would he live for the next few years if they were allotted by fate? I would serve, grow in rank, work. The party leadership would push them around. The exhibition shows his work after the flight. He participated in the training of the following crews, from 1963 he became deputy head of the Cosmonaut Training Center, actively trained as a pilot, and studied at the Zhukovsky Academy (his textbooks and a notebook with mathematical problems are in the display case). He carried out the “social work” required of a Soviet hero: he traveled around the country, met with workers, and served as a deputy. If he lived longer, he would probably have served his time in party forums and in various peace committees. The authors of the exhibition partly delicately passed over his private life, and actually him as a person, in silence; In part, there is no escape from the legend that obscures a person. Let him be in the pictures tinkering with children, pumping up his daughter’s bicycle tire, going hunting with friends, or rummaging through the hood of his car - it’s impossible to tell where the real life is and where the Soviet gloss is. But between the lines (photos, documents) I would like to read that Yuri Gagarin was not very comfortable in the role of a walking exhibit. He wanted to fly. In 1967, he became a backup for V.M. Komarov, who was flying on Soyuz-1. The ship crashed, Komarov died, Gagarin’s path into space was henceforth prohibited. He had difficulty obtaining permission to take the helm of the plane again. On March 27, 1968, he crashed during a training flight on a MIG-15 fighter together with instructor V.S. Seregin.

The death of Gagarin is shown chastely by the authors of the exhibition. No photographs of twisted metal, funerals, no melodrama. Instruments from that same MIG, Gagarin’s oxygen mask, pilot’s helmet. Did Heaven open before him, inaccessible to the living?