60th anniversary of Gagarin's flight

Question

Update: The first human spaceflight was Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961. Space Exploration celebrated the 60th anniversary with a series of questions:

• Was the SK-1 spacesuit tested in flight prior to Gagarin's historic mission?
• What led Yuri Gagarin to believe his hatch was not properly sealed?
• How did the pilot lockout on Vostok 1 work?
• Did Yuri Gagarin really telephone officials in Moscow to come pick him up?
• How did Gagarin's flight affect improvements to the Vostok capsule?
• How is the anniversary of Vostok 1 celebrated in the U.S. space community?

Thank you for helping us recognize 60 years of human Space Exploration!

A request to our readers who also know Russian: We have some questions about the Soviet Union, Russia, and Roscosmos that currently have no answers. Please think about writing an answer!

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Original meta question: We are approaching the 60th anniversary of the first human spaceflight on April 12. Do we want to do something for this important milestone in spaceflight?

Last year, I led a series of questions for the 50th anniversary of Apollo 13. There were 14 questions total, 2 per day for each of the mission's 7 days. The effort seemed to be well-received.

If there are no objections, I am willing to do a similar series of questions for the anniversary of Gagarin's flight. Six questions for the 60th anniversary sounds about right; two per day for three days. As I did for Apollo 13, I will compile a list of potential questions, and then pare it down to the most interesting and answerable.

I don't speak or read the Russian language. Nonetheless, I have asked questions about Soviet and Russian space history, to various degrees of success. If any of our Russian-speaking users are willing to participate in this effort, that would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

I am also interested in such events, however I do not know how to take part in the same. This reply is also incidental. I clicked on the "upcoming events" and reached this place. Can some one guide me on how to be well conversant with this S.E site?

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DrSheldon's reply (too long for comments):

This series is more difficult for me to come up with questions than Apollo 13, because I was already involved in a lot of Apollo questions here. My knowledge of the Vostok program is not as good. I already have a list of 16 questions, but many of them are meh.

The goal is two high-quality questions per day for 3 days; more than this might be perceived by the greater StackExchange community as overwhelming. The questions are asked roughly in order of pre-flight, in-flight, and post-flight. I try to balance technical questions with "fun" questions; my hope is that all of the questions are interesting and answerable.

About 1-2 weeks prior to the event, I will create another answer in this meta question, providing the titles of my most promising question candidates. At that point, you can help by any of these ways:

1. Examine the questions that I post, think about which ones you would be able to write a well-sourced answer, and leave a comment "I can answer question number ___". I want to ensure that the questions which I post for the event actually get answered, so letting me know that a question is answerable will help.

2. Offer to post your own question for the event. If you believe you have a better question than the ones I will post here, we can reserve one of the 6 slots for your question. Simply leave a comment that you are willing to ask a question.

3. Some might offer question ideas, that I would post as questions. If you choose this, I will give you credit, but you can't earn reputation like you would writing the question yourself (option #2 above).

4. When the event comes, write answers.

Thanks for your interest!

Answer 2

Here are my question candidates.

1. How was the SK-1 spacesuit tested prior to Gagarin's flight? (the Ivan Ivanovich mannequin is at least one potential answer)
2. What measures did Vostok cosmonauts have to control cabin fires? (question particularly considers the death of Valentin Bondarenko)
3. What led Yuri Gagarin to believe his hatch was not properly sealed?
4. How did the pilot lockout on Vostok 1 work?
5. Where were all of the tracking stations for Vostok 1?
6. Did Yuri Gagarin really telephone officials in Moscow to come pick him up?
7. Is the anniversary of Vostok 1 celebrated in the U.S. space community? (known to be answerable)
8. How did Gagarin's flight affect improvements to the Vostok capsule?

The "best" (most interesting and answerable) 6 will be chosen, 2 per day for 3 days.

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Here's how you can help:

• Help me identify which of these questions can be answered. If you know or find resources to answer one of the above questions, post a comment below that "Question #__ is answerable." This does not obligate you to answer the question, it just helps me narrow down the list to the best questions.

• If you have a better idea for a question that the ones above, leave a comment below, and I will reserve one of the 6 slots for your question.

• Alternately, if you have a question idea but would like me to write up the question, post the idea in a comment below. If you choose this, I will give you credit, but you can't earn reputation like you would writing the question yourself.

• When the questions are finally posted, write answers.