Yuri Gagarin's signed photos & priceless letters sent to ISS, revealed for the first time

Yuri Gagarin, the late Soviet pilot and the first man to visit outer space six decades ago, recently received a fitting tribute from his countrymen. Thanks to Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, he carried Gagarin's signed photograph with him to the International Space Station honouring the 'Hero of the Soviet Union.' Interestingly, those pictures autographed by Gagarin have been revealed for the first time courtesy of Stargift, a Moscow-based gallery which owns a collection of photographs and autographs of Hollywood stars, sporting heroes, literary figures, and other towering personalities.

The revelation was made via a video shot by Shkaplerov when he was aboard the ISS as part of the Expedition 66 group. Below is the video featuring Shkaplerov shot before he returned home on March 30 last year with his crewmates Pyotr Dubrov and Mark Vande Hei from NASA. For the unversed, Shkaplerov is a veteran cosmonaut with four long-term ISS missions to his name and was recently in limelight for his role in 'The Challenge', the first movie shot in space. 

Unseen photos and letters released for the first time

(Yuri Gagarin's signed picture photographed on ISS; Image: Stargift)

In addition to Yuri Gagarin's photographs, there were also handwritten letters by Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, a Soviet scientist, rocket engineer and spacecraft designer, that were sent to the ISS. Also the former Chairman of the Council of USSR Chief Designers and a member of Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Korolev is remembered as the father of Russian cosmonautics. He was one of the developers of the rocket which launched the world's first satellite Sputnik-1 on October 4, 1957. He also helped build the Vostok-1 launch vehicle which took Gagarin to space on April 12, 1961. 

(Handwritten letters by Sergei Pavlovich Korolev; Image: Stargift)

(Handwritten letters by Sergei Pavlovich Korolev; Image: Stargift)

"Sergei Korolev himself dreamed of flying into space, but unfortunately, his dream was not destined to come true. I am honored to take letters from the Father of Russian cosmonautics with me aboard the International Space Station," Shkaplerov says in the video. "His letters have been going around our beautiful planet sixteen times a day for five months. I returned a rare letter about “Sputnik-1”, a photo autographed by Yuri Gagarin and a document with Sergei Korolev’s notes perfectly safe back to Earth," he added.

(Handwritten letters by Sergei Pavlovich Korolev; Image: Stargift)

Korolev's letter is said to have been addressed to a Soviet scientist Konstantin Bushuev in 1956, a year before the Sputnik 1 satellite's launch. The idea to send those letters along with the scientist's notes to space stemmed from the minds of the gallery owners Ilya Slutskin and Vashik Martirosyan with an aim to preserve the memories of Russian space pioneers, something that was later brought to fruition by Shkaplerov. "It is an opportunity for us to pay homage to the feats of Sergei Korolev and Yuri Gagarin, as well as to preserve the rarest exhibits in history. In particular, the handwritten letter of Sergei Korolev is the true relic from the era of Soviet cosmonautics formation, since launch preparation of the first artificial Earth satellite is described in this letter. We are happy that our cherished dream came true,” Slutskin, one of the gallery owners said per Stargift. 

In his letter, the scientist described launch preparations for Sputnik 1 and mentioned those who played a critical role in its development. There were also documents including Korolev's notes one of which read, "Everything, what I advise, should be done gradually and intelligently, and along the way, all the work should be carried out and continued, as it should be and indicated to us according to the plan. Yours S. Korolev.” It was dedicated to the development of the automatic stabilisation system and dates back to 1964, according to Stargift. All of these exhibits were aboard the ISS from October 2021 to March 2022 and are now displayed at Stargift galleries’ collection of autographs and personal belongings in Moscow.

There is no denying that the advancement of the Russian space program proved beneficial to India as the former USSR helped ISRO launch its first satellite Aryabhatta aboard the Kosmos-3M rocket from Kapustin Yar on April 19, 1975. This decades-old cooperation still continues as Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, is supporting ISRO's Rs 10,000 crore Gaganyaan program, India's first step toward launching astronauts to space. Recently, four Indian Air Force pilots completed their training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre.