Yuri Gagarin grew up in a farming family and developed a passion for flying at a young age.
After technical schooling and military pilot training he married Valentina Goryacheva.
Chosen among 20 pilots for the Soviet space program in 1960 Gagarin’s skill and compact stature led to his selection for the historic Vostok mission.
In 1961 he became the first human in space and became famous globally.
Post-flight he served as a deputy to the Soviet Union’s Supreme Soviet and worked on spacecraft designs.
His flying was restricted post-mission and tragically Gagarin died in a plane crash in 1968.
I have compiled a list of the top quotes by Yuri Gagarin.
Best Yuri Gagarin Quotes
1. “If all those people are getting wet to welcome me, surely the least I can do is get wet too!” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
2. “I could have gone on flying through space forever.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
3. “I am watching the Earth. The visibility is good. I feel well and cheerful. The machine is functioning normally.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
4. “Our technique is very reliable and I, as well as my comrades, scientists, engineers and technicians did not doubt for a minute its successful completion.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
5. “My state of being during the entire period of weightlessness was superb.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
6. “Rays were blazing through the atmosphere of the earth, the horizon became bright orange, gradually passing into all the colors of the rainbow: from light blue to dark blue, to violet and then to black. What an indescribable gamut of colors! Just like the paintings of the artist Nicholas Roerich.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
7. “I attended grade school, then a manual school in Lyubertsy near Moscow. After that, I went to the Saratov Industrial Technicum to become a smelting designer. However, my oldest dream was to become a pilot.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
Popular Yuri Gagarin Quotes
8. “The view of the Earth from an altitude of 175-300 km is very sharp. The Earth’s surface looks approximately the same as seen from a high-flying jet plane. Clearly distinctive are large mountain ranges, large rivers, large forest areas, shorelines and islands.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
9. “During the active portion, when the spaceship was injected into orbit, the effects of gravitation, vibration and noise, as well as other factors of the cosmic flight, did not have any bearing on my condition.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
10. “I don’t see any god up here first man in space, while in space.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
11. “I am very happy and immensely thankful to our party and our government for entrusting me with this flight. I have completed this flight in the name of our Fatherland, in the name of the great Soviet people, and the communist party of the Soviet Union.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
12. “To be the first to enter the cosmos, to engage, single-handed, in an unprecedented duel with nature-could one dream of anything more?” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
13. “In my own opinion, the effect of weightlessness has no influence on the normal state of the organism and on the physiological functions of a human organism.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
14. “Before the flight I was in good health and felt very well. I had complete assurance in the success of this flight.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
Top Yuri Gagarin Quotes
15. “The path of a cosmonaut is not an easy, triumphant march to glory. You have to get to know the meaning not just of joy but also of grief, before being allowed in the spacecraft cabin.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
16. “I would like to praise here our Soviet designers, engineers and technicians, as well as the entire Soviet nation, for creating the remarkable spaceship ‘Vostok’, its remarkable equipment and powerful carrier rocket which has placed such a huge spaceship in orbit.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
17. “When they saw me in my space suit and the parachute dragging alongside as I walked, they started to back away in fear. I told them, don’t be afraid, I am a Soviet like you, who has descended from space and I must find a telephone to call Moscow!” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
18. “I was able to work productively in accordance with the program which was assigned for this flight.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
19. “Orbiting Earth in the spaceship, I saw how beautiful our planet is. People, let us preserve and increase this beauty, not destroy it!” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
20. “The earth was blue but there was no god.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
21. “I looked and looked but I didn’t see God.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
22. “Looking at the earth from afar you realize it is too small for conflict and just big enough for cooperation.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
Inspiring Yuri Gagarin Quotes
23. “I feel fine. How about you?” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
24. “I see Earth! It is so beautiful.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
25. “The clouds which cover the Earth’s surface are very visible, and their shadow on the Earth can be seen distinctly. The color of the sky is completely black. The stars on this black background seem to be somewhat brighter and clearer.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
26. “Personally, I would like to fly some more into space. I like flying. My biggest wish is to fly toward Venus, toward Mars, which is really flying.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
27. “The exit from the Earth’s shadow is also rapid and sharp. Because I was prepared for it, the influence of the cosmic flight factors were endured very well. Now I feel excellent.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
28. “Nothing will stop us. The road to the stars is steep and dangerous. But we’re not afraid.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
29. “I am a simple Soviet man. I was born March 9, 1934, to the family of a peasant. The place of my birth was in the Smolensk region.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
30. “Spaceflights can’t be stopped. This isn’t the work of any one man or even a group of men. It is a historical process which mankind is carrying out in accordance with the natural laws of human development.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
31. “We plan to fly some more and intend to conquer cosmic space as it should be done.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
32. “Here I am, a grown man and a prospective cosmonaut, playing with a golden ball and holding a little flask of water to drink from. If only my little girl could see her daddy with these toys.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
33. “When I left the Earth’s shadow, the Sun’s rays penetrated the Earth’s atmosphere. At this point, the Earth’s horizon was dark blue, violet and finally black.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
Great Yuri Gagarin Quotes
34. “I saw for the first time the earth’s shape. I could easily see the shores of continents, islands, great rivers, folds of the terrain, large bodies of water… the feelings which filled me I can express with one word-joy.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
35. “I was in a cloud of fire rushing toward Earth.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
36. “Obviously, the spaceship passed over the ocean during this period of time. If the spaceship would have passed over large cities, then I would have probably been able to see the lights of those cities. The stars were well visible.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
37. “The transition into the Earth’s shadow took place very rapidly. Darkness comes instantly and nothing can be seen.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).
38. “The landing proceeded successfully and my presence here demonstrates the success of the systems.” ~ (Yuri Gagarin).