"The risk was incredible": chief space doctor told about Gagarin's flight

Vyacheslav Rogozhnikov, chief space doctor, employee of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency, co-chair of the main medical commission for the selection of astronauts, told in a new fragment of an interview with the "Innovators" channel how the genius of Russian designers allowed mankind to make a breakthrough in space.

"As for the first group of cosmonauts and Gagarin, the risk was enormous. Only the genius and responsibility of Russian designers, workers, engineers allowed Sergei Korolev to make the only right decision. He took a risk and got the result," said Rogozhnikov.

According to the academician, the launch had several very serious moments that could affect the negative outcome of the first human space flight.

"The spacecraft was supposed to hit the design point and glide to Earth. But the launch of the spacecraft into Earth orbit happened further away from Earth. There was a risk that it would stay there for two weeks. And that's critical for oxygen and food. It could have ended tragically, but Gagarin returned safely to the Earth," said the chief space doctor.

Rogozhnikov pointed out that now astronauts are much better protected.

"Probably, even now these risks are present. Just two years ago, there was an emergency situation with the crew. It happened two minutes after launch, they had not yet completed the spacewalk. But our emergency rescue system worked perfectly. The astronauts in the module came down to earth near Zhezkazgan (Kazakhstan), we found them immediately, put them in intensive care, although they were healthy," he recalled.

The "Innovators" team on its channel talks about technology in business and business on technology. For example, the authors analyze startups together with their founders, cover important events and tell interesting news from the IT world.

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Author: Maria Buzanakova