There are no photographs of Yuri’s Vostok in space during the First Flight, for a simple reason: There was nobody else up there to take them! We can only imagine what the Vostok capsule might have looked like from a viewpoint in space. Professional modelmaking student Kirsty Obbard has come up with the next best solution: Create an accurate scale model of the Vostok, and photograph it in space-like conditions. Continue reading →

Yuri’s Day is available as a special edition dynamic eBook for Apple iPad/ iPhone/iPodTouch platforms. Created in the new fixed layout format that brings text functional, illustrated books to the iBook store. Features include zoomable, sharp text and thumbnail navigation. Names and terms can be copied, searched or linked to a dictionary too. Our eBook takes full advantage of the dynamic content ability and embeds audio and video files in working  retro 50′s Russian TV sets! The choice is there to view full screen video if preferred. View iTunes Book link here.

Spread showing retro Russian working TV!

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Today the word satellite widely refers to man-made satellites. However, when the German astronomer Johannes Kepler coined the term “satellite” in 1610 , he used it to describe the bodies orbiting Jupiter. The Englishman Sir Isaac Newton was the first to publish a scientific explanation of how to produce a man-made satellite in his Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica (Mathematical Principles of General Philosophy) which he published in 1686. He imagined a cannonball fired high enough would not fall back to earth, but would start orbiting our planet continuously like a satellite. At this time, it was just a thought experiment based on Newton’s law of universal gravitation. It then took 271 more years to fulfil this dream of a man-made satellite. Continue reading →

As 2011, the 50th anniversary year of the world’s first manned spaceflight draws to a close, the ‘Yuri’s Day’ crew can look back on some amazing experiences, conscious that we really owe all of them to the power of Yuri Gagarin’s personality, and the achievements of Sergei Korolev and his teams of space hardware engineers. Continue reading →

Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa poses with the Chief Illustrator - guess which one is the cardboard cut-out!

Thirteen hours on a bumpy long-haul flight was a common experience for Yuri during the globetrotting years after his orbit of the Earth. The Soviet government wanted the maximum public relations benefit from his achievement, and he spent so long aboard his Ilyushin airliner that he began to sardonically refer to it as ‘Home’.

Thirteen hours on a bumpy long haul flight is as close as your non-intrepid illustrator wants to get to Yuri Gagarin’s experience, but it was worth it to follow Yuri’s footsteps to Japan, and to discover in a Tokyo exhibition, the pride and excitement associated with Japanese activities in space. The exhibition in the Tokyo International Forum covered the very successful ‘Hayabusa’ asteroid probe, and Japan’s contribution to the International Space Station. Being in the land of ‘cosplay’ (dressing up as your favourite characters and cartoon heroes) I couldn’t resist suiting up in the ISS overalls provided, and posing for this souvenir shot