Gagarin's wife. Valentina Ivanovna Gagarina: biography and photos

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:47

Each of us is familiar with the name of Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin. Having made the first space flight in world history, he became the most famous and recognizable person on the planet. Millions of beauties dreamed of him, but in his thoughts there was always one and only woman - his faithful wife Valentina. Who is she, Gagarin's wife?

Faithful companion of the first cosmonaut

Not much is known about Yury Alekseevich's second half. She, unlike the wives of other famous people, never exposed her life to the public and to this day diligently avoids communicating with journalists. Valentina Ivanovna Gagarina has always been distinguished by increased modesty. While her star husband was conquering the Universe, she provided him with a reliable family rear, raising two little daughters. But Valentina was not destined to enjoy family happiness for a long time. When Yuri Alekseevich died, she was only 32 years old. Being a beauty, Valentina Ivanovna never married again. Focusing on work and family, she remained forever faithful to her only and dearly beloved spouse.

Introduction tohusband

Gagarina Valentina Ivanovna (nee - Goryacheva) was born on December 15, 1935 in Orenburg. Valya's father, Ivan Stepanovich, was a chef and taught his daughter how to cook deliciously from childhood. In addition to culinary skills, the girl had a talent for sewing and knitting. After graduating from high school, Valya Goryacheva began working at the telegraph. Like many girls, she ran to dances in her free time. It was there that Valentina met Yura Gagarin, a cadet of the Orenburg Flight School.

Valya Goryacheva conquered the guy with her beauty. Dark-haired, brown-eyed, with a chiseled figure, she always attracted the views of the opposite sex. But beauty did not prevent her from remaining shy and timid. As the legendary cosmonaut wrote in his memoirs, he liked everything about Valentina: his character, his short stature, his dark eyes, and his slightly freckled nose. But Yuri Alekseevich at first did not make a special impression on the girl. Gagarin's wife recalled that he seemed to her big-headed and lop-eared. And the protruding hedgehog of short-cropped hair was clearly not in his favor.

Romance, wedding and the birth of the eldest daughter

After the w altz, Yuri Alekseevich invited Valentina to go skiing next weekend, and the young people started dating. But they were in no hurry to get married. Valentina entered the Orenburg Medical School, where she received the speci alty of a paramedic. Gagarin also continued his studies. They got married 4 years after they met. The marriage ceremony took place in Orenburg on October 27, 1957. After the wedding, Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin went to serve in the city of Zapolyarny, Murmansk Region, and his wife soon moved in with him. It was there that on April 17, 1959, Valentina gave birth to her husband's daughter Elena.

Moving to Star City and the birth of a second daughter

Shortly after the birth of the baby, Yuri Gagarin filed a report on enrolling him in the group of cosmonauts. The competition was huge: about 3 thousand pilots wrote applications with him. The future pioneer of the universe successfully passed all the tests and was enrolled in the detachment of Soviet cosmonauts. In the spring of 1960, he was transferred to Star City, located northeast of Moscow. Yuri Gagarin's wife moved after him. She got a job as a biochemist laboratory assistant in the medical department of the Mission Control Center. A year later, on March 7, 1961, the second daughter Galina was born to the young spouses. The girl was born 2 days before her father's 27th birthday and a month before his first space flight.

The day that changed my life

While cosmonaut Gagarin focused all his energy on training in order to make a successful entry into Earth's orbit, his wife took care of her little daughters. She was a homebody, did not like noisy companies and provided Yuri Alekseevich with that family comfort that all men dream of. Gagarin's preparations for the flight took place in an atmosphere of the strictest secrecy, and Valentina was not privy to the course of the matter. The day of April 12, 1961 began as usual for her. The fact that her husband became the first astronaut of the planet, she learned not from him, butfrom a neighbour. After the flight, Valentina had a chance to see Yuri Alekseevich only a few days later, when he was finally allowed to go home. And until that moment, she, like many Muscovites, looked at her husband on Red Square, where the USSR Secretary General Nikita Khrushchev himself shook hands with him. A huge crowd of people met Yuri with banners and threw flowers at him. Since that day, cosmonaut Gagarin has become a national hero and the property of the whole country.

Yuri Alekseevich was not sure of the successful outcome of his flight. Many years after his death, his wife accidentally stumbled upon a note addressed to her, which he wrote 2 days before the spacewalk. In it, he asked Valentina not to be sad if something happened to him, and to raise worthy people from her daughters. Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin advised his wife, in the event of his death, to arrange his personal life at his own discretion. But in 1961, the note was not destined to fall into the hands of Valentina Ivanovna, because the flight and landing of the first cosmonaut of the Earth were successful. Gagarin hid the paper and forgot about it. The young family had to pass a serious test of fame. And they were good at it.

Life as an astronaut's wife

After April 1961, the fate of Valentina Ivanovna completely changed. Gagarin's wife, being a modest and non-public person, for a long time could not get used to the close attention of the public to which her husband, she and children were subjected. Journalists and photographers pursued a young married couple not only in their hometown, but also during their holidays at sea. Atthey were often interviewed, shown on TV. The Gagarins' modest apartment was visited by famous people: politicians, actors, astronauts. Valentina Ivanovna has always been a hospitable hostess.

A catastrophically much work fell on Yuri Alekseevich. In addition to employment, he was often invited abroad. There was very little time left to communicate with his family, so he tried to use every opportunity to be with Valentina, Lenochka and Galochka. He called the youngest daughter Chizhik, and the eldest - Professor. Coming home, he always brought gifts to his family. With his wife, Yuri loved to skate.

The wife was philosophical about the work of Gagarin. She was engaged in raising her daughters and continued to work at the Mission Control Center. The young woman spent her free time knitting warm clothes for her husband and daughters. Trying to match the status of the wife of the first cosmonaut, Gagarina Valentina Ivanovna accompanied him on many trips abroad and at high receptions. But publicity did not spoil her: she still remained that modest girl with whom Yuri once fell in love at first sight.

Gagarin's death

Family idyll collapsed in one moment. March 27, 1968 Yuri Alekseevich and his instructor Vladimir Seregin made a scheduled training flight on a fighter. Suddenly, the plane crashed into the ground and both pilots were killed. Gagarin's wife barely survived his death. She had little daughters in her arms, whom she now had to bring to people on her own. YuriAlekseevich left his family not such a big inheritance. During his "star" life, he managed to make only 2 apartments (in Moscow and Star City) and an old "Volga" of the 21st model. He received housing in the capital shortly before his death.

The further life of Valentina Ivanovna

Gagarin's widow decided not to move to Moscow after her husband's death. She remained to live in Star City, fearing that her daughters would not be allowed to enter the capital. Valentina Ivanovna never married again. She withdrew into herself and stopped contacting journalists and people interested in her husband's biography. For half a century that has passed since the death of Yuri Alekseevich, the name of his widow was not heard in the media very often. In 1981, Valentina Ivanovna published the book "108 Minutes and All Life", dedicated to the memory of her husband. In addition, she published memories of her husband several times. Now the wife of Yuri Gagarin has long been retired. She continues to live in the same apartment in Star City, where she once moved with her husband, does not refuse meetings with the first people of the state, but still does not give interviews to journalists. Valentina Ivanovna is trying in every possible way to support the Museum of Yuri Gagarin, to which she donated many of his personal belongings.

Children and grandchildren of the astronaut

Gagarin's daughters have long grown up. As he dreamed, they became worthy and respected people in society. This merit belongs entirely to Valentina Ivanovna, because the woman had to raise and teach them on her own. Elena graduated from the history department of Moscow State University, receivedart qualification. He holds the position of General Director of the Moscow Kremlin Museum. Galina studied at the Institute of National Economy in Moscow, today she heads the department of economics in it. She defended her doctoral dissertation and became a professor. The daughters gave Valentina Ivanovna two grandchildren: Ekaterina and Yura. Gagarin's wife and children live very friendly. They have a wonderful family tradition - to gather every year on Yuri Alekseevich's birthday for a modest feast in an apartment in Star City and reminisce about their great husband, father and grandfather.