The 108 minutes that Yuri Gagarin spent in space on April 12, 1961 dramatically changed the fate of not only this simple guy from the village of Klushino, but also the entire country. The world's first cosmonaut proved that the Soviet Union is a space power. Residents all over the Earth recognized the 26-year-old hero with his dazzling smile.
Unfortunately, Gagarin's life was tragically cut short on March 27, 1968 as a result of a plane crash. Yuri Alekseevich performed a training flight. The circumstances and causes of the disaster are still not fully understood.
In connection with the death of the famous cosmonaut, national mourning was declared. This happened for the first time in the history of the Soviet Union in memory of a person who did not head the state. A number of settlements, streets, and avenues were renamed in honor of the first cosmonaut. There are monuments to him in many cities around the world.
But this is all from the official chronicle. What was Gagarin like in the family? How do the descendants of Yuri Alekseevich live today? What have they become?
Gagarin the family man
He loved his two daughters very much, who called him daddy. On New Year's holidays, real fun ensued in the family, when the father invented carnival costumes for everyone, depicting various characters.
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He kept cracking jokes, but was not devoid of artistry, like a real actor, pausing. Galina, his youngest daughter, shared these memories.
Yuri Alekseevich always found time for his children. The girls grew up completely different. Dad gave the eldest, Lena, the nickname “Professor”, and the youngest, Gala, “Chizhik”.
In their house there were ducklings, chickens, squirrels and even a larger animal - a doe, because the girls adored all living creatures. Gagarin's wife Valentina Ivanovna tried to resist such an abundance of animals, scolded her husband, but still could not resist.
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Biography
On March 17, 2020, on the birthday of Rudolf Nureyev, sad news came from the family of the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. At an advanced age, his widow Valentina Ivanovna, who gave her beloved husband two daughters, Elena and Galina, passed away. For many years, the woman worked in the medical control laboratory of the Mission Control Center and lived in Star City. From the window of her apartment on the 4th floor, a monument to her husband could be seen, clutching a daisy in his hand.
Gagarin's eldest daughter, Elena
She was born in 1959. From childhood she was a very enthusiastic person. At the same time, she wanted to seriously engage in both sports and art, torn between two strong “passions.” The girl went to figure skating, swimming, rhythmic gymnastics, skiing, and played the piano.
However, in the end, art won. Elena graduated from high school with an excellent certificate. Having received a gold medal, I decided to acquire the profession of art critic. In 1981, she graduated from the Faculty of History of Moscow State University with a degree in Art History.
In the same year, she became a researcher at the Museum of Fine Arts named after Alexander Pushkin, where she held various positions. She worked there for twenty years. In 1989 she defended her PhD thesis in art history. Since 2001, Elena Yuryevna has been leading the work of the museum-reserve in the Kremlin as its general director.
Below we present a few more facts from the life of Elena Gagarina.
- Since 2005, she has been a member of the Russian Federation Commission dealing with UNESCO affairs.
- Since 2010 - member of the Council for Culture under the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.
- Honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts.
- In 2021 (according to Rosstat), her monthly salary was 964.21 thousand rubles.
Elena Yuryevna also has many state awards.
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FAQ
The most interesting topic is the personal life of Gagarin’s daughters. Have the hero’s heirs found female happiness? Do they have children? Elena was in a civil marriage with the famous cinematographer Elizbar Karavaev. The couple had a daughter, Ekaterina, who bears her father's surname. The reason why the relationship ended is unknown.
After this, for a long time nothing was known about Elena’s love relationships. However, for more than 6 years now, the director of the Kremlin Museum has appeared in public in the company of restorer Vladimir Vychuzhanin.
Galina Gagarina's husband, Konstantin Kondratchik, doctor. For almost 20 years he has been the head of the hematology department at a children's hospital. He has an academic degree and teaches at a medical university. The couple raised a son, who was named after his illustrious grandfather.
Son of Galina Gagarina - Yuri Kondratchik
Galina, youngest daughter
She was born in 1961. Her father made his flight into space a few weeks after she was born. Unlike her older sister, a humanist, Galina showed mathematical abilities. After graduating from school, she entered the Plekhanov Institute and became an economist, connecting her life with science.
Today Galina Yuryevna is a professor, Doctor of Economics. She is a teacher at the university where she previously studied and heads the department. In 2008, Galina Gagarina received the title of Honored Worker in Higher Education. Thus, her great contribution to the training of scientific personnel was appreciated.
Wife
In 2021, Gagarin's widow would have turned 85 years old.
Note: Having lost her husband at the age of just over 30, Valentina Ivanovna never married again. She dedicated her life to raising her daughters and raised them to be worthy individuals.
Journalists have always shown increased interest in the family of the legendary pilot, who became a symbol of the era. However, Valentina refused interviews and participation in television shows, not wanting to expose her wounded soul. Only 14 years after Yuri’s death, her book about the first flight into space and how their fate developed after was published.
Yuri and Valentina Gagarin
The pilot’s wife worked all her life for the benefit of the Russian space industry, holding the position of laboratory assistant at a medical research center. Valentina Ivanovna led a rather ascetic lifestyle, avoided publicity, communicating only with relatives and closest friends.
Every year on April 12, the whole family gathered in an apartment in Star City to celebrate a significant event - Yuri Gagarin's first flight into space. Valentina tried to improve her health, which had deteriorated with age, at the Przhevalsky sanatorium in the Smolensk region. However, due to a stroke in March of this year, the heart of the wife of the Hero of the Soviet Union stopped.
Granddaughter and grandson
The grandchildren of Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin are Elena’s daughter Ekaterina Karavaeva, as well as Yuri Kondratchik, Galina’s son.
Elena was born in 1987. Her father, Elizbar Konstantinovich Karavaev, is a cinematographer. Like her mother, Elena graduated from Moscow State University. She also works together with Elena Yuryevna at the Moscow Kremlin Museum. In 2001, Catherine married diplomat Pavel Vnukov.
Although the children of the cosmonaut’s daughters do not bear his famous surname, the grandson was named after his grandfather, Yuri. He also graduated from Moscow University, but this time from the journalism department. Today he writes articles for various publications.
As we see, both the daughters and grandchildren of Yuri Gagarin found their calling, taking their rightful place in life.
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Yuri Gagarin's daughter stopped hiding her husband
Behind Gagarina stands her husband Vladimir Arkadyevich Vychuzhanin.
Photo: Facebook
The Gagarin family carefully protects their personal life from encroachment by the press. Very little is known about how the daughters and widow of the first cosmonaut live. And this despite the fact that Yuri Alekseevich’s eldest daughter is actually a public person and has been heading the Kremlin museums for 18 years.
On April 17, Elena Yuryevna celebrated her sixtieth birthday and we could all be convinced that the years had absolutely no power over her. Still an amazing beauty, she is like two peas in a pod like her famous father (especially with her “Gagarin” smile). And besides, he is a more than wealthy person with a salary of 1.2 million rubles a month.
Is Elena Gagarina married? This question has been worrying our compatriots for a long time and has been in the top of Yandex for several years. But Yandex does not give an answer. Just like Elena Yuryevna herself.
It is known that the first marriage with cinematographer Elizbar Karavaev broke up; daughter Ekaterina worked in Kremlin museums, but, according to some reports, she got married and went to London. Whether her heart is occupied or whether the stronger sex still has something to hope for - until recently it was a terrible secret.
Journalists will confirm that any interview with Gagarina is preceded by instructions from the press service, instructing her not to ask about her father or her personal life under any pretext.
However, journalists always found clever ways to circumvent the ban.
Five years ago, the famous journalist Diana Berlin asked Elena Yuryevna a veiled question:
— Does the Master need Margarita?
“I understand what you’re asking,” Gagarina answered, slightly embarrassed. - One Master needs Margarita, and the other is self-sufficient.
- And you personally? - asked Berlin
— I belong to the second type of people. For me, this is not a necessary part of life,” the interlocutor answered.
However, knowledgeable people assured that Gagarina was lying. Quite a long time ago, the “mistress of the Kremlin” appeared in public with a tall, imposing man with gray hair. In the photographs, Gagarin and the gray-haired man looked very happy, and back in 2014, the Azerbaijani media took and named the name of the mysterious companion. That year, Gagarina visited one of the museums of Azerbaijan and representatives of the press published photographs with the caption: “Elena Gagarina with her husband Vladimir Vychuzhanin, head of the restoration department of the Moscow Kremlin.”
Years have passed since then and it seems that Elena Yuryevna has completely stopped hiding and no longer hides the fact that she is not free. In 2021, Gagarin was “spotted” by her husband at the opening of the Museum of Russian Impressionism (the photo “with her husband” appeared on the ArtNewspaperRussia portal). The other day, the director of the Kremlin Museum came to Chelyabinsk, where she opened an exhibition at the local Historical Museum. And again, in the photographs from the opening, Gagarin appeared with that same interesting man. Having posted one of these pictures, one of the journalists noted that behind Gagarina was her husband, Vladimir Arkadyevich Vychuzhanin, head. Department of Scientific Restoration of the Moscow Kremlin Museums.
There is very little information about Vladimir Vychuzhanin. As they write about him in one of the public pages of the Kremlin Museums, “a chemist by training, he has been working in the museum for more than 30 years. During this time, he restored a number of exhibits from the Armory, including the famous “Dandelion” by Carl Faberge, which can now be seen in the museum.”
Interesting Facts
- Yuri Gagarin rarely called his daughters by name. The girls had cute nicknames - Elena was called “Professor”, and Galina was “Chizhik”.
- Fearing a tragic outcome, Gagarin wrote a letter to his wife before flying into space. In it, he asked Valentina to raise her daughters to be hardworking and strong individuals. But since the flight was successful, the letter did not reach the recipient. The cosmonaut's wife saw him only in 1968 after Yuri's death.
- Elena Gagarina was directly involved in the creation of a biographical film about her father. She worked together with producer Oleg Kapanets on the script for 3 years.
- In memory of her father, Galina Gagarina decided not to change her last name after marriage.
- After the release of the film “Gagarin’s Grandson,” Elena and Galina sued the film company. The astronaut's daughters said the picture was offensive to their father. The claim was satisfied - all references to the personality of Yuri Gagarin were cut out of the film and the title of the film was changed.
