Gherman Titov

Biography

Gherman Stepanovich Titov was born on 11 September 1935 in Verkh-Zhilino, a village in the Altai region of Russia. He trained as a military pilot and was chosen as part of the first group of Soviet cosmonauts along with Yuri Gagarin. On 6 August 1961, just four months after Gagarin's historic first spaceflight, Titov launched aboard Vostok 2 and became the second human to orbit Earth. At 25 years old at the time of launch, he is still the youngest person ever to fly in Earth orbit, a record that has stood for over six decades.

Titov's mission was more demanding than Gagarin's single orbit. He completed 17 orbits of Earth over more than 25 hours, becoming the first person to spend over a day in space. During the flight, he ate, slept, and manually controlled the spacecraft, showing that humans could function effectively in space for an extended time. He took photos of Earth using a Konvas-Avtomat movie camera, capturing the first footage of the planet taken by a human from orbit. He also experienced space sickness, becoming the first to suffer and document that condition in weightlessness.

After his spaceflight, Titov continued to work for the Soviet space program in various roles. He trained under the Spiral program, which aimed to develop an orbital spaceplane, and was set to be its first pilot. However, after Yuri Gagarin's death in a jet crash in March 1968, Soviet authorities decided they couldn't risk losing the second cosmonaut as well, effectively ending Titov's career as a test pilot not due to any failing of his own.

Titov pursued advanced education at the Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy and later at the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia. He rose in the Soviet Air Force to the rank of colonel-general before retiring in 1992. In retirement, he entered politics, joined the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and was elected to the State Duma in 1995. He received numerous honors throughout his life, including the Hero of the Soviet Union and two Orders of Lenin, both in 1961.

Gherman Titov died in Moscow on 20 September 2000, just nine days after his 65th birthday. He is remembered not only as a space pioneer but also for proposing that April 12, the date of Gagarin's flight, be officially celebrated as Cosmonautics Day in the Soviet Union, showing his generosity toward his colleague despite being closely linked with him in history.