The forgotten cosmonaut (192)

08/10/21 • 56 min

This week it's the 60th anniversary of the flight of Gherman Titov on Vostok 2. The forgotten 2nd cosmonaut overshadowed by the exploits of his friend Yuri Gagarin.

Titov’s 25.3 hours and 17 orbits flight was much more ambitious than Gagarin’s and more dangerous. It was also a very political flight, intending to distract the world from the building of the Berlin Wall a number of days later.

However, there’s more to Titov than his flight, he was different character to most of the Soviet cosmonauts with a love of pre-Soviet literary classics and enjoying his own company.

He was also one of the most colourful characters of the Soviet space program leading a wild life back on Earth with various car crashes and scrapes.

I’m sure regular listeners will be pleased to hear we have Stephen Walker back, the author of Beyond: The Astonishing Story of the First Human to Leave Our Planet and Journey into Space.

Do check out our previous episode on Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode172/

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I am delighted to welcome Stephen Walker back to our Cold War conversation...

There’s further information on this episode in our show notes which can also be found as a link in your podcast app here. https://coldwarconversations.com/episode192

Thank you very much for listening. It is really appreciated – goodbye.

0:00 Introduction and overview of German Titov's character

0:45 The political implications of Titov's groundbreaking flight

2:20 Guest introduction: Stephen Walker

3:53 The Cold War context of Titov's flight

7:22 Titov's rebellious nature and the cosmonaut program's rule-breaking

26:37 Training for Titov's mission, Vostok 2

29:24 The significance and firsts of Titov's 25-hour mission

35:14 Titov's life post-mission: fame, scandal, and tragedy

42:13 The technical issues and risks of Titov's mission

47:38 Titov's role in the Soviet Moon mission and the Spiral project

52:23 Reflections on Titov's legacy and closing remarks