In the Shadow of the Moon by Amy Cherrix

Author:Amy Cherrix
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Published: 2020-12-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 29

The Russians’ “Right Stuff”

In the Soviet Union, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin didn’t look like he was trying to defeat much of anything as he lounged on a sofa in a Soviet medical center waiting room. Fellow cosmonaut Alexei Leonov recalled watching Gagarin relax that day with a copy of The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, one of the few American authors whose work had been translated into Russian. Hemingway’s manly, larger-than-life characters personified the conventional image of strength and bravery valued in Russian culture. If Gagarin was nervous about his examination, it didn’t show. The dark-haired, five-foot-two fighter pilot sat shirtless in pajama pants, calmly waiting for his turn. Like the Mercury 7 astronauts, the twenty men selected to be Soviet cosmonauts also endured invasive medical tests and rigorous training.

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