3 ms·

I always felt bad for Yuri. The Americans made a huge deal about John Glenn, yet his record is basically worthless. Yuri had done it all before, but it seems so

I always felt bad for Yuri. The Americans made a huge deal about John Glenn, yet his record is basically worthless. Yuri had done it all before, but it seems some people refused to acknowledge it. This was one of the first things that opened my eyes that propaganda still exists.

spzb 5y ago
I would have thought most people here in the UK remember Gagarin but few would remember Glenn without prompting. Is that not the case elsewhere in the world?
- marton78 5y ago
  Gagarin is my childhood hero, never heard about Glenn.
- mixmastamyk 5y ago
  If you've seen The Right Stuff or Hidden Figures, you'd be hard pressed to forget.
  - grecy 5y ago
    It's very common for movies made by Americans, with American money and intended to be viewed by Americans to glorify America and Americans.
    - mixmastamyk 5y ago
      Yep, they're both about Americans. Although the Soviets do play their parts as competitors. He also rode a space shuttle in retirement.
sangnoir 5y ago
> The Americans made a huge deal about John Glenn, yet his record is basically worthless. The whole reason the US was in the race to the moon was because the had lost the race to space (Sputnik, and then Yuri). The US badly needed a win.
- sangnoir 5y ago
  Though I do wonder: had the Soviet Union been first to the moon as well, would that have sparked a race to Mars?
deanCommie 5y ago
Americans always like to overinflate their early spaceflight accomplishments. There is a whole fight on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:List_of_spaceflight_records#Spaceflight_record_supersets_and_subsets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:List_of_spaceflight_recor... about it tl;dr: Yuri Gagarin is listed first on the page with 2 "Firsts", but Alan Shepard is listed second with four. Even though, two of his "firsts" are already superceded by what Gagarin did. "First Person to make suborbital flight"? So? Gagarin already made a suborbital flight before he made his orbital flight. "First Person to land in water"? So? Shouldn't that mean that Gagarin should have an entry that says "First person to land on land?"

spzb 5y ago

I would have thought most people here in the UK remember Gagarin but few would remember Glenn without prompting. Is that not the case elsewhere in the world?

marton78 5y ago
Gagarin is my childhood hero, never heard about Glenn.
mixmastamyk 5y ago
If you've seen The Right Stuff or Hidden Figures, you'd be hard pressed to forget.
- grecy 5y ago
  It's very common for movies made by Americans, with American money and intended to be viewed by Americans to glorify America and Americans.
  - mixmastamyk 5y ago
    Yep, they're both about Americans. Although the Soviets do play their parts as competitors. He also rode a space shuttle in retirement.

sangnoir 5y ago

> The Americans made a huge deal about John Glenn, yet his record is basically worthless. The whole reason the US was in the race to the moon was because the had lost the race to space (Sputnik, and then Yuri). The US badly needed a win.

sangnoir 5y ago
Though I do wonder: had the Soviet Union been first to the moon as well, would that have sparked a race to Mars?

deanCommie 5y ago

Americans always like to overinflate their early spaceflight accomplishments. There is a whole fight on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:List_of_spaceflight_records#Spaceflight_record_supersets_and_subsets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:List_of_spaceflight_recor... about it tl;dr: Yuri Gagarin is listed first on the page with 2 "Firsts", but Alan Shepard is listed second with four. Even though, two of his "firsts" are already superceded by what Gagarin did. "First Person to make suborbital flight"? So? Gagarin already made a suborbital flight before he made his orbital flight. "First Person to land in water"? So? Shouldn't that mean that Gagarin should have an entry that says "First person to land on land?"