YURI GAGARIN: HIS LIFE IN PICTURES
(cont.)

He and Valya and their daughters enjoyed a life of privilege, but finally, his celebratory role began to wear thin. Yuri wanted to get back up into space. " being a cosmonaut is my profession, and I did not choose it just to make the first flight and then give it up." In 1967 he began training for the first Soyuz flight.

However he never reached the stars again.

The girls got the best he could provide including the latest toys.

Yuri Gagarin, the consummate soldier,
died in the line of duty while piloting a jet.

On March 27, 1968, at age 34, Yuri Gagarin was killed when the jet he was test piloting crashed. His death was mourned by the world, as his ashes were buried alongside other Soviet heroes in the Kremlin Wall.

In honor of his great contributions to space exploration, a crater on the moon was named after him.

In July of 1971, the astronauts of the Apollo 15 mission visited the moon and left behind a plaque in memory of the 14 men, Russian and American, that had died leading mankind into space. Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin had made his mark on history.