Yuri Chekalin
On April 12, Russia celebrates Cosmonautics Day.
In this regard, I remember a funny story told by the first man to walk in outer space, Alexei Leonov, about Yuri Gagarin:
“On April 14, 1961, during a official reception in the Kremlin, Nikita Sergeevich, after the third or fourth toast, carefully asked Gagarin: “Yura, have you seen God?”
Gagarin answered jokingly: “I saw Him.”
Khrushchev: “Please, don’t tell anyone about this.”
After some time, the Patriarch approached Gagarin and asked the same thing.
It was no longer proper for him to joke, and he replied: “No, Holy Father, unfortunately, I didn’t see Him.”
Patriarch: “I beg you, Yura, don’t tell anyone about this.”
Yura told me this himself.”
Morgana Devlin
Alexander Palladin
